Initial source evaluation of archaeological obsidian from the Kuril Islands of the Russian Far East using portable XRF

Phillips, S. Colby; Speakman, Robert J.

doi:10.1016/j.jas.2009.01.014

Cited by 98 publications

(62 citation statements)

References 28 publications

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“…Hand Held X-ray fluorescence devices (HH-XRF) and other portable XRF (pXRF) devices are regularly used in industry and are gradually being introduced also for archaeological/historical applications [1][2][3][4][5]. Within archaeometric research, previous studies have also employed pXRF devices in the measurement of the elemental composition of bulk and corrosion layers of copper-alloyed artefacts [1,4].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The use of Hand-Held XRF for investigating the composition and corrosion of Roman copper-alloyed artefacts

Fernandes

Huisman

2013

Herit Sci

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The study of archaeological artefacts using deployed in situ analytical instruments presents some obvious advantages. Including, obtaining an immediate feedback that can be used to redefine in real-time fieldwork strategies. Ideally analytical field instruments should also have characteristics that limit damage to the studied artefact.Here, we present a case study on the use of a Hand Held XRF (HH XRF) device employed to define the composition of copper-alloyed artefacts retrieved from the Roman military site of Fectio in the vicinity of Vechten (The Netherlands). The goals of the study were to establish artefact preservation status, to investigate artefact elemental composition, and to compare the composition of artefact corrosion layer and uncorroded core. The results showed that the objects were in an overall good preservation state. Decuprification and dezincification represented the probable main corrosion processes resulting in the formation of smooth corrosion layers or patinas. The major elemental composition of the artefacts' uncorroded cores showed a wide-range variability most likely associated with recycling practices of scrap metal during the 3 rd century CE.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The use of Hand-Held XRF for investigating the composition and corrosion of Roman copper-alloyed artefacts

Fernandes

Huisman

2013

Herit Sci

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“…ED-XRF has a long history of use in archaeology and in the form of portable X-ray fluorescence analysis (pXRF) has been widely used in obsidian sourcing studies in recent years (Craig et al 2007;Phillips and Speakman 2009;Nazaroff et al 2010;Sheppard et al 2010;Millhauser et al 2011). It has been demonstrated that the method is capable of distinguishing between the major obsidian sources in the Middle East (Forster et al 2011;Frahm 2013;Milić 2014;Frahm 2014a and2014b).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Multiple sources: The pXRF analysis of obsidian from Kenan Tepe, S.E. Turkey

Campbell

Healey

2016

Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports

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Obsidian is often seen as a proxy for exchange and networking even though the relationship between these elements can be somewhat indirect. Nevertheless, recent studies which involve the provenance analysis of a large number of artefacts from a single site have opened up a number of avenues which are simply not visible when only a small number of artefacts can be provenanced. In this paper, after evaluating the efficacy of our pXRF protocol for the provenancing of large numbers of obsidian artefacts, we go on to use the data set we generated from Kenan Tepe, in SE Turkey, to discuss the wide range of sources present including the hitherto poorly understood Group 3d. Our integrated study of the techno-morphological and contextual aspects of the artefacts alongside the provenance analysis also allows us to track the use of obsidian through time and to profile the use of individual sources. HighlightsAttribution of 882 obsidian artefacts from late prehistoric/early historic Kenan Tepe, south east Turkey to their geological sources. Analysis of change through time in the use of obsidian sources at a single site. Importance of contextual analysis of obsidian use.The first large scale occurrence of the unlocated Group 3d obsidian.

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“…On the basis of the D 2 values, 14 of the 26 waste flake samples fall statistically within a raw material cluster. Of these, six can be attributed to the Boteti River (samples CC 14,(17)(18)(19)21,26) and seven to Lake Ngami (CC 5,6,12,13,16,20,22; Table 2). One waste flake (CC 24) falls within the raw material cluster of silcrete from the Okavango River, the first of the 82 samples so far analysed using our new provenancing approach to do so.…”

Section: Geochemical Fingerprintingmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The most accurate means of determining source locations is through geochemical provenancing of lithic raw materials. A range of stone types have been used successfully in provenancing studies, including obsidian (e.g., Shackley, 1995;Roth, 2000;Negash and Shackley, 2006;Vogel et al, 2006;Eerkens et al, 2007;Negash et al, 2007;Morgan et al, 2009;Phillips and Speakman, 2009;Smith, 2010;Smith and Kielhofer, 2011;Ambrose, 2012;Freund, 2013), chert (e.g., Thacker and Ellwood, 2002;Evans et al, 2007;Milne et al, 2009;Parish, 2011;Gauthier et al, 2012;Speer, 2014;Boulanger et al, 2015), flint (e.g., Moroni and Petrelli, 2005;Navazo et al, 2008;Olofsson and Rodushkin, 2011;Ekshtain et al, 2014), dolerite (e.g., Gallello et al, 2016), quartzite (e.g., Pitblado et al, 2013), and, recently, silcrete (Nash et al, 2013a,b).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Going the distance: Mapping mobility in the Kalahari Desert during the Middle Stone Age through multi-site geochemical provenancing of silcrete artefacts

Nash

Coulson

Staurset

et al. 2016

Journal of Human Evolution

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This study utilises geochemical provenancing of silcrete raw materials, in combination with chaîne opératoire analyses, to explore lithic procurement and behavioural patterns in the northern Kalahari Desert during the Middle Stone Age (MSA). New data from the sites of Rhino Cave, Corner Cave, and ≠Gi in northwest Botswana, combined with earlier results from White Paintings Shelter, reveal that the long distance transport of silcrete for stone tool manufacture was a repeated and extensively used behaviour in this region. Silcrete was imported over distances of up to 295 km to all four sites, from locations along the Boteti River and around Lake Ngami. Significantly, closer known sources of silcrete of equivalent quality were largely bypassed. Silcrete artefacts were transported at various stages of production (as partially and fully prepared cores, blanks, and finished tools) and, with the exception of ≠Gi, in large volumes. The import occurred despite the abundance of locally available raw materials, which were also used to manufacture the same tool types. On the basis of regional palaeoenvironmental data, the timing of the majority of silcrete import from the Boteti River and Lake Ngami is constrained to regionally drier periods of the MSA. The results of our investigation challenge key assumptions underlying predictive models of human mobility that use distance-decay curves and drop-off rates. MSA peoples in the Kalahari appear to have been more mobile than anticipated, and repeatedly made costly choices with regard to both raw material selection and items to be transported. We conclude that (i) base transport cost has been overemphasised as a restrictive factor in predictive models, and (ii) factors such as source availability and preference, raw material quality, and potential sociocultural influences significantly shaped prehistoric landscape use choices.3

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Initial source evaluation of archaeological obsidian from the Kuril Islands of the Russian Far East using portable XRF

Cited by 98 publications

References 28 publications

The use of Hand-Held XRF for investigating the composition and corrosion of Roman copper-alloyed artefacts

The use of Hand-Held XRF for investigating the composition and corrosion of Roman copper-alloyed artefacts

Multiple sources: The pXRF analysis of obsidian from Kenan Tepe, S.E. Turkey

Going the distance: Mapping mobility in the Kalahari Desert during the Middle Stone Age through multi-site geochemical provenancing of silcrete artefacts

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