Reflectance - Current state of research and future directions for archaeological charcoal; Results from a pilot study on Irish Bronze Age cremation charcoals

Veal, Robyn; O’Donnell, Lorna; McParland, Laura C.

doi:10.1016/j.jas.2016.08.009

Cited by 10 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 27 publications

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“…Although 33 measured samples is a fairly large number for charcoal reflectance studies (cf. Jones et al 1991;McParland et al 2009aMcParland et al , 2009bMcParland et al , 2010Ascough et al 2010;Hudspith et al 2014Veal et al 2016), we recognise that this sample size and the opportunistic sampling strategy may not be sufficient to capture the entire range of variability in temperature or fire severity within the burned areas or the different fuel types.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 94%

“…Charcoal reflectance is an emerging field of research that has promise for contributing to both of the aforementioned debates on the historical role of crown fires and the impact of masticated fuels on fire severity (Jones et al 1991;Scott and Jones 1994;Scott and Glasspool 2005;McParland et al 2007;McParland et al 2009aMcParland et al , 2009bMcParland et al , 2010Ascough et al 2010;Hudspith et al 2014Hudspith et al , 2015Belcher and Hudspith 2016;Veal et al 2016;Mastrolonardo et al 2017). Charcoal is the product of incomplete combustion of organic matter.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Further research indicated that the duration of exposure to a particular pyrolysis temperature also influenced the final reflectance value (Scott and Glasspool 2005). Experimentally produced charcoal was used to generate calibration curves by which charcoal reflectance measurements were converted to minimum pyrolysis temperatures, meaning the minimum temperature that would have been needed to create a particular reflectance measurement (McParland et al 2009b;Hudspith et al 2015;Veal et al 2016).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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A comparison of charcoal reflectance between crown and surface fire contexts in dry south-west USA forests

Roos

Scott

2018

Int. J. Wildland Fire

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The historical and modern importance of crown fires in ponderosa pine and dry mixed-conifer forests of the south-west USA has been much debated. The microscopic reflectance of charcoal in polished blocks under oil shows promise as a semiquantitative proxy for fire severity using charcoal from post-fire landscapes. We measured the reflectance of 33 modern charcoal samples to evaluate (1) whether charcoal reflectance can distinguish between crown fires and surface fires in these forests; and (2) whether surface fires with masticated fuels burn with severities similar to surface fires in grass, litter and duff fuels. The charcoal analysed was primarily collected after wildland fires under two different conditions: (l) wildfires with moderate to high severity and crown fire behaviour (n = 17), and (2) prescribed fires with low to moderate severity but no crown fire behaviour (n = 16). Statistical analysis indicates that charcoal reflectance produced in crown fires significantly differs from surface fire charcoal, particularly surface fire charcoal formed in grass, duff and litter fuels. However, charcoal produced from surface fires in masticated fuels is indistinguishable from crown fire charcoal, suggesting that fires in areas that have experienced in situ mastication may have soil impacts similar to crown fires.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 94%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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A comparison of charcoal reflectance between crown and surface fire contexts in dry south-west USA forests

Roos

Scott

2018

Int. J. Wildland Fire

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“…Currently, different techniques are available for the charred organic matter evaluation of complex matrices such as soils and sediments, as well as to assess their burning temperatures. One of these techniques is the reflectance, which is considered a valuable tool to estimate the burn temperatures of modern and archaeological charcoal using a Reflected Light Microscope [49,53]. Another analytical technique is the Fourier Transform Mid-Infrared (FT-MIR) spectroscopy, which is micro-destructive and employed for the chemical characterization of complex matrices in archaeological samples, like wood charcoal particles and bone collagen [54][55][56].…”

Section: Checking Out Different Techniques For the Study Of The Archa...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Anthracological study of a Chalcolithic funerary deposit from Perdigões (Alentejo, Portugal): A new analytical methodology to establish the wood burning temperature

et al. 2023

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Anthracological analyses of charcoal samples retrieved from Pit 16 of Perdigões (Reguengos de Monsaraz, Portugal), a secondary deposition of cremated human remains dated back to the middle of the 3rd millennium BC, enabled the identification of 7 different taxa: Olea europaea, Quercus spp. (evergreen), Pinus pinaster, Fraxinus cf. angustifolia, Arbutus unedo, Cistus sp. and Fabaceae. All taxa are characteristic of both deciduous and evergreen Mediterranean vegetation, and this data might indicate that the gathering of woods employed for the human cremation/s occurred either on site, or in its vicinity. However, considering both the large distribution of the identified taxa and data about human mobility, it is not possible to conclusively determine the origin of the wood used in the cremation(s). Chemometric analysis were carried out to estimate the absolute burning temperature of woods employed for the human cremation/s. An in-lab charcoal reference collection was created by burning sound wood samples of the three main taxa identified from Pit 16, Olea europaea var. sylvestris, Quercus suber (evergreen type) and Pinus pinaster, at temperatures between 350 and 600 °C. The archaeological charcoal samples and the charcoal reference collection were chemically characterized by using mid-infrared (MIR) spectroscopy in the 1800–400 cm-1 range, and Partial Least Squares (PLS) regression method was used to build calibration models to predict the absolute combustion temperature of the archaeological woods. Results showed successful PLS forecasting of burn temperature for each taxon (significant (P <0.05) cross validation coefficients). The anthracological and chemometric analysis evidenced differences between the taxa coming from the two stratigraphic units within the Pit, SUs 72 and 74, suggesting that they may come from two different pyres or two different depositional moments.

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“…The standard deviation generally ranges between 0.05%R. The accuracy of the temperature is determined by the accuracy and stability of the oven in which the original material was heated (Laura et al, 2009;Pensa et al, 2015;Veal et al, 2016).…”

Section: Reflectance On Charred Organic Materialsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Charred Organic Material, Heated by Anthropogenic Fires and Hot Volcanic Products from the Minoan Eruption, Excavated from the Bronze Age Site of Akrotiri on the Cycladic Island of Thera (Greece)

Braadbaart¹,

Sarpaki²,

Veld³

et al. 2019

IANSA

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Reflectance - Current state of research and future directions for archaeological charcoal; Results from a pilot study on Irish Bronze Age cremation charcoals

Cited by 10 publications

References 27 publications

A comparison of charcoal reflectance between crown and surface fire contexts in dry south-west USA forests

A comparison of charcoal reflectance between crown and surface fire contexts in dry south-west USA forests

Anthracological study of a Chalcolithic funerary deposit from Perdigões (Alentejo, Portugal): A new analytical methodology to establish the wood burning temperature

Charred Organic Material, Heated by Anthropogenic Fires and Hot Volcanic Products from the Minoan Eruption, Excavated from the Bronze Age Site of Akrotiri on the Cycladic Island of Thera (Greece)

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