Soil geochemistry and detection of early Roman precious metal and copper alloy working at the Roman town of Calleva Atrebatum (Silchester, Hampshire, UK)

Cook, Samantha R.; Clarke, Alan; Fulford, Michael

doi:10.1016/j.jas.2005.01.006

Cited by 49 publications

(40 citation statements)

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Section: A C C E P T E D Accepted Manuscriptmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It has been applied to identify activity areas within houses (Middleton and Price 1996) and intra-site organisation of space (Misarti et al 2011;Vittori Antisari et al 2013); intra site analysis of metalworking residues (Cook 2005;Carey and Juleff 2013), intra-feature analysis (Cook 2010) and intra feature analysis combined with soil micromorphology (Macphail and Crowther 2008).…”

Section: A C C E P T E D Accepted Manuscriptmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Indeed, many of the papers investigating archaeological geochemistry relate to the identification of metalworking residues from antiquity, in both catchment wide (temporal) studies (Thorndycroft et al 1999;Grattan et al 2013) and localised site specific spatial scales (e.g. Cook et al 2005;Carey and Juleff 2013).This correlation of geochemical analysis and metallurgy can be interpreted as a function of the direct relationship between human activity and geochemical deposition, i.e. if a copper alloy is being worked, geochemical deposition will be in specific trace elements such as Cu, and elements associated with Cu in the ore or alloy, e.g.…”

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Geochemical survey and metalworking: analysis of chemical residues derived from experimental non-ferrous metallurgical processes in a reconstructed roundhouse

Carey

Wickstead

Juleff

et al. 2014

Journal of Archaeological Science

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Geochemical survey and metalworking: analysis of chemical residues derived from experimental nonferrous metallurgical processes in a reconstructed roundhouse, Journal of Archaeological Science (2014Science ( ), doi: 10.1016Science ( /j.jas.2014 This is a PDF file of an unedited manuscript that has been accepted for publication. As a service to our customers we are providing this early version of the manuscript. The manuscript will undergo copyediting, typesetting, and review of the resulting proof before it is published in its final form. Please note that during the production process errors may be discovered which could affect the content, and all legal disclaimers that apply to the journal pertain. M A N U S C R I P T A C C E P T E D ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT *principle author for correspondenceAbstract: Geochemical survey is becoming a more frequently applied tool for site specific archaeological investigation. It has the potential to integrate site prospection and excavation data with post excavation artefact analysis, unifying two stages of the archaeological process. In the field of archaeometallurgy this is particularly relevant as sites of metalworking are liable to produce high geochemical loadings, related to the manufacture of metal goods and associated waste products such as slags. This paper describes the geochemical survey of an 'experiential' metalworking area within a reconstructed roundhouse, identifying geochemical enhancements associated with bronze and lead working. The geochemical survey of the roundhouse clearly defines areas of metalworking that can be related to recollected episodes of metalworking and quantifies the spatial distribution and absolute geochemical loadings from this activity. Consideration is given to how such geochemical enhancements should be archaeologically interpreted and whether geochemistry should be viewed as a micro-artefact and dealt with in a context specific way. It is suggested that geochemical survey can play an important role in defining evidence of metallurgy in archaeological investigations, particularly where such evidence remains elusive, e.g. the British Bronze Age.Keywords: metallurgy, geochemistry, metal pollution, spatial survey, GIS IntroductionGeochemical survey is becoming a more widely practised technique within archaeological research (Oonk et al. 2009a;Wilson 2009), which has the potential to identify evidence of anthropogenic activity that is otherwise invisible to conventional archaeological methods, i.e. the hidden site, context or landscape (Heron 2001). Despite this potential, geochemical survey has yet to establish itself as a technique that can consistently offer results demonstrably linked to human activities within the archaeological record (Oonk et al. 2009b), partly due to the difficulty in interpreting multifaceted geochemical data; "because of the complexity of site use history and the effects of post depositional processes" (Wilson et al. 2008). Archaeological geochemical survey has been applied on a variety of scales, ranging M A N ...

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Section: A C C E P T E D Accepted Manuscriptmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: A C C E P T E D Accepted Manuscriptmentioning

confidence: 99%

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confidence: 99%

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Geochemical survey and metalworking: analysis of chemical residues derived from experimental non-ferrous metallurgical processes in a reconstructed roundhouse

Carey

Wickstead

Juleff

et al. 2014

Journal of Archaeological Science

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“…Davidson et al, 2006;El Khalil et al, 2008;Murray et al, 2004;Nicholson et al, 2006). The resulting chemical signatures, in the form of enhanced soil element concentrations, are increasingly being used as an interpretational tool to aid archaeological site prospection (Aston et al, 1998;Eckel et al, 2002;Schlezinger and Howes, 2000), map patterns of past space use (Cook et al, 2006;Entwistle et al, 1998;Entwistle et al, 2000;Sullivan and Kealhofer, 2004;Wells, 2004), and identify former functional areas (Cook et al, 2005;Knudson et al, 2004;Middleton and Price, 1996;Terry et al, 2004).…”

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confidence: 99%

An evaluation of the site specificity of soil elemental signatures for identifying and interpreting former functional areas

Wilson

Davidson

Cresser

2009

Journal of Archaeological Science

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Soil multi-element analysis is now a routine technique employed to help answer questions about space use and function in and around archaeological sites. The pattern of enhancement of certain elements, including P, Pb, Ca, Zn, and Cu, has been shown by numerous studies to correlate closely with the archaeological and historical record.Interpretation of these soil signatures, however, has generally been more problematic.One approach to the problem has been the use of ethnographic or "known" sites to guide interpretation, but how confidently can results from one site be extrapolated to another?This study of abandoned farms tests the site specificity of soil multi-element signatures of past space use through the use of discriminant models. Data analysis suggests that one to one comparisons of similar sites are much less accurate (38% accuracy) than comparisons based on a wider range of sites (59.3% accuracy), even when the latter have contrasting geology. The results highlight the importance of individual anthropogenic practices M

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“…Samples giving the highest concentrations of these elements were further analysed using ICPMS (Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry) to identify further elements, notably gold, silver and tin, not readily identifiable by XRF. While the XRF results strongly suggested bronze working associated with one hearth in House 1, the ICPMS technique also identified the presence of gold and silver as well as tin (Cook et al 2005;Cook 2011). The importance of this research was that it demonstrated and localised types of metalworking for which there was little or no other macroscopic evidence from the trench as a whole, not just from within the confines of House 1.…”

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Silchester: The Town Life Project 1997–2014: Reflections on a Long Term Research Excavation

Fulford

2015

Theoretical Roman Archaeology Journal

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August 2014 saw the completion of the excavation of a large sample (3025m 2 = 25 per cent) of one of the larger insulae (IX) of the Roman town of Calleva Atrebatum (Silchester, Hampshire, UK). The fieldwork had taken 18 summers of six-week seasons, the equivalent of over two years of continuous excavation, with teams, including staff, of 130-150 participants. The aim of the project at the outset was to characterise the changing life of the town from origins to abandonment. The initial estimate was that the project would certainly last five years, but not more than ten. However, well within five years it became abundantly clear that, despite antiquarian interventions, notably by the Society of Antiquaries in Insula IX in 1893, the preservation of the archaeology was such that a duration of 15 seasons was highly likely. Indeed, such was the rich complexity of the late Iron Age and earliest Roman archaeology that it only became possible to predict the end of the fieldwork a couple of seasons ahead, and that was on the assumption of reasonable weather, with no repeat of the extremely wet summer of 2012. Both the landowner, Hampshire County Council, and English Heritage, the organisation through which Scheduled Monument Consent (SMC) was negotiated (i.e. the permission to excavate), supported the project to completion in the field. The licence from the County Council and SMC were granted for five years at a time; altogether four consents and renewals of licence were sought and granted over the duration of the project. The land within the town walls had been set aside as pasture and an area including space for a campsite and the infrastructure of the seasonal excavation was fenced off for the duration; the limits of the area being adjusted as the spoil heaps grew in volume and the corresponding space they occupied.Insula IX was chosen for a number of reasons: with no evidence of public buildings it could be regarded as representative of the private sphere, embracing domestic, commercial and artisanal aspects of town life . Choosing an insula which contained buildings oriented obliquely to the Roman street grid offered an opportunity to test Aileen Fox's theory about an 'Old' and a 'New' town plan (1948). With aerial photography indicating the presence of buildings which had not been located by the Society of Antiquaries' project to recover a complete plan of the Roman town, Insula IX offered the promise of comparing them with structures which had been investigated by the Antiquaries in 1893 (Fox 1895;Bewley and Fulford 1996). Apparently open areas between buildings offered the possibility of identifying the presence of timber buildings, which the Victorian techniques of excavation were not able to identify on a systematic basis, in and around those with masonry foundations. The choice of Insula IX also provided the opportunity of investigating the context of one of the latest Roman/ post-Roman objects from the town: the Silchester ogham stone, a truncated Roman baluster column which carried an inscription in ogham, a ...

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Soil geochemistry and detection of early Roman precious metal and copper alloy working at the Roman town of Calleva Atrebatum (Silchester, Hampshire, UK)

Cited by 49 publications

References 14 publications

Geochemical survey and metalworking: analysis of chemical residues derived from experimental non-ferrous metallurgical processes in a reconstructed roundhouse

Geochemical survey and metalworking: analysis of chemical residues derived from experimental non-ferrous metallurgical processes in a reconstructed roundhouse

An evaluation of the site specificity of soil elemental signatures for identifying and interpreting former functional areas

Silchester: The Town Life Project 1997–2014: Reflections on a Long Term Research Excavation

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