Application of petrographic and geochemical methods to sourcing felsitic archaeological materials in Southeastern New England

Geo-material provenance and technological properties investigation in Copper Age menhirs production at Allai (central-western Sardinia, Italy)

“…The visual inspection of the geological samples was performed by naked eye and 2.5X magnifying lens (Hermes and Ritchie 1997b;Ricq de Bouard 2002;Garrison 2003) and allowed to describe their macroscopic features.…”

Volcanic rocks in the Narragansett basin, southeastern New England: petrology and significance to early basin formation

“…So far, no convincing connection has been established between the Wamsutta volcanics and any other alkaline rocks in the region. The Wamsutta volcanics are geochemically distinct from alkaline volcanic rocks associated with Rhode Island's Devonian Scituate magma series (Spencer Hill volcanics) and Massachusetts's Late Ordovician Quincy Granite (Blue Hill volcanics) (Hermes and Murray, 1990;Hermes and Ritchie, 1997). However, association with plutonic rocks of the Scituate Igneous Suite has not been definitively ruled out, as there is some compositional overlap between the Wamsutta rhyolite and some varieties of granite.…”

“…The Wamsutta rhyolite resembles the low-Zr rhyolites in eastern Canada (Piper and others, 1999) but has greater abundances of high-fieldstrength elements. The alkaline Spencer Hill and Blue Hills volcanic suites (Hermes and Murray, 1990;Hermes and Ritchie, 1997), with Zr concentrations greater than 1230 ppm, are more similar to the high-Zr rhyolites of eastern Canada (Piper and others, 1999) but have greater abundances of other high-field-strength elements.…”

“…Neither rock type shows a strong Eu anomaly. and high-field-strength elements (Zr, Y, Nb, and Zn) than nearby alkaline volcanics of the Spencer Hill and Blue Hill complexes (Hermes and Murray, 1990;Hermes and Ritchie, 1997). The rhyolite's REE pattern (table 2; fig.…”

Groundmass microsampling using laser ablation time-of-flight inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (LA–TOF–ICP–MS): potential for rhyolite provenance research

“…Rhyolite provenance studies have proven effective using petrographic techniques (e.g., Hermes and Ritchie, 1997). Two factors, however, limit the potential of petrography for artefact provenance research: the extent of rhyolite intra-formation variability and the destructive sample preparation.…”