Silica from sources to site: ultraviolet fluorescence and trace elements identify cherts from Lost Dune, southeastern Oregon, USA

Lyons, William H.; Glascock, Michael D.; Mehringer, Peter J.

doi:10.1016/s0305-4403(03)00012-8

Cited by 31 publications

(22 citation statements)

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“…The two analytical techniques that our pilot study suggests cannot contribute meaningfully to characterization of Gunnison Basin quartzites are UVF and WD-XRF. Although UVF has been used to assign microcrystalline and even occasionally quartzite artifacts to possible geological sources (e.g., Benedict, 1996;Cassells, 1995;Hofman, Todd, & Collins, 1991;Lyons, Glascock, & Mehringer, 2003;Pitblado, 2000), our samples failed in all but two cases to fluoresce at all when exposed to short-or long-wave ultraviolet light.…”

Section: Pilot Study Resultsmentioning

confidence: 89%

“…Luedtke (e.g., 1978Luedtke (e.g., , 1979Luedtke & Meyers, 1984) pioneered INAA of microcrystallines, demonstrating statistically significant differences in traceelement profiles of cherts from the Midwest. Other archaeologists have used INAA to effectively source microcrystalline artifacts from throughout North America (e.g., Hatch & Miller, 1985;Hoard et al, 1992Hoard et al, , 1993 [but see Church, 1995, andHoard et al, 1995]; Lyons, Glascock, & Mehringer, 2003;Spielbauer, 1984). Cackler et al (1999) had less success using INAA to distinguish chemically homogenous cherts in northern Belize, but others have had encouraging results profiling microcrystalline quartz via other geochemical methods, including XRF (Church, 1990(Church, , 1996Warashina, 1992), Fourier infrared spectroscopy (Long, Silveira, & Julig, 2001), and LA-ICP-MS (Rockman, 2003;Roll et al, 2005).…”

Section: Archaeological Applications Of Stone Sourcingmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Pilot study experiments sourcing quartzite, Gunnison Basin, Colorado

et al. 2008

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This paper reports the results of pilot-study efforts to develop methods to profile quartzite, a rock type to which geochemical and other sourcing techniques have only rarely been applied. The long-term goal of the research is to fingerprint sources of quartzite in the Gunnison Basin, southwest Colorado, used by Paleoindian people ca. 11,500-8,000 years ago to make stone tools. Success would facilitate reconstruction of Paleoindian mobility in the Southern Rocky Mountains and potentially anywhere prehistoric people used quartzite. The goals of this paper are more modest: to demonstrate that a small-scale exploration of sourcing techniques suggests reason for optimism that quartzites may be amenable to source discrimination. For the same twenty Gunnison Basin quartzite samples, this study evaluated petrography, ultraviolet fluorescence (UVF), wavelength dispersive X-ray fluorescence (WD-XRF), instrumental neutron activation analysis (INAA), and inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry-both acid-digestion (AD-ICP-MS) and laser ablation (LA-ICP-MS)-as means to differentiate among the specimens and the sources they represent. Although more testing is needed to verify and refine our results, the study suggests there is potential for petrography, INAA, and both versions of ICP-MS to discriminate among quartzites from different source localities in the Gunnison Basin. The greatest potential for discriminating among different sources of quartzite in the Gunnison Basin may lie in a methodology combining petrographic analysis and LA-ICP-MS. Future testing is required to evaluate this two-fold approach.

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Section: Pilot Study Resultsmentioning

confidence: 89%

Section: Archaeological Applications Of Stone Sourcingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Pilot study experiments sourcing quartzite, Gunnison Basin, Colorado

et al. 2008

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“…Chert is a heterogenous material compared with some basalts, and particularly obsidians, which form by the rapid cooling of a relatively homogeneous magma fluid (Lyons et al 2003). Attribution of an artefact to a particular source is further complicated by the number of potential sources in the Central Pacific, as chert can be formed by diagenesis in limestone environments as nodules, or be deposited in thin or thick beds, especially in geosynclinal deposits that have been uplifted.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Early Prehistory of Fiji

Anderson¹,

Clark²

2009

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terra australis 31Terra Australis reports the results of archaeological and related research within the south and east of Asia, though mainly Australia, New Guinea and island Melanesia -lands that remained terra australis incognita to generations of prehistorians. Its subject is the settlement of the diverse environments in this isolated quarter of the globe by peoples who have maintained their discrete and traditional ways of life into the recent recorded or remembered past and at times into the observable present.Since the beginning of the series, the basic colour on the spine and cover has distinguished the regional distribution of topics as follows: ochre for Australia, green for New Guinea, red for South-East Asia and blue for the Pacific Islands. From 2001, issues with a gold spine will include conference proceedings, edited papers and monographs which in topic or desired format do not fit easily within the original arrangements. All volumes are numbered within the same series. Mailu. G. Irwin (1985) Volume 11: Archaeology in Eastern Timor, 1966-67. I. Glover (1986 Volume 12 List of volumes in Terra Australis THE EARLY PREHISTORY OF FIJI Edited by Geoffrey Clark and Atholl Anderson © 2009 ANU E PressPublished by ANU E Press The Australian National University Canberra ACT 0200 Australia Email: anuepress@anu.edu. IntroductionThis volume describes results of a research program on the early phases of prehistory in Fiji.The research began in 1995 as a collaborative project of the ANU and the Fiji Museum entitled 'Prehistoric colonisation and palaeoenvironment of Fiji ' (Anderson et al. 1996). The initial emphasis was on the period beginning about 5000 BP and extending up to about 2000 BP, with the objective of studying the pre-human landscape and then the arrival, spread and environmental impact of human colonisation. At the time, human colonisation was thought to begin somewhere between 3000 and 4500 BP, depending on whether archaeological (3200-3700 BP) or paleoenvironmental (4000-4500 BP) data were preferred, and the colonising Lapita phase was regarded as persisting up to about 2000 BP (Frost 1979:64; Gibbons and Clunie 1986;Southern 1986; Davidson et al. 1990:131; Davidson and Leach 1993:102-103). Our initial fieldwork involved sediment coring for pollen, July-August 1995 in Viti Levu and Vanua Levu, including at sites where previous data had suggested unusually early dates of possible human impact (Hope and Anderson 1995). During the first season of archaeological fieldwork, in 1996, Clark began doctoral research on the early and middle phases of Fijian prehistory with the objective of studying transformations that led from Lapita towards a more distinctly Fijian cultural facies . Thus, the Fiji project was broadened, and renamed 'The Early Prehistory of Fiji Project' (abbreviated to the EPF). Its objectives were to consider initial colonisation and its effects, and later transformations before the last millennium of Fijian prehistory: approximately equating to the Sigatoka and Navatu phases in the ...

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“…Chert provenance depends on matching trace element abundances, such as rare earth elements, of a study sample with a database of natural cherts from known locations (e.g., Baugh and Nelson, 1987;Owen et al, 1999;Glascock, 2002;Lyons et al, 2003;Neff, 2003). Trace element compositions are best determined by X-ray fluorescence (XRF), neutron activation analysis (NAA), laser ablation plasma mass spectrometry (LA-ICPMS) or secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS), analyses not appropriate given our time and analytical resources.…”

Section: Sample Description and Methodologymentioning

confidence: 99%

Critical Thinking in Geology and Archaeology: Interpreting Scanning Electron Microscope Images of a Lithic Tool

Nicolaysen

Ritterbush

2005

Journal of Geoscience Education

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As co-instructors of an undergraduate course in Archaeological Geology, we have developed an in-class research project using the Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) to analyze and interpret physical traces of stages in the history of a unique lithic artifact. This exercise requires preliminary instruction on percussion and pressure flaking, geological materials suited for chipped stone tool manufacture, contextual archaeological analysis, theory of electron microscope use, and post-depositional surface processes, particularly those creating natural wear due to wind or water abrasion. With this background, students acquired four images of surface and edge locations of the study artifact using the SEM. We asked students to write a description of the analytical technique, a compilation of their observations and analytical data, and an interpretation of the artifact's history. Although most students recognized that the artifact recorded multiple stages of manufacture and use, additional comparative images of water-or wind-worn, chipped or ground cherts would give students greater ability to distinguish cultural modifications from those created by post-depositional geologic processes. Students expressed enthusiasm about the project and indicated a high level of engagement on evaluations (mean score=4.3-4.4, median score=4.5-5.0 on a scale of 1 [low] to 5 [high]). COURSE AND PROJECT GOALSDuring the last fifteen years, reviews of national science education have strongly encouraged educators to use concrete, participatory experiences to improve students' abilities to design, implement and evaluate experiments and to retain scientific knowledge (AAAS, 1989; NRC, 1996 NRC, , 2000. A wide variety of National Science Foundation-sponsored workshops and special sessions at national meetings (e.g., From the introductory classroom to capstone experience -integrating research into the undergraduate curriculum GSA, 2000, and Using data to teach earth processes, GSA 2003) continue to highlight innovative active-learning projects, many of which include primary research.During the spring (2003) semester at Kansas State University (KSU), we developed and co-taught an interdisciplinary undergraduate course in Archaeological Geology that provided three credit hours in anthropology or geology. As key components of the course, we wished students to acquire: a) knowledge of geological processes that affected past human societies and the archaeological record, b) an introduction to analytical methods used by geologists that aid in the interpretation of our human past, c) an understanding of geologic time and dating techniques, and d) an appreciation for how geologic knowledge is critically applied toward the interpretation of the human past. In order to reach these goals, we designed and implemented seven participatory projects that stressed evaluation of geologic and archaeological data and the use of higher cognition skills, particularly synthesis and interpretation (Bloom et al., 1956).For one of these ac tiv i ties we asked s...

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Silica from sources to site: ultraviolet fluorescence and trace elements identify cherts from Lost Dune, southeastern Oregon, USA

Cited by 31 publications

References 9 publications

Pilot study experiments sourcing quartzite, Gunnison Basin, Colorado

Pilot study experiments sourcing quartzite, Gunnison Basin, Colorado

The Early Prehistory of Fiji

Critical Thinking in Geology and Archaeology: Interpreting Scanning Electron Microscope Images of a Lithic Tool

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