TA 30 - Archaeological Science Under a Microscope : Studies in Residue and Ancient DNA Analysis in Honour of Thomas H. Loy

Abstract

terra australis 30Terra 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. List of volumes in Terra AustralisVolume 1: Burrill Lake and Currarong: Coastal Sites in Southern New South Wales. R.J. Lampert (1971) Volume 2: Ol Tumbuna: Archaeological Excavations in the Eastern Central Highlands, Papua New Guinea. J.P. White (1972) Volume 3 The genesis of this collection was a symposium held to honour Tom's memory on 19 August 2006 at the University of Queensland, Brisbane, where he was Senior Lecturer in the School of Social Science. Papers delivered at that event have been augmented with invited contributions from colleagues not able to be present on the day. The symposium was memorable for the breadth of research presented (from residues on the tools of Homo floresiensis to the DNA of Henry VIII's warship) as well as for a stone knapping demonstration and discussion by Colin Saltmere of the Dugalunji Aboriginal Corporation, with whom Tom had established a strong friendship through his final field project near Camooweal in northwest Queensland. Following Tom's lead, many of the presentations recognised the responsibilities we as archaeologists bear towards both the past and present people that we deal with, a responsibility that requires vigilance in getting our stories straight. That recognition continues in the pages that follow. The central theme of this volume lies in using the detailed information recovered from microscopic and molecular archaeology to tell the most accurate stories we can about the human past, and doing so in a manner that encourages never-ending inquiry about the further avenues we may follow.Beginning with a reproduction of the keynote address given by Richard Fullagar at the symposium, the volume is divided into two main sections. The first is titled 'Principles: synthesis, classification and experiment' and includes overviews and experimental or collection-based studies that aim to strengthen the fields of microscopic residue and ancient DNA analysis by examining the underlying principles on which these disciplines operate. In soliciting papers, the editors aimed to present ...

Making Sense of Residues on Flaked Stone Artefacts: Learning from Blind Tests

“…The emphasis of European and South African approaches is more reliant on the distribution of the residues and analysts do consider residues to be sufficiently distinctive under reflected-light [ 15 , 47 , 49 ]. The different approaches entail particular microscopes and lighting arrangements: a reflected-light microscope and/or small digital microscope such as a Dino-Lite in Europe (e.g., [ 10 , 47 ]) and South Africa (e.g., [ 11 , 12 ]); and a combined use of reflected- and transmitted-light microscopes in Australia (e.g., see papers in [ 3 , 50 ].…”

Decodificando la memoria artefactual desde el sur de Sudamérica. Fortalezas del análisis integral de artefactos líticos

“…Así, es a mediados de los ochenta que los estudios de microhuellas de uso y de residuos comenzaron a integrarse en Australia (Fullagar 1986), en parte como respuesta a las dificultades para interpretar los pulidos y otros rastros en las rocas utilizadas como materia prima (Hayes et al 2014). Aquí, la forma empleada por los analistas para el estudio de los micro-residuos en el instrumental de piedra era su observación in situ a bajos aumentos (entre 50-100X) en estereomicroscopios o microscopios de luz incidente, la extracción de muestras de estos restos de las superficies originales de los artefactos y su observación posterior mediante microscopía de luz transmitida (Fullagar 2006a;Haslam et al 2009;Cnuts y Rots 2018). Los muestreos puntuales permiten conocer la localización exacta de los restos y su asociación con determinados patrones de huellas de uso y rasgos debidos a la manufactura (Loy 1994).…”

T.J. Wilkinson , Edgar Peltenburg & Eleanor Barbanes Wilkinson (ed.) Carchemish in context: The Land of Carchemish Project, 2006–2010 (BANEA Monograph 4). 2016. xi+238 pages, numerous colour and b&w illustrations. Oxford & Philadelphia (PA): Oxbow; 978-1-78570-111-5 hardback £45.

“…In particular, microarchaeological and analytical techniques, including diatom studies, phytoliths, residue analysis and micromorphology all could have been applied to understand the past environment and landscape in greater detail (e.g. Haslam et al 2009). Such techniques could improve understanding of both on-and off-site contexts.…”

“…Haslam et al . 2009). Such techniques could improve understanding of both on- and off-site contexts.…”