Sourcing temper sands in ancient ceramics with U–Pb ages of detrital zircons: a southwest Pacific test case

Through use of methodology common in sedimentary geology, we apply U–Pb ages of detrital zircons to source nonlocal temper sand in an ancient ceramic assemblage recovered from Roviana Lagoon of the New Georgia Group in the Solomon Islands. Most potsherds from the Roviana Lagoon contain local volcanic sand as temper, but a small number of sherds contain anomalous granitic temper sand that does not appear to be local. To determine the origin of the anomalous temper, ages of zircons from the anomalous Roviana sherds are compared with ages of zircons in materials from Lizard Island off the Queensland coast and in sand from Muyuw Island in the Solomon Sea where generically similar granitic sands occur. U–Pb analyses of grains from the Roviana sherds yield Middle Miocene ages, while analyses of grains from Lizard Island granitic bedrock, sand, and local potsherds yield much older Permian-Triassic ages, disproving any possibility that the Roviana sherds were derived from Lizard Island, but suggesting local production of the Lizard Island sherds. Ages of grains in a sand sample from Muyuw Island are nearly identical to the ages of grains in the Roviana sherds. All grains in the Muyuw sand are Middle Miocene in age, overlapping closely with the Roviana age population. This strong similarity in detrital zircon signals indicates that the Roviana temper was likely derived from Muyuw Island sands. Our test case for the use of U–Pb ages of detrital zircons in sourcing temper sands is of only regional significance, and not of intrinsic global interest. The methodology, however, should find wide applicability for sourcing temper sands in many parts of the world, for it provides more specific data for the origins of tempers than either petrographic or chemical analysis.     

Among Polynesia's first pots

X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy and petrographic thin section microscopy are applied to a sample of anomalous appearing Lapita pottery sherds from Nukuleka, the earliest archaeological site in Polynesia. Both analyses indicate non-local origins for the ceramic vessels, suggesting they were brought on founding canoes. Mineral inclusions in ceramic tempers eliminate sources to the west of Tonga in eastern Melanesia; rather the temper source is most probably a dacitic high island from a distant island arc of central Melanesia. Polynesian origins and settlement are issues more complex than currently recognized by the orthodox progressive settlement model for Lapita expansion across Oceania.     

Notes and documents

Niue Island is a 70‐m high emerged atoll, 275 km east of the Tonga‐Kermadec Trench axis. The island has been rising for approximately the last 500,000 years, but there is little information available about the nature of uplift. Several (groups of) myths concerning the origin and early human colonisation of Niue can be interpreted as recalling uplift of the island, or alternatively uplift of those islands where early Niueans (or their ancestors) once lived. Owing to the inclusion in Niuean myths of details suggesting coseismic uplift, which is considered unlikely to affect Niue, it is concluded that an early (the first?) group of Niueans came from the limestone islands of Tonga. Coseismic uplift is a common myth motif here and well documented in geological studies of these islands. It is concluded that the early Niueans who developed the myths concerning the formation of Niue incorporated details derived from observations of coseismic uplift in the limestone islands of Tonga because of the similarities in form between these islands and Niue. This study demonstrates the potential importance of myth in reconstructing the geological history of Pacific Islands.     

Chemical Characterization of Micronesian Ceramics Through Instrumental Neutron Activation Analysis: A Preliminary Provenance Study

The development of exchange models from Pacific Islands' archaeological data is a major task facing Oceanic archaeologists. Chemical characterization of ceramics can assist provenance studies required for modelling past human interactions. This regional instrumental neutron activation analysis (INAA) conducted on ceramics collected from the Micronesian ceramic-producing islands of Belau, Chuuk, Guam, Kosrae, Pohnpei, and Yap allows us to form compositional groups and provenance ceramics from the coral islands of Fais, Satawal, and Ulithi. Different island contexts, which cause post-depositional chemical transformations in ceramic sherds, do not hinder the provenance assignments.     

Investigating the production and distribution of plain ware pottery in the Samoan archipelago with laser ablation-inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS)

This paper presents a provenance study of 170 ceramic artifacts and 21 ceramic tiles from three islands in the Samoan archipelago using laser ablation-inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS). Our analyses confirm that LA-ICP-MS can be used to differentiate between clay formations on a single island. We identify different distribution patterns for pottery recovered from lowland and highland sites on Tutuila Island. We also examine evidence for movement of pottery between islands, and find only limited evidence for such movement. Our findings suggest dynamic patterns of prehistoric interaction and site use that need to be evaluated with further data from across the archipelago.     

Evidence for inter-island transport of heirlooms: luminescence dating and petrographic analysis of ceramic inhaling bowls from Carriacou,West Indies

Ceramic snuffing tubes and inhaling bowls used for ingesting hallucinogenic substances are known from several islands in the West Indies, but their chronological distribution is often vague. A partial inhaling bowl found at the site of Grand Bay on Carriacou in deposits dating between ca. A.D. 1000–1200, along with two other unprovenienced specimens from the local museum, were dated using luminescence (TL and OSL) to determine their antiquity. Surprisingly, the dates had a weighted average of 400 ± 189 B.C., making them several hundred years older than all ¹⁴C assays from the island; however, they do overlap in age with similar artifacts found on Puerto Rico and Vieques Island over 750 km away. Additional luminescence dating of two stylistically distinct Suazan ceramic sherds excavated from stratified deposits at Grand Bay fall within the expected ceramic and radiocarbon chronology. These data, coupled with petrographic analysis of the specimens, suggests that they were not made using local materials. Instead, they appear to have been transported to the island, possibly hundreds of years later, as heirlooms. This may be the first evidence for inter-island transport of drug paraphernalia in the Caribbean.     

Keeping an eye on your pots: the provenance of Neolithic ceramics from the Cave of the Cyclops,Youra, Greece

Combined petrographic and chemical analysis of MN and LN ceramics from the Cave of the Cyclops on the island of Youra, Greece, has revealed a compositionally diverse assemblage with a range of different local and off-island sources. Ceramics deposited in Neolithic times on this barren, rocky outpost of the Sporades chain may have originated from a surprising number of possible origins, including from the Plain of Thessaly, Euboea and the volcanic northeast Aegean islands. This picture challenges traditional assumptions about Neolithic pottery production and indicates that significant movement of ceramics was already taking place within the northern Aegean as early as the beginning of the sixth millennium BC. The discovery of a persistent local pottery tradition, that is also found on the neighbouring island of Kyra-Panagia, indicates significant continuity in ceramic technology over some 1500 years.     

Prehistory in the northwest tropical Pacific: The Caroline,Mariana, and Marshall Islands

The earliest identified settlement is in the Marianas, dated to about 3500 B.P., while the other islands in the region appear to be settled from about 2000 B.P. onward. The archaeological remains reveal diverse approaches to island living. While Nan Madol and Leluh in the eastern Carolines are major architectural achievements, a discussion of these sites does not detract, for example, from the terrace systems of Palau or the lattestone groups of the southern Marianas. Of equal interest is the settlement of atolls and their recently recognized potential for preservation of stratified deposits. As information allows, each island or group is considered on an individual basis in order to allow for each specific island context to be assessed. This is described within the broader themes of architecture, chronology, environment, material culture, settlement pattern, social organization, and subsistence. In conclusion, the current standing of prehistory in the region is outlined in relation to early settlement, environment, social organization, chronology, settlement pattern studies, portable material culture, subsistence, and atolls. Finally, suggestions for the future are made.     

Plainware ceramics from Sāmoa: Insights into ceramic chronology,cultural transmission,and selection among colonizing populations

The first people in Sāmoa produced a varied ceramic archaeological record including a single deposit with decorated Lapita ceramics on the island of ‘Upolu in the west of the archipelago and a nearly contemporaneous plainware deposit over 250 km to the east on Ofu Island. Post-Lapita ceramic change across Sāmoa is similar with almost no decoration, local ceramic production, limited vessel form diversity, and changing frequencies of thin- and thick-wares. This Sāmoan ceramic record is different from nearby Tonga and Fiji where early decorated Lapita ceramics are widely distributed, there are no thickness-defined ware types, and for Fiji, post-Lapita ceramics are more variable. Here we investigate the apparent uniqueness of the Sāmoan ceramic record through an analysis of early plainware ceramics, the second oldest after the Ofu deposits, from Tutuila Island in the center of the Sāmoan archipelago. Our assemblage-specific findings are similar to other Sāmoan plainware analyses, but we suggest the ceramic and other archaeological evidence from Sāmoa and the region indicates Sāmoa was colonized by a few isolated groups and that within the context of cultural transmission of ceramic variants, selection explains thickness variation and likely other aspects of Sāmoan ceramic change.     

‘Islands within Islands?’ The Maldivian resort,between segregation and integration

Abstract

The Maldives resort islands are a type of tourist enclave subject to a dual form of borderization. The islands have an external border that coincides with each island’s coastline and with the limits of the private property of the resort; this border regulates the movement of tourists and locals. The islands also have an internal border that separates the outer edge of the island from the inner edge. The outer edge, which is supposed to represent the perfect landscape of the ‘tropical island,’ houses all of the tourist facilities, while the interior contains the structures dedicated to the metabolic activities of the resort. The frontline staff members and the tourists share the ‘dreamscape’ of the outer edge, whereas the maintenance workers live in the secluded space inside the island, where they are typically hidden from the sight of tourists by high walls, and their movement is usually restricted from staff designated areas to their location of work. For maintenance workers, these spaces, necessarily limited due to the small size of the coral islands, risk becoming ‘islands within islands.’ Recently, the Maldivian government has begun to promote projects and initiatives in support of territorial integration between the resorts and communities of neighboring islands. Thus, the outer limits of the resort islands are, today, more porous. Their internal borders, in contrast, remain very difficult to cross.     

Fact Sheet: The Islands of Sweden

Not many think of Sweden as an island nation, but in fact Sweden has lots of islands. The actual number could be as high as 221 800, or as low as twenty‐four. Which is correct? It all depends on how one defines an ‘island’ and which ‘pieces of land surrounded by water’ are counted and why (or why not). This fact sheet presents a brief overview of the islands of Sweden, including a short discussion of problems met with trying to count and sort them. After trying either to visit, or contact, all possible Swedish islands with a permanent population but without a permanent mainland connection, the author has concluded that Sweden has 401 such islands. Their distribution according to geographical position and number of inhabitants is presented, and differences between Swedish islands and island regions are also briefly discussed.     

A Genetic Classification of Islands

A genetic classification of islands based on the character of the underlying type of crust is proposed. Each crustal type is associated with particular structural-geological island types. Thus, continental crust gives rise to continental islands, which divide further into shelf islands and fragments of continental platforms. Intermediate crust produces particular types of islands that are divided further into continental island arcs, oceanic island arcs and volcanic islands on the continental slope. Finally, the oceanic type of crust gives rise to oceanic volcanic islands. Islands associated with continental crust tend to be distinguished by large size, ancient basement and a complex consolidated structure. With increasing remoteness from the mainland, islands tend to become smaller, simpler in geological structure and younger in rock composition.     

Taken with a Grain of Salt: Experimentation and the Chemistry of Archaeological Ceramics from Xaltocan,Mexico

Neutron activation analysis (NAA) of ceramics from Xaltocan (n?=?651) displays high values for sodium and potassium and low concentrations of many transition metals and rare earth elements compared to other sites in the Basin of Mexico. Given that Xaltocan was situated on an island in the middle of a saline lake, the potential reasons for this chemical signature are diverse. On one hand, if the sodium and potassium were elevated due to some behavioral aspect of the potters, the Xaltocan chemical groups provide a glimpse at the behaviors of Xaltocan potters that permit more precise source designations. On the other hand, if this chemical fingerprint arose due to contamination in a saline post-depositional environment, the Xaltocan chemical groups would not be valid references for provenance studies. To evaluate these alternative hypotheses, we employ several lines of evidence: (1) comparison of the Xaltocan ceramics to over 5,000 NAA assays of clays and ceramics from the Basin of Mexico, (2) experimental doping of clays with water of different salinities and fired to different temperatures, (3) leaching experiments of archaeological pottery sherds (n?=?22) recovered from the site of Xaltocan, and (4) laser ablation–inductively coupled plasma–mass spectrometry of the clay and temper fraction of a small sample of Xaltocan ceramics to determine which component is responsible for the elevated sodium and potassium values. The results suggest that the high sodium and potassium values were present in the ceramic paste before firing. We then use these newly established reference groups to better understand the role of Xaltocan in the regional economy. The type of experimentation employed in this study has proven to be an important method for determining the behaviors of ancient potters and distinguishing them from post-depositional processes.     

THE USE OF SHELL-TEMPERED POTTERY IN THE CADDO AREA OF THE SOUTHEASTERN UNITED STATES

Abstract

Freshwater mussel shell was used as a temper in the manufacture of ceramic vessels by potters in the Caddo area of the southeastern United States after ca. A.D. 1300. This was at least one or two centuries after it became the dominant temper used by aboriginal groups in much of the Eastern Woodlands but generally contemporaneous with shelltempered usage in parts of the Southern Plains. The introduction of shell temper was variable across the Caddo area, and in certain regions its use was negligible in ceramic vessel assemblages until the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries but then was rapidly adopted as the dominant temper employed in vessel manufacture, particularly for utility wares. In the traditional territory of the historic Hasinai Caddo in East Texas, shell temper did not appear in vessels until the early eighteenth century, and then only in minor amounts on presumed trade vessels.     

Temper mixture models and assessing ceramic complexity in the emerging Tarascan state

This study presents compositional data from ceramics drawn from surface survey and controlled excavations from three prehispanic sites within the relatively small Lake Pátzcuaro Basin, representing a ceramic sequence stretching nearly 1500 years, from the Preclassic to Late Postclassic Tarascan state (ca. 50 B.C.–1525 A.D.). Using neutron activation analysis, we identify compositional groups and model the importance of volcanic materials as temper in the construction of prehispanic ceramics by matching mathematical simulations of clay–ash mixes to the compositional groups. Rather than discreet clay resources and spatially circumscribed production, we argue for a broadly dispersed and highly varied organization of pre-Tarascan and Tarascan state ceramic production in which the potters' distribution and use of specific volcanic ashy additives, not clays, structured the organization of production.     

A characterisation study of Ubaid period ceramics from As-Sabbiya,Kuwait, using a non-destructive portable X-Ray fluorescence (pXRF) spectrometer and petrographic analyses

The Ubaid cultural phenomena (6500–4200 BC) of southern Mesopotamia has been used to characterise other archaeological sites in the Arabian Gulf region. The aim of this inquiry is to explore the nature of the interaction between the homeland of the Ubaid and the wider Gulf region. Through the use of a non-destructive portable X-ray fluorescence (pXRF) spectrometer, this study seeks to characterise and identify the chemical and mineralogical compositions of the ceramic assemblage from the Bahra 1 site of the As-Sabbiya region, Kuwait. The chemical results demonstrated that a combination of six trace elements [rubidium (Rb), strontium (Sr), yttrium (Y), zirconium (Zr), niobium (Nb) and barium (Ba)] occur significantly enough to delineate clay-based artifact groups—local red coarse from Ubaid, while the mineralogical analysis confirms the pXRF result and identifies the source of the raw materials and temper as well. Also, the comparison between the Ubaid and Bronze Age assemblage results suggests that potters used different clay resources within their own regions and/or production techniques.     

Island settings and their influence on geographical research methods

This study presents lessons learned from the application of mixed methods during three field visits to central Mediterranean islands over an eight-year period to learn about and from visitors who voluntarily paid to experience ecotourism. The study outlines various challenges encountered in research in small island settings. Such challenges include logistical difficulties to reach islands, including those originating from weather conditions, difficulty in practising observation in small communities, sampling dilemmas, different levels of trust and willingness to disclose views among interview participants, lack of standardised data, language barriers that may limit who conducts research on specific islands, and substantial fluctuations in population size throughout the year. Findings show that the choice and application of methods for island research need to be informed by island dynamics; this entails adapting methods and using different data collection techniques to mitigate challenges arising from island settings. The study also outlines the need of more research in the application of mixed methods when studying islands.     

Similarity of the flora of the Erie Islands: implications for conservation biology

Using a compiled list of the vascular flora for 21 islands in the western basin of Lake Erie, Preston's resemblance measure and Connor and Simberlof's Null Hypothesis I were applied to native and alien species subsets in order to examine how these findings fit within the equilibrium theory. Based on Preston's measure, it was found that the similarity of species between island pairs was more likely to fit with MacArthur and Wilson's equilibrium theory when native species were considered than when alien species were considered. Native species have restricted distributions - especially those found on the smaller islands - and appear to be less randomly distributed about the islands. This study also found that a large component of the alien flora is widespread in its distribution, and appears to be randomly distributed among most of the islands.     

MINERO‐PETROGRAPHIC STUDY OF COOKING WARE AND POMPEIAN RED WARE (ROSSO POMPEIANO) FROM CUMA (SOUTHERN ITALY)

Excavations carried out in Cuma by the Centre Jean Bérard archaeologists have uncovered a large quantity of pottery. This study is focused on cooking ware and on internal red‐slip cookware, also known as Pompeian Red Ware (Rosso Pompeiano), dated from the first century bc to the first century ad . A comparison with the minero‐petrographic composition of beach sands collected along the Bay of Naples coastline highlights the provenance of the temper from the Somma‐Vesuvius area, marked by leucite‐bearing scoriae and garnet. Petrochemical analyses allow us to distinguish two main groups of pottery characterized by different technological options based on the amount of temper and on the type of clay. X‐ray diffraction and scanning electron microscope data demonstrate improved accuracy in the production of Rosso Pompeiano, especially with regard to firing control, which was in a prevailing oxidizing atmosphere and in a narrow thermal range, between about 800 and 900°C.     

Identifying the sources of Inka period ceramics from northern Chile: results of a neutron activation study

To examine regional patterns of ceramic production and distribution during the era of Inka domination in northern Chile, we determined the elemental compositions of 157 samples of archaeological ceramics and geological clays from the sites of Catarpe and Turi using instrumental neutron activation analysis. We identified two major and three minor composition groups in the ceramics. The major groups, High Cr and Low Cr, are linked to clays from two broad geological contexts within the region, while the minor Low Na group is made up of ceramics imported from northwestern Argentina. The distribution of the composition groups indicates that, in the Catarpe–Turi region, patterns of ceramic production differed for different vessel types: jars were made from clay and temper acquired near the sites where the jars were used, while bowls were made of material coming from more distant sources. The geographical distribution of the analyzed ceramics indicates that bowls were exchanged between Catarpe and Turi in a pattern more similar to tribute/extraction than to market exchange, with Catarpe being the dominant site. The compositional analysis also demonstrates that Inka-style ceramics were being locally produced at sites in this region during the era of Inka domination.