EVALUATION OF THE MANGANESE ESR METHOD OF MARBLE CHARACTERIZATION

Results suggest that ESR studies of Mn⁺² in marble can provide an excellent discriminator for the determination of marble provenance. In comparison with other methods of quantitative analysis for manganese such as AA or NAA, the ESR method determines only Mn⁺² rather than total Mn, is inexpensive and rapid with no chemical preparation required, and does not consume the sample.     

PROVENIENCE STUDY OF MEDIEVAL BULGARIAN GLASSES BY NAA AND CLUSTER ANALYSIS

The neutron activation analysis results from 30 glass samples were subjected to cluster analysis. The reliable localization of part of the medieval glass finds from Preslav enabled the evaluation of the variety of the production of a medieval glass workshop (ninth-tenth century), allowing conclusions to be made about the technological level of glass-making in Bulgaria during the Middle Ages. The work proved that NAA followed by cluster analysis is a successful approach to finding the local and chronological features of the investigated glasses.     

SPECTROCHEMICAL ANALYSIS OF SOME MEDIAEV AL GLASS FRAGMENTS FROM CATALAN GOTHIC CHURCHES

AAS, FE and OES are each used in the analysis of thirteen samples of fragments of window glasses from three Catalan Gothic churches: Sta. Maria del Mar (Barcelona, Spain), Pedralbes Monastery (Barcelona, Spain) and Girona Cathedral (Spain). Two kinds of stained window glass are found. Special attention is paid to Co/Cu, Co/Ni and Cu/Ni ratios for blue glasses and Mn/Cu and Fe/Cu ratios for red glasses.     

Fire and its roles in early hominid lifeways

Discovery of the uses and later the invention of fire-making are fundamental to humanity. Following reports over the last decade of traces of fire found on Lower Pleistocene archaeological sites in eastern Africa, the dating of the control of fire by hominids has become a controversial issue. In this paper we critically review the contexts and, in the light of a battery of archaeometric techniques, the nature of reported instances of fire from Koobi Fora and Chesowanja in Kenya, and from Gadeb and the Middle Awash in Ethiopia. We conclude with a discussion of the roles fire may have played in the lifeways of early Pleistocene savanna-living hominids.

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Résumé La découverte des usages du feu et ensuite de sa préparation est fondamentale pour l'humanité. Suite à des rapports au cours de la dernière décennie signalant des traces de feu relevées dans des sites archéologiques du Pléistocène inférieur dans l'est de l'Afrique, la datation du contrôle du feu par les hominiens est devenu une source de controverse. Dans cet article, nous révisons d'un oeil critique les contextes et la nature des cas de feu signalés à Koobi Fora et à Chesowanja au Kenya, et à Gadeb et dans l'Awash moyen en Éthiopie, à la lumière d'une suite de techniques archéometriques. Suit en conclusion une discussion sur les rôles qu'aurait pu jouer le feu dans les modes de vie des hominiens vivant dans les savannes du Pléistocène inférieur.