Accurate Measurements of Low Z Elements in Sediments and Archaeological Ceramics Using Portable X-ray Fluorescence (PXRF)

This study seeks to demonstrate the ability of portable X-ray fluorescence (PXRF) to estimate concentrations of K, Ca, and Fe in sediments and archaeological ceramics under controlled conditions. After a discussion of the potential confounding factors in PXRF use, a protocol which attempts to address these issues through repeated measurement, calibration, and re-sampling is detailed. Data generated using this protocol are then tested for accuracy and repeatability. PXRF is argued to be able to produce accurate estimates of K provided the suggested protocol is used, and able to produce repeatable estimates of K and Ca under these same conditions. Other experimental conditions tested failed to produce accurate and repeatable results. Fe results are found to be problematic given the calibration standards used here.     

Contribution of strontium to the human diet from querns and millstones: an experiment in digestive strontium isotope uptake

The question of whether rock grit ingested unintentionally from querns, metates or millstones, or deliberately through pica or geophagy, is bioaccessible in the human gut has not been addressed in archaeological strontium (Sr) isotope studies. This study employed the unified bioaccessibility method and determined that ingested rock grit can provide bioaccessible ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr, but that unintentional consumption is unlikely to constitute > 1% of the diet (by mass) and will not significantly change, that is, by > 0.001, human skeletal ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr. The use of locally or non‐locally sourced querns or millstones will not affect the interpretation of archaeological human ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr values in Britain.     

Art and the meaning of things

Bronner, Simon J. Grasping Things: Folk Material Culture and Mass Society in America. Louisville: The University of Kentucky Press, 1986. xv + 247 pp. including photographs, chapter references, and index. $24.00 cloth.

Ewers, John C. Plains Indian Sculpture: A Traditional Art from America's Heartland. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1986. 239 pp. including photographs, appendix, and bibliography. $39.95, cloth.

Shadbolt, Doris. Bill Reid. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1986.192 pp. including photographs, select bibliography, and chronological list of illustrations. $39.95 cloth.     

Hermann Oppenheim's observations about music in aphasia

Hermann Oppenheim was influential in many areas of neurology, but his ideas about music are relatively unknown. In 1888, he published a paper that outlined how the assessment of music skills in patients with aphasia could lead to a better understanding of aphasia and language. Oppenheim conducted the first comprehensive music assessment as part of a neurologic examination and presented the first case series of music in aphasia. His paper was widely cited and had significant influence over the next 30 years. Although largely unrecognized as such, Oppenheim was an important historical figure in the study of music and neurology.