Lightning whelk natural history and a new sourcing method

Artifacts made from sinistral (left-handed) whelk shells are commonly found at inland archaeological sites in eastern North America. Past attempts to source the coast of origin of these marine shells based on chemical analyses have provided tentative results. A knowledge of sinistral whelk natural history is essential before attempting shell sourcing studies. The common occurrence of sinistral whelks in the Gulf of Mexico and their uncommon occurrence along both the South Atlantic and Mid-Atlantic bights are documented. Critical biogeographical and morphological information is presented, as well as a new method of sourcing artifacts based on spire-angle measurements. Sinistral whelk artifacts from Spiro, East St. Louis, and Cahokia probably came from the eastern Gulf of Mexico.     

XRF obsidian analysis from Ayacucho Basin in Huamanga province,south-eastern Peru*

Obsidian was broadly used along the Andean Cordillera in South America. Particularly in Peru, its use can be traced to the earliest human occupations, continuously through pre-Columbian times to contemporary Andean agro-pastoralist societies. In order to distinguish the provenance of obsidians from Peru, this paper reports a new X-ray fluorescence (XRF) analysis on several obsidians obtained in surface collections of the Ayacucho region. The analysis and source determination were made by XRF on 52 specimens. The source assignments involved comparisons between the compositional data for the specimens and the University of Missouri Research Reactor (MURR) XRF obsidian database for sources in Peru. After analysing the samples, obsidian sources were recognized and documented. All had small nodules not larger than about 4 cm. They were recovered from Ñahuinpuquio and Marcahuilca hill which belonged to the previously identified Puzolana source. Another identified source was the well-known Quispisisa, located 120 km south of the city of Ayacucho, and distributed through a vast region in central Peru. The results expand previous observations made on the obsidian provenance at Ayacucho Basin, as well as the extension of the Puzolana source between Yanama and Huarpa hills, south of Ayacucho city.     

How reliable are our published archaeometric analyses? Effects of analytical techniques through time on the elemental analysis of obsidians

To assess the analytical accuracies and precisions of archaeometric elemental analyses by different techniques, a relatively homogeneous material such as obsidian must be studied. An assessment of published elemental concentration data from two Anatolian obsidian sources shows that while in most cases analytical accuracy is as high as is commonly expected, in some cases it is not. It also shows that the dispersions of elemental concentration data (indicators of analytical precisions) coming from modern analytical procedures are akin to the estimated homogeneity of the obsidian. Based on this latter observation, if one has element dispersion data from a single analytical technique, with a single source of obsidian as a control, data sets that contain multiple, but similar sources of obsidian may be differentiated.     

Geochemical sourcing of basalt artifacts from Kaua‘i,Hawaiian Islands

We report on energy-dispersive X-ray fluorescence (EDXRF) sourcing of 807 basalt artifacts and 34 basalt ecofacts recovered from stratified midden at Nu‘alolo Kai, Kaua‘i. These data are compared with EDXRF analyses of 473 alluvial pebbles from Waimea Canyon, 34 adzes from the Kaua‘i Museum, and published geochemical data for Kaua‘i basalts. Formal tools, such as adzes, chisels, and mirrors were predominantly manufactured from sources not available at Nu‘alolo Kai. Most adzes and chisels are consistent with sources available elsewhere on Kaua‘i, but two basalt mirrors are outside the expected geochemical range of Kaua‘i basalts. In contrast, almost all expedient tools were manufactured from basalts available at Nu‘alolo Kai. These findings support the existence of an island-wide distribution system for adze material on Kaua‘i, and challenges extant models of pre-contact Hawaiian economics to consider the mechanisms through which specialized commodities were produced and distributed.     

Sourcing galena from a Middle Woodland habitation site in northeast Mississippi

Galena has been recovered mostly in mortuary contexts – burial mounds, burial caves, and associated mortuary facilities – from Middle Woodland sites in the Southeast. Three small pieces of galena from the Cork site (22OK746) in northeast Mississippi came from midden deposits at a site with no mound or burials. Lead isotope analysis was used to source the samples to the Central Missouri-Tri-State-North Arkansas region. Isotopes provide an excellent sourcing method because their ratios are stable and large comparative source datasets are available. Recovery bias may have led to underestimation of galena presence in Middle Woodland habitation sites.     

SITUATED KNOWLEDGE SPILLOVERS: A CASE STUDY OF INDUSTRY SPECIFICITY IN URBAN KNOWLEDGE SOURCING

Theorizing within the umbrella of evolutionary economic geography (EEG) has improved the understanding of how inter‐firm relatedness conditions knowledge spillovers, and how this affects the long‐term evolution of regions. Still, there are shortcomings in this approach associated with a quantitative and generic methodology, a static notion of relatedness, and a weakly developed policy and institutional perspective. In particular, there is a need for a better understanding of the mechanisms through which relatedness is developed and how policy affects existing and emerging relatedness. Certain mechanisms for knowledge transfer have been suggested, such as labour mobility, firm diversification, spin‐offs and social networks. But do the same mechanisms apply to all industries and in all territories, or are there specific mechanisms of knowledge sourcing at work in different contexts? To shed light on these questions, the article reports on a comparative case study of two knowledge‐intensive industries (life science and publishing) located in the Oslo metropolitan region. Based on a case study, the article suggests that both industries source knowledge through similar types of channels. However, despite similarities in how knowledge is accessed and absorbed in this diverse urban context, knowledge sourcing also seems to be conditioned by industry‐specific dynamics, policies and institutions.