LA-ICP-MS analysis of quartzite from the Upper Gunnison Basin,Colorado

We report the results of LA-ICP-MS analysis of 402 quartzite samples representing 48 collection loci in the Upper Gunnison Basin (UGB), Colorado and determine the extent to which the sources can be geochemically discriminated from one another using this non-destructive technique. The ability to differentiate among the sources would open the door to provenance studies of the quartzite chipped-stone tools and debitage that constitute 95% or more of most of the 3000-plus prehistoric site assemblages documented in the UGB. Our samples represent prehistorically quarried and non-quarried quartzite sources, including outcrop (primary) and gravel (secondary) deposits. The results reveal spatial and chronological trends in quartzite elemental composition that can be exploited for provenance determinations of quartzite artifacts from UGB sites, albeit using an assemblage-based sourcing strategy that differs from the familiar approach of “matching” obsidian artifacts to their statistically likeliest geological source. We offer a preliminary version of a sourcing protocol for UGB quartzite.     

Long-term clay raw material selection and use in the region of Classical/Hellenistic to Early Byzantine Sagalassos (SW Turkey)

A provenance study was carried out on coarse ceramics from the Classical/Hellenistic to Mid-Byzantine city of Sagalassos, SW Turkey. The ceramics were sampled from the excavations of the city, and clay raw materials were sampled throughout its ancient territory. Used techniques were optical microscopy and electron microprobe analysis on thin sections, geochemical analysis (fusion ICP/MS and mineralogical analysis (X-ray diffraction). The geochemical/mineralogical diversity in the ceramics is not as wide as for the clay raw materials. It seems that even at the restricted scale of this study, the resources were limited to the area around the ancient site. The differences between the ceramics are likely due to the use of different ophiolitic clay bodies being exploited for their production.     

New applications of LA–ICP–MS for sourcing archaeological ceramics: microanalysis of inclusions as fingerprints of their origin

This paper presents the latest methodological advances using the LA‐ICP–MS technique for differentiating the origin of petrographically and chemically similar ceramic raw materials. Based on several examples form the Armorican Massif (France), from a chronological period extending from the Neolithic to the Second Iron Age, we will show that the comparison of the chemical signatures of minerals included in fired clay with those from clay and source rocks enables us to distinguish productions and to accurately trace the sources of the raw materials used by potters.     

Refining the identification of native American pipestone quarries in the midcontinental United States

Midcontinental pipestone quarries in Missouri, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Ohio, and Kansas were utilized by a number of native cultures from 5000 YRBP through historic times. Except for Gunderson’s pioneering work on catlinite, the mineralogy of these sources was poorly understood until recently. For fifteen years, a University of Illinois team of archaeologists and geologists has used well-established mineralogical methods (X-ray diffraction [XRD] and reflectance near-infrared spectroscopy [NIS]) to identify and characterize nine pipestone quarries and match sources with archaeological artifacts from major Hopewell and Mississippian culture sites. NIS analyses of raw materials from nine major pipestone quarries show distinct mineralogical differences between sources but relatively uniform composition within each source. The major distinguishing minerals estimated from NIS spectra match very well with earlier results from XRD and inductively-coupled plasma (ICP) analyses. Results demonstrate that NIS is a reliable non-destructive technique for discriminating between midcontinental pipestones and for sourcing pipestone artifacts.     

Early Neolithic obsidians in Sardinia (Western Mediterranean): the Su Carroppu case

All the obsidians from the undisturbed Early Neolithic (Cardial ware phase I) layer of the Su Carroppu rock-shelter (Sardinia island) were studied. Their elemental composition and that of obsidians from the Monte Arci (Sardinia) volcanic complex was determined by ion beam analysis (PIXE). A comparison between the composition of Su Carroppu artefacts, analysed non-destructively, and that of Western Mediterranean analysed in the same conditions shows that the archaeological material belongs to the SA, SB2 and SC Monte Arci-types, to the exclusion of the SB1 type. The typological/technological study of this industry allowed us to reconstruct two chaînes opératoires, for the production of blades (using predominantly SC obsidians) and of flakes (based exclusively on SA and SB2 obsidians), respectively, but on the whole, assemblage blade/bladelet production was performed somewhat preferably with SA and SB2 types. Thus, in the earliest EN culture known on the island, ancient man had, for the making of its obsidian toolkit, a highly adaptive behaviour applied to the reduction of different useful obsidian sources.     

Local recipes or distant commodities? Lead isotope and chemical compositional analysis of glaze paints from the Salinas pueblos,New Mexico

For nearly four hundred years, Pueblo potters in the Rio Grande Valley of New Mexico produced technologically innovative glaze-decorated bowls and exchanged them widely among different villages. While potential sources of lead ores used to make glaze paints are found throughout the Rio Grande Valley region, researchers have only recently begun to identify which ore sources potters exploited and to understand the social and economic factors underlying patterns of ore resource use. In this paper we use stable lead isotope and electron microprobe analysis of glaze paints on Rio Grande Glaze Ware made at two Salinas pueblos to identify ore sources and glaze recipes used by their potters. Despite some isotopic overlap of ore sources, the lead isotope data point to regular exploitation of ores from the Socorro area of the southern Rio Grande. Salinas potters apparently used other sources as well, and likely mixed ores from different sources. We also identify four local glaze recipes that appear to incorporate multiple ore sources, suggesting that Salinas potters obtained raw ores rather than finished glaze paints.     

First Geochemical ‘Fingerprinting’ of Balkan and Prut Flint from Palaeolithic Romania: Potentials,Limitations and Future Directions

Long‐distance raw material transfers across Romania prior to the Last Glacial Maximum have previously been inferred from either visual and/or petrographic observations of East Carpathian sites. We investigated the potential to ‘fingerprint’ flint from archaeological sites at Mitoc‐Malu Galben and Bistricioara–Lut?rie III in Eastern Romania, using in situ high‐precision analyses of 28 major, minor and trace elements determined by laser ablation – inductively coupled plasma – mass spectrometry (LA–ICP–MS) in combination with multivariate statistical analysis. Our results suggest that geochemical analyses have the ability to distinguish between different geographical sources but are unable to positively associate flint artefacts from archaeological contexts to these geochemical groups. The mismatches of signatures between artefacts and geological materials, however, raise new questions and open unforeseen perspectives.     

Does Combinatorial Knowledge Lead to a Better Innovation Performance of Firms?

The knowledge base concept in the past was often applied in its “pure form”, i.e. it was assumed that there are dominant knowledge bases in particular sectors and firms shaping knowledge and innovation processes and related networks. For “analytical sectors” such as biotech, it has been argued that codified knowledge generated by universities and R&D organizations is the key for innovation, whereas “synthetic sectors” such as machinery innovate more incrementally by recombining existing knowledge often drawn from suppliers or service firms. Empirical literature has partly confirmed these patters, but also shown more complex knowledge processes. More recently it has been argued that combinations of different knowledge bases might enhance the innovation performance of firms. For example in “analytical sectors”, firms might benefit not just from new and basic knowledge generated by research, but also from recombining existing and applied knowledge or by drawing on symbolic knowledge. Combinatorial knowledge bases might also be relevant for “synthetic” and “symbolic sectors”, but in different forms. This study investigates for the ICT sector in regions of Austria if the reliance on combinatorial knowledge leads to a better innovation performance than the use of more narrow knowledge bases.     

An analysis of a Natchez gunflint assemblage from the lower Mississippi valley and its implications for eighteenth-century colonial economic interactions

Archaeological analyses of European lithic technologies in North America are often discussed anecdotally within the context of other material evidence of European occupations. In North America, the presence of gunflints manufactured in Europe, generally England (which became part of Great Britain in 1707) or France, is used as a marker for the influence of these European powers and as a reflection of from whom residents obtained their material culture. Gunflints were made in Europe and in North America (north of the Rio Grande) from the early 1600s to the late 1800s. Thus, gunflints from sites such as the Natchez Fort, Louisiana (AD 1729–1731) provide a unique avenue of analysis for understanding both continuity in lithic technologies and the interactions between indigenous and introduced technologies. We address methodological concerns in typifying historic lithic collections, specifically eighteenth-century gunflints, particularly as these concern sourcing and the implications of sourcing for eighteenth-century colonial interactions in the southeastern United States.     

A new programme of obsidian characterization at Çatalhöyük,Turkey

This paper details the chemical sourcing of 135 obsidian artefacts from Çatalhöyük, a Neolithic site in central Anatolia, the trace-elemental analyses being undertaken in two laboratories using ICP-MS, ICP-AES and LA-ICP-MS. The material is assigned to three sources in Cappadocia: Göllü Da?-east, Nenezi Da? and Ac?göl West. The various interrelationships of technology, raw material and date are considered, the data suggesting an increased reliance upon the Nenezi Da? source in the latter part of the Early Neolithic, a shift that coincides with, and is related to, the introduction of new blade technologies.