NEUTRON ACTIVATION ANALYSIS OF AD 1660–1930 EUROPEAN COPPER-COLOURED BLUE GLASS TRADE BEADS FROM ONTARIO,CANADA

Blue glass trade beads from well-dated late seventeenth- to early twentieth-century sites and collections have been analysed non-destructively by instrumental neutron activation analysis. The beads display enough variations in their elemental contents to allow us to characterize the different chemistries. The implication of these results is that similar chemical analyses of blue beads from undated archaeological sites may be used to help date the sites, since each bead chemistry has a specific earliest period.     

CHEMICAL ANALYSIS OF COPPER ALLOY TRADE METAL FROM A POST-CONTACT HURON SITE IN ONTARIO,CANADA

Fifty-three copper-based metal fragments, recovered from the Robitaille site in southcentral Ontario, were analysed by neutron activation to establish their chemical make-up and to sort them by their trace elemental chemistries. Three different European copper samples, one brassy copper and 48 brass samples with five different chemistries were found. As few as eight trading actions may account for all of the recovered European metal fragments.     

NEW ARCHAEOMAGNETIC STUDIES NEAR XI'AN,CHINA*

Archaeomagnetic and mineral magnetic studies were made of known-age samples from fired structures and sediments from archaeological sites near Xi'an, China. The fired materials retained a stable record of the direction of the past geomagnetic field, which compared well with previous investigations and could contribute to an archaeomagnetic calibration curve. However, discrepancies with documented observations of the field were noted.     

TRACE ELEMENT GEOCHEMISTRY OF NATIVE COPPER FROM THE WHITE PINE MINE,MICHIGAN (USA): IMPLICATIONS FOR SOURCING ARTEFACTS*

Eighty-five samples of native copper from the White Pine mine in upper Michigan were analysed by neutron activation to document geochemical variability within a single locality. Silver, sodium, antimony and scandium contents vary by two orders of magnitude, whereas arsenic values vary by three orders of magnitude. This variability reinforces the need for provenance studies of artefacts to examine sufficient samples to test for heterogeneity within the source area. The White Pine suite contains some of the most impure native copper that has been analysed to date. Arsenic and silver values of these impure samples overlap with those of European coppers, but consideration of several elements can still distinguish native copper from European copper.     

NEUTRON ACTIVATION ANALYSIS OF SIXTEENTH- AND SEVENTEENTH-CENTURY EUROPEAN BLUE GLASS TRADE BEADS FROM THE EASTERN GREAT LAKES AREA OF NORTH AMERICA*

Sixteenth- and seventeenth-century European blue glass trade beads from aboriginal sites in the eastern Great Lakes area of North America have been analysed non-destructively using low neutron dose instrumental neutron activation analysis, so that the beads could be returned to their keepers. Dark blue (cobalt-coloured) beads are readily separable from turquoise (copper-coloured) beads. Differences in the chemistries of the turquoise blue beads appear to be useful in separating glass beads from the two centuries. Low calcium, sixteenth-century turquoise beads tend to distintegrate by a leaching of the alkali metals.     

Bitumen in Early Ceramic Art: Bitumen‐Painted Ceramics From Late Neolithic Tell Sabi Abyad (Syria)*

The paper presents the results of a chemical analysis of black pigment used to decorate pottery from Late Neolithic Tell Sabi Abyad, northern Syria (c. 6100 cal bc ). The pigment appears to be bitumen. A comparison with known reference samples from modern locations of bituminous sources in the Near East suggests that the bitumen used to paint ceramics at Tell Sabi Abyad came from at least two different source areas in northern Iraq. The bitumen‐painted ceramics at Tell Sabi Abyad represent the earliest evidence attested so far of bitumen used as a pigment for pottery decoration.     

The Use of Strontium Isotope Analysis to Investigate Tiwanaku Migration and Mortuary Ritual in Bolivia and Peru

Strontium isotope analysis is applied in South America for the first time in order to investigate residential mobility and mortuary ritual from ad 500 to 1000. While Tiwanaku‐style artefacts are spread throughout Bolivia, southern Peru and northern Chile during this time, the nature of Tiwanaku influence in the region is much debated. Human skeletal remains from the site of Tiwanaku and the proposed Tiwanaku colony of Chen Chen have been analysed to test the hypothesis that Tiwanaku colonies, populated with inhabitants from Tiwanaku, existed in Peru. Strontium isotope analysis supports this hypothesis by demonstrating that non‐local individuals are present at both sites.