Schmidt hammer rebound hardness tests for the characterization of ancient fired clay bricks

This article presents results of non-destructive Schmidt hammer tests performed on ancient fired clay bricks sampled from historical masonry. These tests were carried out in order to evaluate, and compare, the different degrees of degradation, depending on the bricks’ specific exposures and locations within a wall. The results indicate that this technique is sensitive enough to distinguish sample locations and measure weathering differences, even for different surfaces of a particular sample. For each case study, referenced surfaces were tested for bricks from a facade or interior wall. Each surface was tested with a Schmidt hammer type LB at ten different points of measurement, and these measurements were repeated ten times. For each impact at a particular point, a mean rebound value was calculated to provide an index of the degree of brick-surface microweathering.     

河北隆化鸽子洞元代窖藏织绣品蓝色染料分析

采用光学显微观察、激光拉曼、紫外-可见吸收光谱以及高效液相色谱对河北隆化鸽子洞蓝棉袄蓝色、浅蓝色纤维以及百衲枕顶蓝色纤维进行分析研究.通过多种分析手段相互佐证表明,该组样品采用蓝草中的靛蓝染色,色素成分有靛蓝素和靛玉红.各样品中色素成分比例均不相同,推测至少在元代,人类已经能够有意识地调整制靛工艺,染出自己需要的色光.同时靛蓝染料耐光性耐热性差,对酸、碱和氧化均敏感,耐盐性及耐细菌性较弱.在以靛蓝染色的织物清洗中,要选择性地使用洗涤剂,进行点滴试验后才可使用,同时在存放过程中要做到避光、避免高温.     

Mineral weathering in forest soils and its relevance to the preservation of the buried archaeological resource

There is more woodland in Britain now than for many centuries and considering many international climate change mitigation policies, woodland cover, both in Britain and internationally, is being promoted. However, neither the management of existing woodlands nor their expansion should be at the expense of important archaeological evidence. Due to the large number of known archaeological sites, the large areas of land with uninvestigated archaeological potential and the expanding woodland cover, suitable mitigation strategies need to be developed to allow preservation in situ of important sites. An understanding of how woodland soils and the buried archaeological resource interact is, therefore, essential. This paper utilises ongoing environmental research into the mineral weathering rates in forest soils and considers its application to artefact preservation. The study concludes that soil water pH, its movement, and the saturation of dissolved ions in the soil solution are major factors determining both mineral and artefact longevity. A simple guide to artefact longevity based on these properties is proposed and a geochemical model for predicting loss is tested. These tools could be applied to any soil or individual horizon irrespective of land-use.     

Strontium isotopic characterization of the Palmottu hydrosystem (Finland): water–rock interaction and geochemistry of groundwaters

The Palmottu hydrosystem is located in a granitic host rock in southern Finland. Along well‐defined pathways in the fractured crystalline rock, strontium isotopes are used to trace the degree of water–rock interaction (WRI) and mixing processes in groundwaters. The ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr ratios range between 0.716910 and 0.735606 in the surface waters and between 0.719991 and 0.750787 in the groundwaters, but are between 0.720 and 0.735 in most of the samples. Moreover, the results show a lack of correlation between the water chemistries determining the classification into different water‐types (Na–Cl, Na–SO₄, etc.) and the results of the strontium (Sr) contents and Sr isotopic ratios. From a WRI standpoint, this implies that the Sr behaviour is independent of the water chemistry; the occurrence of large ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr variations is site specific and mainly dependent on the lithology. A model to determine the ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr ratio of water after interaction with granite was developed. This model is based on the assumption that Sr was derived from three minerals: plagioclase, K‐feldspar and biotite. The results of the calculation indicate that around half of the water analysed within the Palmottu hydrosystem can be explained by the weathering of the granites. However, clearly lower ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr are observed in waters when compared to the calculated ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr and other sources of Sr, with low ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr, rather than the calculated granite–water interaction, which may be suspected. When comparing the ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr and ion ratios (Ca/Na, Mg/Na, Sr/Na, Cl/Na), the scattering of the data can be explained by the presence of four end‐members: a brine component (low ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr and Ca/Na ratios…), a deep granitic component (high ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr ratios and low Ca/Na ratios…), a subsurface component (intermediate ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr ratios associated with high Ca/Na ratios…) and a surface end‐member:snow and river drainage (low ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr and low Ca/Na ratios…). These extreme end‐members define a series of WRI‐mixing line within a rather complex hydrosystem.     

鲁北—胶东盐业考古调查记

本文通过对鲁北莱州湾和胶东半岛16个县市和出有盔形器的遗址进行了调查,对盔形器的形态演变、分布区域、使用功能等进行了初步研究,并与国内外有关遗址和类似器物作了比较分析,确认菜州湾沿海包含大量盔形器的遗址是商周时期的制盐作坊,而盔形器则是制盐的特殊用具.     

Temporal nature and recycling of Upper Paleolithic artifacts: the burned tools from the Molí del Salt site (Vimbodí i Poblet,northeastern Spain)

Recent research in Paleolithic archeology has stressed the importance of temporal issues in assemblage interpretation. Archeological assemblages are temporal constructs, formed by the addition of an unknown number of depositional events. This temporal dimension is also evident at the artifactual level, since single artifacts may undergo different events of modification and/or uses over time. The recycling of previously discarded blanks for tool production is one of the best examples of the temporal nature of artifacts. The aim of this paper is to evaluate the importance of recycling in a Late Upper Paleolithic site, examining a type of artifact – burned tools – that has up to now been little used to approach this issue. Our results suggest that recycling was probably a significant component of Upper Paleolithic provisioning behavior, with important implications in site formation processes and the typological variability of assemblages. The expedient or curated character of recycling is also discussed.     

Evaluating effects of chemical weathering and surface contamination on the in situ provenance analysis of building stones in the Cuzco region of Peru with portable XRF

As the only type of instrument capable of determining artifact geochemistry in a wide variety of settings, portable X-Ray Fluorescence (PXRF) may be frequently utilized as probably the best option for collecting data when removal of objects in part or in whole is unfeasible. However, using PXRF in circumstances where sample selection and preparation diverge from standards developed for lab-based instrumentation requires assessing the impact of new and potentially limiting factors to establish the validity of the method in these new contexts. Here we examine the effects of surface contamination and chemical weathering on the ability to assess provenance of igneous building stones used in the Cuzco region of Peru. Surface contamination was assessed through comparing low-impact cleaning methods on diorite and andesite blocks, and weathering was examined by comparing weathered vs. fresh surfaces of samples from two andesite quarries. In general, the lightest elements were most impacted by contamination and weathering while measurements of many of the heavier elements commonly used in provenance studies were relatively unaffected. Concentrations of Pb and Zn were problematic in the urban context of Cuzco because of pollution. Ability to determine provenance of building stones within those limitations (i.e., the validity of this application of PXRF) was demonstrated in a preliminary study by comparing measurements from uncleaned, exposed building stones in the region to fresh quarry samples.     

遗址博物馆土遗址病害调查与成因分析——以萧山跨湖桥遗址博物馆为例

潮湿环境土遗址的保护一直是非常困难的课题。当遗址与其他材质的文物共存时,保护难度更高。为了探讨遗址博物馆内病害发生的规律和影响因素,为未来潮湿环境土遗址保护措施的研究和设计提供依据,以杭州市萧山区跨湖桥遗址为例开展调查研究。发现盖棚可以防止雨水对土遗址的破坏,但造成了水和盐的单向迁移,是目前土遗址病害的主要根源。对于室内遗址博物馆,如何解决遗址土体水分单向迁移带来的破坏已经成为迫切需要开展研究的课题,建议尽快开展室内土遗址补水技术的实验研究。     

有机-无机复合疏水型二氧化硅涂层制备及性能

为研究制作保护石质文物的加固材料,采用溶胶-凝胶法,以两种有机硅材料(正硅酸乙酯(TEOS)和甲基三乙氧基硅烷(MTES))为共同前驱体,少量正辛胺为催化剂,聚二甲基硅氧烷(PDMS)(方法 1)或硅烷偶联剂KH-570(方法 2)为有机改性剂,制备了有机-无机复合疏水型Si O2涂层。通过红外光谱(FT-IR)、扫描电镜(SEM)和水接触角(WCA)来表征在砖块表面形成的SiO_2膜层化学组成、表面形貌以及疏水性能,然后再通过测试砖块加固前后外观、吸水性能和孔隙率的变化来验证实际加固效果。结果表明,两种方法均可以制备骨架带-CH3基团的SiO_2溶胶。采用方法 1(添加前驱体质量10%的PDMS)或者方法 2(MTES/TEOS质量比为2),加固后的砖块对水接触角均超过140°,毛细吸水率降低到未处理时的1%~2%,并且砖块的色差和光泽度改变较小。通过耐候性能测试表明,方法 2的保护效果相对较好,说明用此种方法合成的疏水性二氧化硅涂层可以作为砖块加固材料。     

Diffusion and kinetic control of weathering layer development

The formation of porous weathering rinds (layers of chemical alteration) on the exterior of rocks is a consequence of dissolution and precipitation of minerals occurring at the mineral–fluid interface within the pores. The speed at which the developed rind advances is controlled by both kinetic reaction rates and the transport of reaction products away from the pore spaces into the outside fluid. We show, using both reaction‐diffusion theory and numerics, that under diffusion limitations, the weathering rate depends on the size and curvature of the sample. This leads to a relationship between rind thickness, δ, and age, t. As the rind thickens, the result in three dimensions differs substantially from the one‐dimensional result of . We describe the conditions under which the one‐dimensional and diffusion‐limited approximations apply and how they evolve as the rock weathers. Under chemical kinetic limitations, the rind advances at a constant rate, dδ/dt = v. We defend the application of a spherical approximation to irregular non‐spherical rocks and apply our results to field observations reported in the literature to show consistency with established methods. Finally, we argue that the variability in size, as well as in mineralogy, over ensembles of grains contributes to heterogeneous weathering rates. We demonstrate that this heterogeneity can contribute to the aging, or gradual decrease with time, of weathering rates previously observed in laboratory and field measurements.