Phosphatic mineralization of seeds from archaeological sites

Recent investigations of botanical material from archaeological sites have provided seeds and plant remains exhibiting a crystalline or semi-crystalline appearance. X-ray diffraction and partial chemical analysis have revealed that the particular plant materials had been replaced by calcium phosphate. Using systematic sampling and retrieval techniques a significant body of data has been accumulated. Most mineralized botanical evidence has been recovered from faecal deposits, in particular cess pits and garderobes, and has provided an important source of information about aspects of diet of past populations.     

New parameters for the characterization of diagenetic alterations and heat-induced changes of fossil bone mineral using Fourier transform infrared spectrometry

Diagenetic alteration may limit the potential use of the biogenic composition of fossil bone as a reliable source of information for dietary, environmental and climatic reconstructions. One of the key parameters used to determine the state of preservation of fossil remains is their crystallinity. This can be evaluated by means of infrared spectroscopy, measuring the “splitting factor” (IRSF). However, the crystallinity may fail to describe the extent of chemical and mineralogical changes occurring during fossilization, and cannot be used alone as a reliable indicator of biogenic signal preservation.     

Indigenous Modernities: Missionary Photography and Photographic Gaps in Nauru

This essay examines a set of photographs created by Philip Delaporte, a German-American missionary working for the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions on the island of Nauru in the early 20th century. At the time Nauru was a German colony, but the phosphate industry had brought a varied group of settlers and influences that added to a pre-existing series of inter-Pacific connections. The photographs were produced just prior to the full realization of the mining industry and the widespread ecological destruction it brought to the island. In many ways, Delaporte’s photographs are typical, recording the mission’s various projects and successes. However, Delaporte’s unique position as an ambiguous colonial figure on the eve of World War I, and Nauru’s own complex relationship with modernity, invite alternate readings of these images. Outside of Delaporte’s original intention, the photographs record other experiences: the workings of Indigenous modernity in the midst of a place increasingly subject to the inflows of global, colonial capital.     

Accessing Hunter-Gatherer site structures using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy: applications at a Taltheilei settlement in the Canadian Sub-Arctic

The results of Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy on soils and caribou bone from a Taltheilei culture settlement in northern Canada contribute to developing micro-archaeological approaches suitable for locating and characterizing hearth and midden features on hunter-gatherer sites. A weak yet pervasive signal for montgomeryite was developed from the diagenesis of dispersed ash and caribou processing residues. Disordered calcite, carbonate hydroxylapatite, charcoal, and burned bone in two pit-house hearth deposits indicate that both wood and bone were used for fuel. Crystallinity indices and carbonate/phosphate ratios for bone indicate high intensity burning. These data, in tandem with the presence of semi-subterranean dwellings, demonstrate that this particular tundra-based encampment was occupied during cold seasons, a type of settlement behaviour previously unrecognized in the Taltheilei archaeological record. Our results confirm that Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy is an accessible, rapid, and cost effective means of discovering micro-archaeological evidence valuable for reconstructing hunter-gatherer site structures.