Simon P. Sherman III, Ryan M. Parish, Diana M. Greenlee, D. Shane Miller
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引用次数: 1
Abstract
Lithic raw material variation is valuable for assessing the scale of human mobility, differential access to and from raw material sources, and prehistoric exchange patterns. Recent advancements in non-destructive reflectance spectroscopy have proven to be more accurate in provenance investigations compared with the macroscopic (visual) identification technique for lithic artifacts. Here, we use visible/near-infrared reflectance and Fourier transform reflectance spectroscopy on a collection of 845 lithic bifaces at Poverty Point (16WC5) site in northeastern Louisiana, a UNESCO World Heritage site that is well-known for the presence of nonlocal materials, including stone tools. This study describes the first systematic approach to analyzing and interpreting hyperspectral reflectance data for cryptocrystalline silicate (e.g., chert and flint) artifacts at Poverty Point site. The chert materials identified in this study reaffirm the idea that tool stones arriving at the Poverty Point site came from diverse geologic sources, covering an expansive geographic area.
期刊介绍:
Geoarchaeology is an interdisciplinary journal published six times per year (in January, March, May, July, September and November). It presents the results of original research at the methodological and theoretical interface between archaeology and the geosciences and includes within its scope: interdisciplinary work focusing on understanding archaeological sites, their environmental context, and particularly site formation processes and how the analysis of sedimentary records can enhance our understanding of human activity in Quaternary environments. Manuscripts should examine the interrelationship between archaeology and the various disciplines within Quaternary science and the Earth Sciences more generally, including, for example: geology, geography, geomorphology, pedology, climatology, oceanography, geochemistry, geochronology, and geophysics. We also welcome papers that deal with the biological record of past human activity through the analysis of faunal and botanical remains and palaeoecological reconstructions that shed light on past human-environment interactions. The journal also welcomes manuscripts concerning the examination and geological context of human fossil remains as well as papers that employ analytical techniques to advance understanding of the composition and origin or material culture such as, for example, ceramics, metals, lithics, building stones, plasters, and cements. Such composition and provenance studies should be strongly grounded in their geological context through, for example, the systematic analysis of potential source materials.