Archaeometry最新文献

This study explores the role of tambo San Francisco (4000 m a.s.l.), located near the Incahuasi volcano and associated high-altitude sanctuary (6638 m a.s.l.), as a potential aggregation site for political commensalism and religious pilgrimage within the Inca Empire. We analysed 221 ceramic sherds, representing a variety of vessel types, recovered from six Inca-period sites situated across diverse environmental zones in west-central Catamarca, northwestern Argentina. These sites fulfilled different functions within the empire's broader expansion strategies during the 15th and 16th centuries. Instrumental neutron activation analysis was employed to obtain chemical fingerprints of the ceramics. The resulting geochemical data served as the basis for modelling the circulation of people and goods. The findings suggest that multiple archaeological sites were linked through ritualized mobility circuits, acting as nodes in pilgrimage and travel routes across intermontane valleys and highland environments.

Archaeometallurgical studies at the Salh site in northern Oman have provided new data on copper technology in the Bronze Age and Islamic periods. Archaeological results indicate that it may have functioned seasonally. Slag analyses have shown possible technological changes over the centuries. Smelting was carried out under reducing conditions, using oxidized copper ores weathering zone deposits. The scale of copper production at Salh1 was relatively small in both periods, but—due to its strategic location near important trade routes—the site could have functioned as part of a short-range as well as long-range mercantile network.

The Sangdalongguo cemetery is located on the western Xizang Plateau (Tibetan Plateau), at Tuolin Town, Zhada County, Ali Prefecture, Xizang (Tibet). This paper studies the early use and production technologies of iron in western Xizang through scientific analysis of the iron objects excavated from the Sangdalongguo cemetery. The excavated iron objects are dated as early as the fourth century BCE. These are the earliest iron objects excavated from the western Xizang Plateau that have been scientifically analyzed. The results show that these iron objects are hypo-eutectoid steel products and were manufactured by forging processes. The emergence of iron objects on the western Xizang Plateau are more likely closely related to its cultural exchange between Xinjiang and Kashmir regions.

This study centers on a sample of ceramics (n = 37) from the site of San José Cuautitlan and contextualized within a much larger database of Formative ceramics (n = 1242), mostly from greater central Mexico. The sample was assayed through neutron activation analysis (NAA), with a subsample made into thin sections for petrographic analysis. In this article, we (1) situate the sample from San José within the longer history of ceramic traditions over the Formative period in the Basin of Mexico, (2) assess the pottery production recipe employed at San José in comparison to the composition of ceramics from neighboring segments of the Basin, and (3) source a sample of 10 Granular White amphora that were imported into the site. We demonstrate a low level of ceramic trade among sites within the Basin of Mexico. We also tentatively source Granular White amphora recovered at the site to central Morelos. Further, we show through a comparison of these Late Formative Granular White specimens to later Classic period Granular Ware from Teotihuacan and other sites that the source of this trade ware changed over time.

This study investigated the Chupícuaro ceramic production in Formative Mesoamerica through geochemical and petrographic examinations of a large set of Chupícuaro ceramic vessel sherds. The results are consistent with local domestic production using locally available resources, both for clays and for pigments of the painted decorations. Several production sites with their own sources of raw materials would have co-existed in the Acámbaro Valley, capable of great technical and stylistic mastery and uniformity. This production has evolved in the diachrony. In particular, the study reveals a change in the sources of raw materials between the two successive periods Chupícuaro and Mixtlan.

Methodological correlation of biogeochemical records is a common challenge in studies of animal and human palaeoecology. The correlation of datasets needs a repeatable mathematical method and statistical control of the strength of achieved correlation. To address it, we applied GenCorr software, a genetic algorithm designed for correlating the stable isotope records in speleothems, to correlate the intra-individual high-resolution strontium (⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr) laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometric profiles in horse teeth from an archaeological context. We found GenCorr to provide very good correlation for both high-resolution profiles and profiles with the resolution selectively reduced. The method can be applied to other data as well, such as stable isotope or trace element profiles.

This article examines 10th-century blue and purple glass beads from a Hungarian burial in Lužianky, Slovakia, in order to determine their origin through chemical analysis. The beads are primarily composed of SiO₂, Na₂O and CaO, identified as soda-lime silica glass made from halophytic plant ash. The K₂O content ranges from 2.292% to 3.145%, while the MgO content is between 4.385% and 6.160%. The beads are classified as Mesopotamian type 2. These findings highlight extensive trade between the Near East and Central Europe during the Early Middle Ages, demonstrating the region's integration into broader historical processes through combined archaeological and chemical research methods.

The enduring mystery of the production, trade, and consumption of the prestigious proto-porcelain wares across northern and southern China has abated in the wake of discovery of kilns for such products in the recent decades. A new cluster of such kilns recently discovered in the Wuyishan Mountain, in particular, supplies a promising candidate for provenancing those of the Western Zhou (1045-771 BCE). To test this possibility, however, it is indispensable to investigate a priori the compositional characteristics of the products of this cluster. To this end, the authors analyzed a number of samples of proto-porcelain wares from three sites and porcelain stone near them with ICP-OES and SEM-EDS. They found that the bodies of the samples are made of porcelain stone available in the vicinity. The discrepancies in the bodies and glazes across different production sites are largely derived from deliberate choices of raw materials and firing technologies.