Archaeometry最新文献

The Corning Museum of Glass in Corning, New York, houses thousands of glass beads acquired in the early 1970s from Alastair Lamb. These materials represent Lamb's research at Kuala Selinsing, Pengkalan Bujang, and Johor Lama (all in Malaysia), and Takua Pa (Thailand), spanning almost two millennia of interactions across the Bay of Bengal interaction sphere. Laser ablation inductively coupled mass spectrometric (LA-ICP-MS) analysis of a subset of material attributed to these sites provides significant comparative data that elucidates the patterns of glass production within the region alongside imported materials from the Middle East and China over the longue durée.

Numerous isotopic studies of Scottish Mesolithic and Neolithic diets suggest a shift from marine-based to terrestrial-based subsistence strategies. However, bulk collagen isotope analysis may overlook low-level marine food consumption. This study combines bulk collagen stable isotope data from four Neolithic sites (Quanterness, Rattar East, Ness of Brodgar, and Knap of Howar) with nitrogen compound-specific isotope analysis (CSIA-AA) from one Late Mesolithic and five Neolithic sites. CSIA-AA, applied here for the first time to Scottish material, reveals limited but detectable aquatic resource use by some Neolithic individuals in Orkney. These findings highlight the complexities in identifying marine contributions to diet and underscore the value of CSIA-AA in distinguishing direct marine consumption from other sources of elevated nitrogen isotope values, such as seaweed or animals with marine-influenced diets.

This study represents the first attempt to develop archaeometric software that enables researchers without programming knowledge to address archaeometric challenges, specifically determining the provenance of rocks extracted from ancient quarries. Through interaction with ChatGPT 4.0, an advanced artificial intelligence (AI) language model, the authors guided the AI to develop StoneScanalyzer 1.0 software in Python programming language. The step-by-step collaborative process resulted in software capable of automatically extracting 43 quantitative variables from sets of images of cut, wet rocks acquired under reflected light, thin sections of rocks acquired under natural and polarized transmitted light using a flatbed scanner. Data elaboration using linear discriminant analysis (LDA) models and principal component analysis (PCA) led to the construction of discriminant diagrams for 250 samples taken from 10 quarries located in Calabria (southern Italy). StoneScanalyzer 1.0 software can be easily used by researchers without basic petrographic or geological knowledge, making it highly appealing as a first step for archaeologists, architects, art historians and anyone interested in studying rock provenance without expertise in mineralogy, geochemistry or petrography.

We examine the number of sites with silver objects in China over a period of 3500 years to suggest that technologies that stimulated the indigenous exploitation of silver-bearing ores were innovated during the Spring and Autumn period (c. 770–476 BCE), and that increased centralisation and bureaucratisation from the Warring States period (475–221 BCE) advanced their adoption. This culture of innovation should have extended to other prestige metals used for decorative objects, such as bloomery iron. However, bloomery iron, although rare prior to the 5th century BCE, disappears almost entirely from the archaeological record in China after this time. We recognise that the movement of objects and ideas across the Eurasian Steppe was potentially the impetus for both silver- and bloomery iron-production technologies in China, but that the adoption trajectory of bloomery iron diverged from that of silver because of the introduction of mass-produced cast iron. In effect, we propose that bloomery iron's status and value diminished when iron became recognised as a utilitarian material; that is, the Chinese invention of cast iron stymied the adoption of the bloomery process and effectively signed the death warrant of iron as a prestige metal.

This research represents the most extensive characterisation of Roman mosaic tesserae (tiles) from Aquileia, Italy, to date, examining 153 specimens. The study aimed to identify the lithotypes used in mosaics production through a multi-analytical approach, which included colorimetric analysis, polarised light microscopy and scanning electron microscopy. The results showcase a variety of materials, particularly limestone sourced from the Italian and the Slovenian Karst regions, as well as colourful lithic materials from distant locations. These findings expand current knowledge beyond the limited scientific literature on Aquileian mosaics and can inform further studies on sourcing strategies, local socio-economic connections and craftsmanship of the Roman era.

The paper primarily examines and compares the effectiveness of techniques for analyzing the paint, canvas, and pictorial structure of a painting to determine its condition, age, and authenticity. The study was conducted in four phases. In the first phase, the study employed a stereo microscope, UV–Vis–NIR reflectance spectroscopy, X-ray imaging, X-ray fluorescence, and biochemical analysis in order to examine a sample of paintings. During the second phase, the results of analyzing authentic paintings and reproductions were compared to understand the distinctive features that aid in determining a piece's authenticity. During the third phase, the test findings and scores (in terms of compositional arrangement, the depiction of shapes using color, proficiency in painting techniques, color, and harmonic solution) assigned to these paintings were compared. The fourth phase included a survey conducted among experts to obtain their opinions on special programs and technologies for examining the canvas, paints, and pictorial structure. Research findings revealed the analysis methods preferred by experts and the domains of painting research in which these methods prove to be most effective.

The neodymium (Nd) isotope composition of stone casting moulds found in graves of Bronze Age ‘itinerant smiths’ in western Poland was analysed to determine the provenance of their raw materials. For the first time in archaeological research, the Nd model age (T_DM)—a highly useful parameter in studying the provenance of geological materials—has been applied. Nd data revealed that the material for making casting moulds came from the Sudetes. Additionally, the results of strontium isotope analysis in human remains indicated that the metallurgists were neither born nor spent their early childhood in the areas where they were buried.

Steatite has been a widely traded material across a range of archaeological contexts. Yet, challenges inherent to determining its provenance limits our understanding of the networks and mechanisms of its exchange. We present a robust new accessory mineral provenancing “fingerprint” method based their specific growth history. We use laser-ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS) to produce detailed trace-element maps of minerals that reveal changes in the composition across individual crystals, which arose due to changes in their location-specific growing conditions. Our case study presents results from Scandinavian steatite quarries that feature spinel and iron oxide accessory minerals.

The research focuses on jewellery finds uncovered in the region of today's Czech Republic dated to the Great Migration Period. The metals and garnet inlays detected were examined with μ-EDXRF, whereas, for glass samples, LA-ICP-MS was used. The paper presented is supplemented with data concerning the technological processing of the jewellery (documented with optical microscopy) and information dealing with analogies to the artifacts studied. Based on the chemical composition combined with the results of Raman spectroscopy, the study has identified several types of garnets with varying geological origins. The occurrence frequency of the types represented differs from previously published data.

As an important provenance indicator, trace element profile has been widely used to reveal the origin and mixing history of archaeological bronzes. However, due to the lack of chemical characterization of raw copper from smelting sites, there has been little understanding about the variation of trace element concentration within one copper source. This has significantly confined discussion on copper circulation in prehistoric societies. This research developed a method to analyze copper prills embedded in smelting slag based on laser ablation–inductively coupled plasma–mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS). A series of tests have proved that a relative error of less than 20% can be achieved for most elements with appropriate choice of analytical parameters and reference materials. This method is then used to analyze the Early–Middle Shang (1500–1200 BC) period copper smelting slag from the site of Tongling in northern Jiangxi province, China. The results show that the copper smelted from different ores of the same site has systematically different trace element characteristics, and copper prills of this site are highly varied in terms of Ag, Ni, Co, As, and Bi content. When plotting Tongling prills together with the bronze artifacts from the Panlongcheng site, also in the Middle Yangtze River valley, it is found that the trace element concentration of these two sites correspond well with each other, and the Panlongcheng bronzes with highly varied trace element profile could have been manufactured with copper from one source. This analysis demonstrates the potentially heterogeneous nature of the copper trace element profiles produced at one smelting site, and calls for more analysis of copper prills using LA-ICP-MS to establish a new foundation for future discussions on copper provenance based on trace element data.