Geoarchaeology:Technique

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[edit] Technique Development and Validation

Many geoarchaeological studies are designed to develop and test new analytical methodologies or to validate existing techniques. This applies both to field and laboratory techniques. Even relatively routine techniques such as phosphate analysis are constantly being revisited to test the assumptions made in their use, refine methodologies and apply the technique to new deposits and new questions. Studies include:

• The development of relatively new cutting edge techniques for specific applications in archaeology, for example the use of gamma spectrometry in site monitoring (Wilkinson et al., 2006).
• The application of techniques whose use is already established in archaeology to a different aspect of research. For example, Pb isotope analysis is established in metallurgy to provenance bronzes and other metal artefacts (Gale, 2001), however, it has only recently been used to study inputs to soils on archaeological sites and to trace the movement of materials between contexts (Wilson et al., 2006).
• The testing and re-examination of the assumptions behind established applications of techniques in archaeology. For example, the evaluation of sampling and extraction methodologies for phosphate analysis (Crowther, 1997; Holliday and Gartner, 2007) or the re-evaluation of the assumptions inherent in the use of multi-element analysis to interpret space use and function (Wilson et al., in press).

[edit] Case Studies

Example case studies of technique validation studies involving geoarchaeology include:

• Extraction methodologies for multi-element analysis.
• Pb isotope ratios to source anthropogenic inputs to soils on archaeological sites.
• The use of discriminant models of soil chemistry to identify functional areas on historic rural settlement sites, Tayside, Scotland

[edit] References

• Crowther, J.(1997) Soil phosphate surveys: critical approaches to sampling, analysis and interpretation. Archaeological Prospection, 4, 93-102.
• Gale, N.H. (2001) Archaeology, science based archaeology and the Mediterranean Bronze Age metals trade: a contribution

to the debate. European Journal of Archaeology, 4, 113–30.

• Holliday, V.T. and Gartner, W.G. (2007) Methods of soil P analysis in archaeology. Journal of Archaeological Science, 34, 301-333.
• Wilkinson, K., Tyler, A., Davidson, D., Grieve, I. (2006) Quantifying the threat to archaeological sites from the erosion of cultivated soil. Antiquity, 80, 658-670.
• Wilson, C.A., Bacon, J.R., Cresser,M.S., and Davidson, D.A. (2006) Lead isotope ratios as a means of courcing anthropogenic lead in archaeological soils: a pilot study of an abandoned Shetland croft. Archaeometry, 48, 501-509.
• Wilson, C.A., Davidson, D.A., and Cresser, M.S. (in press) Multi-element soil analysis: an assessment of its potential as

an aid to archaeological interpretation, Journal of Archaeological Science.