Archaeological anthropology

Natural radioactivity is useful in establishing the approximate age of objects of archaeological, anthropological, or historical interest. Radiocarbon dating is the estimation of the age of objects through measurement of isotopic ratios of carbon. 

Pfeiffer, S. 1989 Characterization of archaeological bone decomposition in a sample of known length of interment. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 78 283. 

Ezzo, J.A. 1994a Putting the Chemistry hack into archaeological hone ehemistry analysis modeling potential paleodietary Indicators. Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 13 1-34. 

To enable comparison to this experimental approach, archaeological human bones of various ages and soil properties (Table 9.1) from the Anthropological Collection in Munich were analyzed. All German skeletal series come from humic soil with, neutral to slightly basic pH. The samples from Tinkey, Syria, coastal Pern and Egypt have been buried in dry, sandy soils. Soil samples from most of the excavation sites were available and bone sample... 

We gratefully acknowledge support from the Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research, The L.S.B. Leakey Foundation and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada who provided financial support for the seminar. Our institutions, the Department of Archaeology, University of Calgary and the Department of Anthropology, University of Illinois, also made contributions. Finally, we thank the contributors for their patience and their hard work. 

Van der Leeuw, S. E. and A. C. Pritchard (1984), The Many Dimensions of Pottery Ceramics in Archaeology and Anthropology, Univ. Amsterdam, Amsterdam. 

University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. 

Thailand. In Organic Contents of Ancient Vessels Materials Analysis and Archaeological Investigation, ed. Biers, W.R. and McGovern, P.E., MASCA Research Papers in Science and Archaeology, Volume 7, The University Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, pp. 59 67. 

Molleson, T. and Cox, M. (with Waldron A.H. and Whittaker, D.K.) (1993). The Middling Sort. The Spitalfields Project Volume 2 - the Anthropology. Research Report 86, Council for British Archaeology, York. 

Ambrose, S.H. (1990). Preparation and characterization of bone and tooth collagen for isotopic analysis. Journal of Archaeological Science 17 431 451. Ambrose, S.H. (1993). Isotopic analysis of paleodiets methodological and interpretative considerations. In Investigations of Ancient Human Tissue Chemical Analysis in Anthropology, ed. Sandford, M.K., Gordon and Breach, Langhorne, pp. 59-130. 

Ambrose, S.H. and Krigbaum, J. (2003). Bone chemistry and bioarchaeology. Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 22 193-199. 

Bayman, J. M. (1995). Rethinking redistribution in the archaeological record - obsidian exchange at the Marana Platform Mound. Journal of Anthropological Research 51 37-63. 

Constantino M. Torres, David B. Repke, Kelvin Chan, Dennis McKenna, Augustin Llagostera, and Richard E. Schultes. "Botanical, chemical, and contextual analysis of archaeological snuff powders from San Pedro de Atacama, Northern Chile." Current Anthropology 32 (1992) 640-49. 

Museum Applied Science Center for Archaeology. Available online. URL http //masca.museum.upenn.edu/. Accessed May 28,2009. As the scientific branch of the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, the Museum Applied Science Center for Archaeology conducts research on many topics, including archaeological chemistry. Their Web site describes the techniques they use and some of their current projects. 

In 1986, researchers at the Research Laboratory for Archaeology and the History of Art, University of Oxford, reported on how the radioactive carbon-14 isotope can be separated from other atoms in a sample by use of accelerator mass spectrometry, thus making it possible to derive more accurate chronologies from much smaller archaeological or anthropological specimens. For details, consult Hedges/Gowlett reference listed. 

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