Archaeological sites, technological

Ochre is very common in the Terminal Archaic-Early Formative archaeological site of Jiskairumoko, (Rio Have, Lake Titicaca Basin, southern Peru). Within the site, ochre was found on tools, palettes, and in burials and soil deposits within structures in several contexts, suggesting both symbolic and functional uses of ochre. Variations in the color and contexts imply possibilities for different uses of ochre.. Instrumental neutron activation analysis was used to analyze the ochre samples found in Jiskairumoko. Multivariate analysis of the elemental data by principal components analysis suggests trends in the data related to the compositional variation of ochres on the site. Further analysis of the ochre will lead to conclusions about the variation in composition of the ochres from Jiskairumoko and possible archaeological conclusions about ancient technologies and uses of ochre on the site. 

The ocean conceals a vast number of unexplored, and potentially valuable, archaeological sites. But the technology needed to explore these sites was not perfected until the mid-twentieth century. With the development of scuba gear, underwater transport, and other underwater devices, archaeologists have improved their ability to survey and retrieve objects underwater. 

Evidence of plummet manufacture was not observed from survey and test excavations at the quarry (3). There is no evidence for soapstone utilization by other Indian cultures in the area. Although no lithic tools, which are diagnostic of the Dorset culture, were found at Fleur de Lys, the preform morphology observed in the quarry corresponds to finished Dorset vessels in size and shape. Thus the consistent and uniform technology of soapstone extraction observed at Fleur de Lys is assumed to be only that of the Dorset people. Association of artifacts from dated archaeological sites may provide some indication of the length of time that the quarry was in use. 

In order to understand chemically analyze the materials found at archaeological sites it is essential to understand something about their context - sources, technology, use, and disposal. In this chapter, we examine some of the more common raw materials at archaeological sites - rock, pottery, bone, sediments, metals, and other things like shell, pigments, charcoal, and plant remains (Fig. 3.1). There aie many other materials, generally less common, that we do not consider here. 

Seawater is basically uniform around the world. The major variations that do occur are in regions located close to land and are often influenced by terrestrial water runoff. Most of the underwater archaeological sites are located in these regions. This situation may change with the advent of deepdiving technology. 

The importance of preserving archaeological monuments is discussed by Bums and Matsui in Chapter 15. Chemical information not only helps our understanding of early technologies, but can help answer questions about how best to preserve an object. Burns and Matsui describe their studies of very large art objects the richly decorated tombs of the Egyptian pharaohs. Deterioration of these monuments has resulted from physicochemical processes that are site-specific. Deterioration often depends on such things as... 

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