Provenance of archaeological materials

Different samples of the material from a single source are of uniform composition. 

There are compositional differences between samples of the same material from different sources. 

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The use of trace element analysis to determine the provenance of archaeological materials has expanded rapidly in the last decade. It is now a well-established technique for the identification of obsidian source deposits (J), and is nearly as established for turquoise (2), steatite (3), and some ceramic materials (4). Native copper has received much less attention. Friedman et al. (5), Fields et al. (6), and Bowman et al. (7) used trace element analyses to determine the type of geological ore from which copper was extracted. However, only our efforts (8) and the work of Goad and Noakes (9) have focused on collecting and analyzing native copper from all potential deposits of a given region to provide a data base for statistical comparison with artifact trace element compositions. 

Although chemical analysis of archaeological materials for purposes of identification and provenance is now well established, there are still many challenges ahead for the inorganic chemist in archaeology. The field of lead... 

ICP spectroscopy has been applied in quantitative elemental analysis in forensic examinations (57), and for such issues as the determination of source provenance based on these data for materials such as ochre (58) or other pigments. Speakman et al. (59) report on the characterization of archaeological materials with LA-ICP-MS, while others analyzed pigments successfully on pottery from the American Southwest (60), including the Mesa Verde region (61) among others. 

Most of the essential information on archaeological materials is derived, at the present time, using physical methods of analysis. This may include the qualitative or quantitative assessment of their composition, their provenance, the techniques used for their production, and their age. Some of the most widely used methods of chemical analysis based on physical principles are succinctly reviewed in the following paragraphs. 

Freestone, I. C. (2005), The provenance of ancient glass through compositional analysis, in Vandiver, P. B., J. L. Mass, and A. Murray (eds.), Materials Issues in Art and Archaeology VII (Symposium, November 30-December 3, 2004, Boston, Massachusetts), Materials Research Society Symposium Proceedings, Vol. 852, Materials Research Society, Warrendale, Pennsylvania. 

The main problem with organic analyses from archaeological remains is their state of conservation. The question to be answered is whether any organic materials can be preserved over centuries or millennia. Many authors have proven that in certain conditions, preservation is possible [Evershed etalA992, Regert et al. 2003]. The question is of course very relevant in the case of dinosaur remains. In the case of preservation of organic materials, ToF-SIMS is well suited for such a study, because samples are very small and... 

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