Provenience analyses

Beck, C. W. (1995). The provenience analysis of amber. American Journal of Archaeology 99 125-127. 

Asaro, F. and Perlman, I. (1973). Provenience studies of Mycenean pottery employing neutron activation analysis. In Acts of the International Archaeological Symposium The Myceneans in the Eastern Mediterranean , Nicosia 27th March-2nd April 1972, Cyprus, Nicosia, Department of Antiquities, pp. 213-224. 

The usefulness of neutron activation analysis in assisting the archaeologist to establish the provenience of potsherd material is illustrated by... 

Other studies on stones beyond identification and provenience studies include microscopic studies of use-wear and analysis of possible residues for DNA or other, biologically distinctive organic molecules, which will be separately discussed in a later section. 

The place of origin of prehistoric people can also be determined. The isotopic proveniencing of human remains, using ratios of strontium isotopes, has been employed in archaeology for approximately 20 years. Strontium isotope analyses have been used successfully in a number of studies. The basic principle involves comparison of isotope ratios in human tooth enamel with local levels in bone or other materials. Because isotopic ratios vary geographically, values in human teeth (marking place of birth) that differ from the local ratio (place of death) indicate migration. This method of analysis is described in more detail in Chap. 8, Provenience and Provenance. 

Material Stone - Marble Instrumentation NAA elemental analysis Application Authentication/Provenience Place Greece and Los Angeles Time Period Classic Greece, 600-300 bc... 

To attempt to sort out some of these issues with sourcing native copper, Ron Hancock and colleagues at the SLOWPOKE nuclear reactor facility at the University of Toronto decided to use the multielement capability of neutron-activation analysis. They started with 43 samples from 19 collections of native copper and 23 samples of copper from archaeological contexts but which were believed to be reworked metal of European origin. Eive other samples of copper from artifacts from known contexts but of unknown source were also included. To maximize the possibility that the provenience postulate would be true, they included 27 elements in their analytical procedure and got useful data for 22 of them. They also analyzed 14 subsamples from the same specimen to assess within sample variation and three modem copper samples for comparison. 

In the case of metals, a very substantial amount of research has been devoted to obtaining provenience information through chemical analysis. In many of the cases cited here, the chemical analysis was predominantly by NAA. 

Craddock, in a comprehensive paper on medieval and west African bronze analysis, has clearly pointed out the inherent dangers of interpretation of analytical data for copper or copper-based alloys in terms of provenience. Provenancing metal from its composition has always proved immensely difficult even for the ancient Near East and Europe where one can normally assume that the metal has been mined, smelted, fabricated, used and discarded within the same society. In the case of West Africa where the bulk of the metal came from a wide variety of undifferentiated sources which were far distant and technically superior, the task of interpreting the metal analyses becomes all the more fraught with difficulty. In copper provenancing studies generally three assumptions have to be made ... 

Harbottle G (1982) Provenience Studies Using Neutron Activation Analysis The Role of Standardization, in Archaeological Ceramics, (eds. Olin JS, Franklin AK) p. 6, Washington, Smithsonian Institution... 

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