Spirit Cave resin

Lampert, C.D., Glover, I.C., Hedges, R.E.M., Heron, C.P., Higham, T.F.G., Stern, B., Shoocongdej, R. and Thompson, G.B. (2003). Dating resin coating on pottery the Spirit Cave early ceramic dates revised. Antiquity 77 126-133. 

Samples of a visible surface residual material has been scraped from the surface of archaeological potsherds for analysis. The location and physical appearance of the resin on the sherds varied a great deal. Although material is available from several sites only two. Spirit Cave and Noen U-Loke, both in Thailand are discussed here since samples from these sites have been both analysed to determine their chemical composition and submitted for radiocarbon dating. 

The resin from the Hoabinhian upland rockshelter site of Spirit Cave in Northwest Thailand tightly adhered to the underlying ceramic and appeared as a... 

Figure 8. Triterpenoid region of an interior resin coating from a Spirit Cave...

The application of a resin coating on pottery often results in quite a thin layer and, particularly where sherds are small and coated on one surface only, it can prove problematic to collect enough material. However, sufficient material was present on at least two sherds to enable more than one sample to be collected. This allowed the repeatibility of dates using this material to be assessed for both Noen U-Loke and Spirit Cave. 

The radiocarbon dates obtained from samples of resinous coatings on potsherds from the two archaeological sites in Southeast Asia, Noen U-Loke and Spirit Cave, are listed in Table IV. 

Conventional radiocarbon dates from Spirit Cave AMS dates from resin samples... 

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