Archaeological Chemistry (RSC Paperbacks) - Softcover

Pollard, A. Mark; Heron, Carl

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0854045236 ISBN 13: 9780854045235

Verlag: Royal Society of Chemistry, 1996

Inhaltsangabe

The application of chemistry within archaeology is an important and fascinating area. It allows the archaeologist to answer such questions as "what is this artefact made of?", "where did it come from?" and "how has it been changed through burial in the ground?", providing pointers to the earliest history of mankind. Archaeological Chemistry begins with a brief description of the goals and history of archaeological science, and the place of chemistry within it. It sets out the most widely used analytical techniques in archaeology and compares them in the light of relevant applications. The book includes an analysis of several specific archaeological investigations in which chemistry has been employed in tracing the origins of or in preserving artefacts. The choice of these investigations conforms to themes based on analytical techniques, and includes chapters on obsidian, ceramics, glass, metals and resins. Finally, it suggests a future role for chemical and biochemical applications in archaeology. Archaeological Chemistry enables scientists to tackle the fundamental issues of chemical change in the archaeological materials, in order to advance the study of the past. It will prove an essential companion to students in archaeological science and chemistry, field and museum archaeologists, and all those involved in conserving human artefacts.

Über diesen Titel

Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

A. Mark Pollard is Edward Hall Professor of Archaeological Science at the University of Oxford, UK. His research has encompassed the application of the physical sciences, particularly chemistry, to archaeology.

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Archaeological Chemistry

By A. Mark Pollard, Carl Heron

The Royal Society of Chemistry

Copyright © 1996 The Royal Society of Chemistry
All rights reserved.

ISBN: 978-0-85404-523-5

Contents

Chapter 1 The Development of Archaeological Chemistry, 1, 
Chapter 2 Analytical Techniques Applied to Archaeology, 20, 
Chapter 3 Obsidian Characterization in the Eastern Mediterranean, 81, 
Chapter 4 The Geochemistry of Clays and the Provenance of Ceramics, 104, 
Chapter 5 The Chemistry and Corrosion of Archaeological Glass, 149, 
Chapter 6 The Chemical Study of Metals – the European Medieval and Later Brass Industry, 196, 
Chapter 7 The Chemistry and Use of Resinous Substances, 239, 
Chapter 8 Amino Acid Stereochemistry and the First Americans, 271, 
Chapter 9 Lead Isotope Geochemistry and the Trade in Metals, 302, 
Chapter 10 Summary – Whither Archaeological Chemistry?, 341, 
Appendix 1 The Structure of the Atom, and the Electromagnetic Spectrum, 347, 
Appendix 2 Isotopes, 355, 
Appendix 3 Fundamental Constants, 359, 
Appendix 4 Atomic Number and Approximate Weights (based on 12C = 12.000) of the Elements, 360, 
Appendix 5 Periodic Table of the Elements, 363, 
Subject Index, 364, 

CHAPTER 1

The Development of Archaeological Chemistry

INTRODUCTION

In its endeavour to understand human behaviour primarily through the material remains of past societies, archaeology has interacted more and more with the sciences of physics, chemistry, biology, and of the Earth. In truth, it is a test to conjure the name of any scientific discipline which has not at one time or another provided information of direct use for the archaeologist (Pollard, 1995). Indeed, many would consider archaeology itself, a discipline which involves the systematic collection, evaluation, and analysis of data and which aims to model, test, and theorize the nature of past human activity, to be a science. Furthermore, they might argue that it is possible to arrive at an objective understanding of past human behaviour, and in that sense archaeology is no different from other scientific disciplines, given the obvious differences in methodology. As Trigger (1988; 1) has reminded us, from a different perspective, archaeologists have a unique challenge:

'Because archaeologists study the past, they are unable to observe human behaviour directly. Unlike historians, they also lack access to verbally encoded records of the past. Instead they must attempt to infer human behaviour and beliefs from the surviving remains of what people made and used before they can begin, like other social scientists, to explain phenomena.'

The claim that archaeology is a science is clearly not universally held. Many archaeologists suggest that the study of human behaviour in the past is restricted by science with its apparent rigidity of scientific method and dubious claims of certainty and must continue to reside with the humanities. Undoubtedly, archaeology is one of the few disciplines which bridges the gulf between the humanities and the sciences.

In our view, one of the fundamental enquiries in archaeology is the relationship between residues, artefacts, buildings and monuments, and human behaviour. From the period of production, use or modification of materials (whether natural or synthetic) to the time when traces are recovered by archaeologists, the material output of humans is altered by a plethora of physical, chemical, and biological processes, including those operating after deposition into the archaeological record. A significant part of the evidence is lost, displaced, or altered significantly. Inferring the activities, motivations, ideas, and beliefs of our ancestors from such a fragmentary record is no small task. In fact, it is a considerable challenge. Although there are notable exceptions, archaeology in the last 150 years has been transformed from a pastime pre-occupied with the embellishment of the contemporary world (or at least a minuscule portion of it) with treasure recovered from 'lost civilizations' (still a view which predominates in some media, such as the cinema), to a discipline which relies on painstaking and systematic recovery of data followed by synthesis and interpretation. However, the development of archaeology has not been one uniform trajectory. There have been, and still are, numerous agendas which encompass the broad range of archaeological thought, and many uncertainties and disagreements concerning the direction of the discipline remain. Collectively, the sciences provide archaeology with numerous techniques and approaches to facilitate data analysis and interpretation, enhancing the opportunity to extract more information from the material record of past human activity. Specifically, chemistry has as much to offer as any other scientific discipline, if not more.

The sheer diversity of scientific analysis in archaeology renders a coherent and comprehensive summary intractable. In a recent review, Tite (1991) has packaged archaeological science rather neatly into the following areas:

• Physical and chemical dating methods which provide archaeology with absolute and relative chronologies.

• Artefact studies incorporating (i) provenance, (ii) technology, and (iii) use.

• Environmental approaches which provide information on past landscapes, climates, flora, and fauna as well as diet, nutrition, health, and pathology of people.

• Mathematical methods as tools for data treatment also encompassing the role of computers in handling, analysing, and modelling the vast sources of data.

• Remote sensing applications comprising a battery of non-destructive techniques for the location and characterization of buried features at the regional, microregional, and intra-site levels.

• Conservation science, involving the study of decay processes and the development of new methods of conservation.

Although in this volume we focus on the interaction between chemistry and archaeology or archaeological chemistry, it is relevant, in part, to most if not all of the areas proposed by Tite. For example, although many subsurface prospecting techniques rely on (geo)physical principles of measurement (such as localized variations in electrical resistance and small variations in Earth magnetism), geochemical prospection methods involving the determination of inorganic and biological markers of anthropogenic origin (i.e., chemical species arising as a direct consequence of human action) also have a role to play. Throughout this book, archaeological chemistry is viewed not as a straightforward application of routine methods but as a challenging field of enquiry, which requires a deep knowledge of the underlying principles in order to make a significant contribution.

EARLY INVESTIGATIONS

It would not be possible to write a history of chemistry without acknowledging the contribution of individuals such as Martin Heinrich Klaproth (1743–1817), Humphry Davy (1778–1829), Jöns Jakob Berzelius (1779–1848), Michael Faraday (1791–1867), Marcelin Berthelot (1827–1907), and Friedrich August von Kekulé (1829–1896). Yet these eminent scientists also figure in the early history of the scientific analysis of antiquities. Perhaps the primary motivation for their work was curiosity, which resulted from their dedication to the study and identification of matter and the way in which it is altered by chemical reaction. In addition to his significant...

Details zur Ausgabe

• Verlag: Royal Society of Chemistry
• Erscheinungsdatum: 1996
• Sprache: Englisch
• ISBN 10: 0854045236
• ISBN 13: 9780854045235
• Einband: Taschenbuch
• Anzahl der Seiten: 392
• Kontakt zum Hersteller: Nicht verfügbar
• Verantwortliche Person: Nicht verfügbar