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J Archaeol Sci 31 (7)
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Title:
J Archaeol Sci 31 (7)
Series:
Journal of Archaeological Science
Volume:
31 (7)
Publication Type:
Journal
Editor:
Karl W Butzer
John P Grattan
Julian Henderson
Richard G Klein
Publisher:
Academic Press
Year of Publication:
2004
Source:
BIAB (The British & Irish Archaeological Bibliography (BIAB))
Created Date:
06 Dec 2004
Article Title
Access Type
Author / Editor
Page Start/End
Abstract
Solubilities of bone mineral from archaeological sites: the recrystallization window
Francesco Berna
Alan Matthews
Steve Weiner
867 - 882
In this study the authors measured the solubility of the carbonated hydroxyl apatite of sub-recent and fossil bones, as well as synthetic hydroxyl apatite in deionized water and in pH-buffered solutions. The solutions were open to the atmosphere and the pH values were around neutral; measurement conditions that are relevant to bone mineral preservation in nature. They obtained internally consistent results from both the water and the buffered experiments, and found that bone mineral is much more soluble than synthetic hydroxyl apatite. They measured the ionic activity products at `steady state' conditions and identified a recrystallization window between pH 7.6 and 8.1. They also found that bones that contained small amounts of calcite did not dissolve at all during our experiments.
Quartz hydration dating
Jonathon E Ericson
Oliver Dersch
Friedel Rauch
883 - 902
Discusses the Quartz Hydration Dating (QHD) technique developed for dating archaeological quartz artifacts and naturally fractured quartz fragments, which relies on the phenomenon of water diffusion into quartz leading to the formation of a hydration layer that can be measured by a hydrogen profiling technique, and diffusivity data connecting the layer thickness with the hydration time. The main factors influencing the diffusivity are temperature, the crystallographic orientation, measured as the angle between surface of hydration and crystal c-axis, and initial H content of the quartz. The experimental results are discussed in the frame of a diffusion-reaction model from the literature. The authors give the time range of QHD as 100 ya to over 100K ya, and the error of age determination as 35%, reduced to 20% by controlling for material variability. They state that QHD is applicable to single-crystal specimens and aggregates of single crystals, and that apart from its application to archaeology and geology, the technique is suited for detecting fakes.