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J Archaeol Sci 30 (2)
Title
The title of the publication or report
Title:
J Archaeol Sci 30 (2)
Series
The series the publication or report is included in
Series:
Journal of Archaeological Science
Volume
Volume number and part
Volume:
30 (2)
Publication Type
The type of publication - report, monograph, journal article or chapter from a book
Publication Type:
Journal
Editor
The editor of the publication or report
Editor:
Karl W Butzer
John P Grattan
Julian Henderson
Richard G Klein
Publisher
The publisher of the publication or report
Publisher:
Academic Press
Year of Publication
The year the book, article or report was published
Year of Publication:
2003
Source
Where the record has come from or which dataset it was orginally included in.
Source:
BIAB (The British & Irish Archaeological Bibliography (BIAB))
Created Date
The date the record of the pubication was first entered
Created Date:
07 Aug 2003
Please click on an Article link to go to the Article Details.
Article Title
Access Type
Author / Editor
Page
Start/End
Abstract
Earthworm activity and archaeological stratigraphy: a review of products and processes
Matthew G Canti
135 - 148
The activity of earthworms has long been understood to have significant effects on archaeological stratigraphy, but many of the details have not been fully grasped by stratigraphers or by the specialists who advise them. Although worms are widely known to cause the burial of finds due to surface casting, some of their other activities are less commonly recorded. Amongst these, their active burial of stones and seeds, their building of cairns, and their production of calcium carbonate granules have mostly not been studied in any detail, and have been little exploited from an interpretative point of view. This paper reviews the existing knowledge as well as presenting some recent research carried out into various aspects of worm actions and their relationship to taphonomy.
Particle settling times for gravity sedimentation and centrifugation: a practical guide for palynologists
C J Lentfer
M M Cotter
W E Boyd
149 - 168
Palynological analyses are becoming increasingly integrated into archaeological studies. Central to the preparation of samples is the use of centrifugation or still settling to remove sediment components and/or separate the palynomorphs. However, although there are many standard recipes describing palynological preparation, there appears to be no discussion of optimal centrifugation times and speeds or settling times. Since centrifugation may take up as much as 20--40% of preparation time, it is reasonable to consider potential reduction of this time; this may be achieved by reducing centrifuge time. This note discusses the theoretical bases for selecting settling times and centrifugation times and speeds, and provides indication of optimal values for the removal of particles of different sizes, especially those in the clay-sized range, in media of various viscosities. By returning to first principles, it appears that typical centrifugation times provided in recipes are conservative, and that considerable savings in time may be made by more judicious use of the centrifuge. Tables of values are provided as example, indicating order of magnitude of timing required.
The ecology of Late Mesolithic woodland disturbances: model testing with fungal spore assemblage data
James B Innes
Jeffrey J Blackford
185 - 194
Pollen, charcoal and fungal spore analysis of the base of a radiocarbon-dated peat profile at North Gill, North York Moors, north east England, provides detailed evidence for an episode of fire-disturbance of woodland at c. 6300 (uncalibrated), within the Late Mesolithic cultural period. As with other similar episodes in the uplands of Britain, the pollen data documents post-disturbance regeneration to woodland through ruderal and grassland herb, heath and successional shrub plant communities. Such seral ecological changes have previously been interpreted as the desired result of deliberate disturbance by Mesolithic foragers, as part of a conscious land-use strategy designed to attract ungulate populations to the disturbed areas and increase hunting efficiency and yield. Fungal spore analyses through the North Gill disturbance phase support the indirect ecological inferences from the pollen and charcoal data, provide the first circumstantial evidence of animal concentration in post-fire disturbed areas during the Late Mesolithic and so test and support the basic ecological premise of the Late Mesolithic fire ecology/land-use model.
Detection of burning of plant materials in the archaeological record by changes in the refractive indices of siliceous phytoliths
Rivka Elbaum
Steve Weiner
Rosa Albert
Michael Elbaum
217 - 226
The most resilient remains of plants in most archaeological sites are the siliceous phytoliths. These cells have characteristic morphologies, and thus the phytoliths can often be used to identify the taxonomic affinities of plants brought to an archaeological site. In order to determine what they were used for, other means of analysis are needed. Presents a method to distinguish burnt from unburnt phytolith assemblages. The method is based on measuring the refractive index (RI) of individual phytoliths. The phytoliths even from a single plant have a range of RI values. Burning a phytolith sample causes a shift to higher RI. Comparing burnt and unburnt samples we demonstrate that it is possible to differentiate between them based on the fraction of phytoliths with RI higher than 1·440. This serves as a basis for a simplified mode of measurement that requires only the use of a petrographic light microscope and a mineral oil of RI 1·440. Israeli examples are used.
