𝔖 Bobbio Scriptorium
✦   LIBER   ✦

Variability of laboratory procedures and results in geoarchaeology

✍ Scribed by Vance T. Holliday; Julie K. Stein


Book ID
102844344
Publisher
John Wiley and Sons
Year
1989
Tongue
English
Weight
738 KB
Volume
4
Category
Article
ISSN
0883-6353

No coin nor oath required. For personal study only.

✦ Synopsis


Many laboratory techniques are available to geoarchaeologists to determine physical or chemical attributes of sediment or soil samples, and several techniques are often available for analysis of a single attribute. This is illustrated by analyzing duplicate sediment and soil samples from the British Camp Site (Washington) and Lubbock Lake Site (Texas) using two methods for organic carbon content, two methods for organic matter content, and three methods for calcium carbonate content, and several pretreatment procedures for particle-size analysis. These comparisons illustrate that different methods of analysis for the same property of duplicate samples can yield different results. Therefore, when making comparisons with data from other sites or other investigators, the types of laboratory methods used in geoarchaeological analyses are important considerations. Choice of a particular technique will depend on a variety of factors, often conflicting, including the archaeological and geoarchaeological questions being asked, the physical and chemical nature of the samples, and the accuracy, efficiency, and cost of the method.


πŸ“œ SIMILAR VOLUMES