48630
Title Of Article Chaper
Variability of laboratory procedures and results in geoarchaeology
Title Of Journal Book
Geoarchaeology
Volume
4
Issue
4
Pages
347-358
Collation
3 figs.
Reference Bibliography
refs.
ISSN
0883-6353
Language Of Text
English
Language Of Summary
English
Literature Type
Serial
Literature Level
Analytic
Abstract
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.
Keywords
geoarchaeology;sediment;soil;variability; British Camp Site (Washington, USA);Lubbock Lake Site (Texas, USA); carbon;calcium carbonate;particle size; organic materials
pub_id
48630