Archaeometry
Our analytic goals are directly derived from the project interests in the material foundations of
ancient Eurasia. To this end we have implemented a multi-dimensional scale approach to ancient technologies that integrates
multi-modal analyses of the structure, elemental composition, and mineralogy of large assemblages of ceramic and metal
artifacts. This integrated and collaborative approach has required us to develop basic protocols for defining relevant
parameters for intra- and inter-regional comparison in order to understand the approaches to material production and exchange
within and between ancient communities in three regions of Eurasia: the Caucasus, the Steppe, and northern China and has
provided a setting for programmatic scientific discussions between archaeologists at the University of Chicago and ANL
scientists that can develop new methods for solving archaeological questions and raise new issues in the understanding of
human prehistory through novel understandings of ceramics, metals, and other material categories. At our largest scale of
analysis we are employing digital radiography and XCT to characterize macro- and meso-structural characteristics of our
materials. Microstructural analyses are peformed via traditional instruments such as FESEM and through less common techniques
such as microfocus XCT and Small Angle X-Ray Scattering (SAXS) performed at Argonne National Laboratory's Advanced Photon
Source Synchrotron. This suite of archaeometric techniques provide broad characterizations of the metalworking and ceramic
production practices which were essential components of Bronze and Iron Eurasian materiality.Return
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