Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-tf8b9 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-25T15:16:06.829Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Archaeological Artifact and Biomolecule Affiliation: Testing The Consequences of Cleaning

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 February 2011

Noreen Tuross*
Affiliation:
Conservation Analytical Laboratory, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C
Get access

Abstract

Molecular preservation in the archaeological record has been recognized and documented inseveral cases. The association of protein, lipid and DNA remnants on artifacts requires anew level of care in the excavation and conservation of materials. The removal of blood from a series of experimental tools made of quartzite and obsidian is shown by a simple water washing procedure. Attempts at stabilizing the blood with time and temperature did little to alter its removal. It is suggested that the normal procedures utilized onsite andin postexcavation treatment can be detrimental to the recovery of information at the molecular level.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 1995

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

1. Dunnell, R.C., R.C., , Archaeomaterials, 7, 161165 (1993).Google Scholar
2. Deetz, J., in New Perspectives in Archaeology, edited by Sally, R. and Binford, Lewis R., (Society for American Archaeology, Washington, D.C., 1968) pp.4148.Google Scholar
3. Atley, S.De and Bishop, R.L., in The Ceramic Legacy of Anna Shephard, O., (University of Colorado, Niwot, 1991) pp.358382.Google Scholar
4. Yellen, J., SAS Bulletin 15(2), 1992 Google Scholar
5. Sayre, E., Murrenhoff, A., and Weick, C.F., Brookhaven National Laboratory Report, #518, 1958;Google Scholar
6. Harbottle, G., in Radiochemistry, 3, edited by Newton, G.W.A., (The Chemical Society, London, 1976) pp. 33-72.Google Scholar
7. Bishop, R. L., Canouts, V., Atley, S.P. De, Qoyawayma, A. and Aikins, C.W., J. Field Archaeology, 15, 317337, (1988).Google Scholar
8. Blackman, M.J., Stein, G.J., and Vandiver, P.B., American Antiquity, 58 (1) 6080, 1993.Google Scholar
9. Rothman, M.S. and Blackman, M.J., in Economy and Settlement in the Near East, Analysis of Ancient Sites and Materials, edited by Miller, N.F., (University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, 1992), pp 1945.Google Scholar
10. Tuross, N., N., and Stathoplos, L., Methods in Enzymology, 224, 121129, (1993).Google Scholar
11. Heron, C. and Evershed, R.P., in Archaeological Method and Theory, 5, edited by Schiffer, M.B. (University of Arizona Press, Tucson, 1993) pp. 247284.Google Scholar
12. Lawlor, D.A., Dickel, C.D., Hauswirth, W.W. and Parham, P., Nature, 349, 785788, (1991)Google Scholar
13. Tuross, N., and Dillehay, T. (in press) Journal of Field Archaeology.Google Scholar
14. Evershed, R.P., Charter, S., and Quye, A., in Materials in Art and Archaeology IV, Mater. Res. Soc. Proc. Pittsburgh, Pa, 1995), this volume.Google Scholar
15. Tuross, N., Experientia, 50, 530536, 1994.Google Scholar
16. Tuross, N., in Prehistoric Human Bone, Archaeology at the Molecular Level, edited by Lambert, J. and Grupe, G., (Springer-Verlag, Berlin, 1993) pp.275292.Google Scholar
17. Lindahl, T., Nature, 362, (5) 709, (1993)Google Scholar
18. Coles, B. and Coles, J., People of the Wetlands, (Thames and Hudson, New York, 1989).Google Scholar
19. Tuross, N., Barnes, I. and Potts, R., Journal of Archaeological Science, in press.Google Scholar
20. Tuross, N. and Fogel, M.L., in Archaeometry of Pre-Columbian Sites and Artifacts, edited by Scott, David and Meyers, Pieter, (The Getty Conservation Institute, Los Angeles, 1994), pp. 367380.Google Scholar
21. Harrison, G., Hybrid Zones, the Evolutionary Process, (Oxford, New York, 1993).Google Scholar
22. Vandiver, P., in Materials in Art and Archaeology IV, (Mat. Res. Soc., Pittsburgh, PA, 1995) pp.Google Scholar
23. , Dunnell, in Materials in Art and Archaeology IV, (Mat. Res. Soc., Pittsburgh, PA, 1995) pp.Google Scholar