Accessing Hunter-Gatherer site structures using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy: applications at a Taltheilei settlement in the Canadian Sub-Arctic

作者：Butler Don H^*; Dawson Peter C

来源：Journal of Archaeological Science, 2013, 40(4): 1731-1742.

DOI：10.1016/j.jas.2012.11.015

• FTIR
• Hunter-gatherers
• Site structure
• Canada
• Hearths
• Bone burning
• Calcite
• Carbonate hydroxylapatite
• Authigenic phosphates
• Crystallinity index
• Carbonate/phosphate ratio

The results of Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy on soils and caribou bone from a Taltheilei culture settlement in northern Canada contribute to developing micro-archaeological approaches suitable for locating and characterizing hearth and midden features on hunter-gatherer sites. A weak yet pervasive signal for montgomeryite was developed from the diagenesis of dispersed ash and caribou processing residues. Disordered calcite, carbonate hydroxylapatite, charcoal, and burned bone in two pit-house hearth deposits indicate that both wood and bone were used for fuel. Crystallinity indices and carbonate/phosphate ratios for bone indicate high intensity burning. These data, in tandem with the presence of semi-subterranean dwellings, demonstrate that this particular tundra-based encampment was occupied during cold seasons, a type of settlement behaviour previously unrecognized in the Taltheilei archaeological record. Our results confirm that Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy is an accessible, rapid, and cost effective means of discovering micro-archaeological evidence valuable for reconstructing hunter-gatherer site structures.

• 出版日期2013-4