Soil Chemical Analysis in classic Maya Household Archaeology

经典玛雅家庭考古中的土壤化学分析

• 批准号: 9974302
• 负责人: Richard Terry
• 金额: $ 13.76万
• 依托单位: Brigham Young University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 1999
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 1999-07-01 至 2001-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=9974302&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Soil; Chemical; Analysis; classic; Maya

With National Science Foundation support Dr. Richard Terry and his collaborators will develop the techniques of phosphate and trace element analysis and apply them to a series of Mayan archaeological sites. For many years archaeologists and soil scientists have recognized that specific human activities such as food preparation and trash discard leave a chemical imprint in the soil and attempts have been made to work from chemical effect to behavioral cause. Dr. Terry has developed a field lab method of phosphate analysis using Mehlich II extraction and a colorimeter. This quick inexpensive method which can be conducted in the field provides high precision, quantitative data and allows researchers to conduct analysis of phosphate on an unprecedented scale. Trace elements such as Cu, Fe, Hg, Mn, Pb, and Zn are often associated with craft and ritual activities. In the course of ongoing fieldwork at three Mayan sites, soil samples from relevant areas will be collected and these elements measured at the Brigham Young University soil laboratory through nitric-perchloric acid digestion and inductively coupled plasma-atomic emission spectrometry. The use of trace element analysis in archaeology has been far more limited than phosphate tests and the systematic application of this method should open new possibilities in the study of past behavior. Field operations will have three major components. First, ethnoarchaeological studies will be conducted at a currently used house near the site of Aguateca Guatemala and in a nearby Maya village. Dr. Terry and colleagues will examine the correlation between soil chemical signatures and known activities. Second, soil analysis will be applied in the excavation of rapidly abandoned structures at three Mayan archaeological sites. Work at Aguateca and Ceren, El Salvador, has clearly demonstrated that both were abandoned rapidly. Structures at both sites contain numerous artifacts left in situ, providing ideal archaeological situations to examine the correlation between chemistry data and past behavior. At the site of Piedras Negras, gradually abandoned structures will offer a trial case to test the utility of soil chemistry data to in artifact-poor surroundings. This research is important for several reasons. It will shed new light on how prehistoric Mayan peoples patterned their activities. It will also help to develop techniques of potential value in a wide range of archaeological situations.

在国家科学基金会的支持下，理查德·特里博士和他的合作者将开发磷酸盐和微量元素分析技术，并将其应用于一系列玛雅考古遗址。多年来，考古学家和土壤科学家已经认识到，特定的人类活动（例如食物准备和垃圾丢弃）会在土壤中留下化学印记，并尝试从化学效应到行为原因进行研究。 Terry 博士开发了一种使用 Mehlich II 萃取和比色计进行磷酸盐分析的现场实验室方法。这种快速、廉价的方法可以在现场进行，提供高精度、定量数据，并使研究人员能够以前所未有的规模进行磷酸盐分析。铜、铁、汞、锰、铅和锌等微量元素通常与工艺和仪式活动有关。在三个玛雅遗址正在进行的实地考察过程中，将收集相关地区的土壤样本，并在杨百翰大学土壤实验室通过硝酸高氯酸消化和电感耦合等离子体原子发射光谱法测量这些元素。微量元素分析在考古学中的应用远比磷酸盐测试受到限制，这种方法的系统应用应该为过去行为的研究开辟新的可能性。现场行动将由三个主要部分组成。首先，民族考古学研究将在危地马拉阿瓜特卡遗址附近的一栋目前使用的房屋和附近的玛雅村庄进行。特里博士和同事将研究土壤化学特征与已知活动之间的相关性。其次，土壤分析将应用于三个玛雅考古遗址迅速废弃的建筑的挖掘。萨尔瓦多阿瓜特卡和塞伦的工作清楚地表明，这两个地方很快就被废弃了。两个遗址的结构都包含大量留在原地的文物，为检查化学数据与过去行为之间的相关性提供了理想的考古环境。在彼德拉斯内格拉斯遗址，逐渐废弃的建筑将提供一个试验案例，以测试土壤化学数据在人工制品匮乏的环境中的效用。这项研究很重要，原因有几个。它将为史前玛雅人如何活动模式提供新的线索。它还将有助于开发在广泛的考古情况下具有潜在价值的技术。