Improvements to Soil Micromorphology Laboratory

该奖项由2009年《美国复苏与再投资法案》(公法111-5)资助。波士顿大学考古系的微形态实验室是美国独一无二的机构，专注于对完整的沉积物、土壤和考古材料(如陶瓷、石膏和混凝土)进行微观分析。这些技术主要利用岩石学薄片，这些薄片是从浸渍聚酯树脂的完整土壤或沉积物中制备的。这些石块被修剪成大小(通常是50×75毫米)，安装在玻璃片上，研磨到30微米的厚度，接近人类头发的厚度。在过去的20年里，显微形态学对考古分析和解释做出了重大贡献。由于使用了未受干扰的沉积物和土壤，这些物体的背景被保存在薄片和场地的地层中。因此，该技术成功地隔离了地点和区域一级的沉积和沉积后过程，无论它们是地质成因还是人类成因。因此，它提供了站点形成过程的整体视图，并对过去的人类活动和行为进行了强有力的洞察。它的应用阐明了一系列关键的考古学问题，如中国周口店早期使用火的推定，欧洲早期农业的证据，职业空间和活动区的分析，以及对文化沉积的更现实的解释。越来越多的人认识到微形态是识别准确的考古背景和了解考古遗址空间利用的基本方法。实验室使用岩相显微镜、紫外表荧光和红外光谱(傅里叶变换红外光谱-FTIR)连接到岩相显微镜。这种设备(主要用国家科学基金会的资金购买)使我们能够仔细测量薄片中的骨骼和沉积物，例如，能够确定物体的矿物学，并估计史前和历史考古环境中实现的温度。该实验室正在调查的问题包括：早期原始人遗址的年代测定的精细化，如格鲁吉亚的德马尼西；法国、以色列和西班牙的尼安德特人与现代人类烟火技术作为原始人行为的高分辨率指标；来自近东的文化沉积物的分析；新大陆推定的最早人类粪便的分析；意大利南部青铜时代早期的家庭考古；伯利兹前古典和古典玛雅时期的陶器制造和食盐生产。许多来自波士顿大学和其他地方(如哈佛大学、康涅狄格大学、亚利桑那州大学、田纳西州大学和多伦多大学)的博士生已经或正在接受该实验室的培训。微形态实验室的智力优势是改进和加强考古学中微形态技术和策略的发展。最终目标是通过详细分析过去的居住者在考古遗址留下或修改的沉积物，更有效和高效地了解过去的人类活动、行为和社会互动。除了科学分析，该实验室的广泛影响还包括在这一独特设施中培训学生，并吸引来自不同学科(例如，地球科学、考古、考古保护或化学)和不同地点的研究人员作为短期和长期访问者。内部培训和与外部研究人员的互动都有助于推进这项技术，并提供对考古沉积物的更深层次的了解。

This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).The Micromorphology Laboratory in the Archaeology Department at Boston University is a unique facility in the United States and focuses on the microscopic analysis of intact sediments, soils, and archaeological materials (e.g. ceramic, plaster, and concrete). Principally, these techniques make use of petrographic thin sections, which are prepared from intact blocks of soil or sediment that are impregnated with polyester resin. The blocks are trimmed to size (typically 50 by 75 mm), mounted on glass slides, and ground to a thickness of 30 µm, close to the thickness of a human hair.Micromorphology has made significant contributions to archaeological analysis and interpretation over the past two decades. Since undisturbed sediments and soils are used, the context of the objects is preserved within the thin section and within the site's stratigraphy. Thus, the technique has been successful in isolating depositional and post-depositional processes at the site and regional level, whether they are of geological or human origin. Thus, it furnishes a holistic view of site formation processes, and robust insights into past human activities and behaviors. Its application has illuminated a wide range of key archaeological issues, such as the putative early use of fire at Zhoukoudian in China, evidence of early agriculture in Europe, the analysis of occupational space and activity areas, and more realistic interpretations of cultural deposits than have been provided in the past. It has been increasingly realized that micromorphology is an essential method for identifying precise archaeological contexts and for the understanding the use of space in archaeological sites.The Laboratory uses petrographic microscopes, ultra violet epi-fluorescence, and infra red spectrometry (Fourier Transform Infrared Spectrometry - FTIR) attached to a petrographic microscope. This equipment (purchased mostly with funds from the National Science Foundation) has enabled us to make careful measurements of bones and sediments within thin sections, for example, enabling the determination of the mineralogy of objects and to make estimates of temperature achieved in prehistoric and historic archaeological settings. The Laboratory is investigating issues that include refinement of dating in early hominid sites, such as Dmanisi in Georgia; Neanderthal vs. modern human pyrotechnology in France, Israel, and Spain as high resolution indicators of hominin behavior; the analysis of cultural deposits from Near Eastern tells; analysis of putative earliest human coprolites in the New World; household archaeology during the Early Bronze in Southern Italy; and pottery making and table salt production during Pre-classic and classic Maya in Belize. Numerous PhD students from Boston University and elsewhere (e.g., Harvard, Universities of Connecticut, Arizona, Tennessee, and Toronto) have been or are being trained in the laboratory.The intellectual merit of the Micromorphology Laboratory is to improve and enhance the development of micromorphological techniques and strategies in archaeology. The ultimate goal is to make more effective and efficient inroads to understanding past human activities, behavior, and social interactions through detailed analysis of the deposits that past occupants left or modified at an archaeological site. In addition to scientific analyses, the broad impacts of the laboratory include the training of students in this unique facility and attracting researchers from various disciplines (e.g., earth sciences, archaeology, archaeological conservation, or chemistry) and locations, as both short- and long-term visitors. Both in-house training and interaction with external researchers serve to advance the technique and provide a deeper understanding of archaeological sediments.