Sourcing Turquoise Using H and Cu Isotopes

在国家科学基金会的支持下，穆斯塔法·法耶克博士和一个国际同事团队将进行实地工作，并使用地质学和同位素方法的组合来表征和区分美国西南部的绿松石原产地和考古发现的绿松石文物。该团队汇集了美国、加拿大和墨西哥的考古和地球化学专家，研究史前西南部的绿松石贸易网络。绿松石贸易的演变对中美洲北部边境和美国西南部的社会制度的文化强化起到了至关重要的作用。在中美洲的肖像学中，绿色代表所有具有特殊价值的东西，绿色石头制成的物品在考古学背景下很早就出现了。此外，矿产勘探、开采和采购是形成古老的中美洲贸易结构的组织前提之一，这一活动在许多经济组织层面上都很重要。北美西南部所有遗址中发现的绿松石文物数量最多的是查科峡谷最大的遗址普韦布洛·博尼托。尽管这个网站已经被广泛研究了50多年，但这个社会的社会复杂程度仍然是一个有争议的问题。确定绿松石文物来源的能力是评估与查科峡谷等遗址相关的复杂程度的重要证据。最近使用新开发的氢和铜同位素方法的结果表明，查科峡谷的居民从几个地区获得绿松石，绿松石贸易网络延伸到内华达州北部。这种同位素技术是该项目的基础，为将地球化学法和考古学方法结合在一起提供了难得的机会。其目标是专注于绿松石来源的同位素指纹识别。一旦建立了来源地区的签名，就可以测试来自史前考古遗址的文物，并评估关于其社会政治组织的推论。具体任务分为两部分：(A)继续利用氢(H)和铜(铜)同位素确定额外来源(采矿)区域的绿松石的特征，以确定尽可能多的绿松石来源，包括位于加利福尼亚州和墨西哥北部的来源，从而验证同位素来源技术；以及(2)确定从哥伦布之前的文化区域，特别是早期的普韦布洛或查科世界发现的绿松石文物的特征，但包括来自墨西哥大卡萨斯的材料。如果到目前为止的结果得到证实，绿松石寻源项目将为绿松石提供一个“来源指纹”，使考古学家能够识别在整个大陆的遗址中发现的绿松石的来源，并为北美接触前的贸易模式提供新的见解。这项研究的学术价值将是更好地了解绿松石贸易的演变及其在中美洲北部边境和美国西南部社会制度文化集约化中的作用。这项研究的更广泛影响是，它将对中美洲北部边境和美国西南部社会制度提供重要信息。知识的大幅增长将为对这一充满活力的区域的史前历史的科学认识进行重大修订奠定基础。美国、加拿大和墨西哥的学生将参加该项目，以加强他们的培训，并增加他们对西南部和中美洲史前重要性的认识。

With National Science Foundation support, Dr. Mostafa Fayek and an international team of colleagues will conduct field work as well as use a combination of geologic and isotopic methods to characterize and differentiate between turquoise source areas in southwestern United States and archeologically recovered turquoise artifacts. The team brings together U.S., Canadian and Mexican specialists in archaeology and geochemistry to examine the prehistoric southwestern turquoise trade networks. The evolution of the turquoise trade played a crucial role in the cultural intensification of the social systems along the northern frontier of Mesoamerica and southwestern portions of the United States. In Mesoamerican iconography, the color green represented all things of exceptional value and objects made of green stone appear early in archaeological contexts. In addition, mineral exploration, exploitation and procurement are among the organizing postulates in the formation of the ancient Mesoamerican trade structure and this activity was important at many levels of economic organization. The largest number of turquoise artifacts from any site in the North American Southwest was found in Pueblo Bonito, the largest site in Chaco Canyon. Although this site has been extensively studied for over 50 years the level of social complexity in this society is a contentious issue. The ability to pinpoint sources of turquoise artifacts is an important line of evidence in evaluating the level of complexity associate with sites such as Chaco Canyon.Recent results using a newly developed H and Cu isotopic method show that the inhabitants of Chaco Canyon received their turquoise from several areas and that the turquoise trade network extended far into northern Nevada. This isotopic technique is the basis for the project and presents a rare opportunity to combine both geochemical and archaeological methods in a conjunctive approach. The goal is to focus on isotopically fingerprinting turquoise sources. Once signatures for source areas have been established, artifacts from prehistoric archaeological sites can then be tested and inferences about their socio-political organization can be evaluate. Specific tasks are in two parts: (a) continue to characterize turquoise from the additional source (mining) regions using hydrogen (H) and copper (Cu) isotopes to verify the isotopic sourcing technique by characterizing as many turquoise sources as possible, including those located in California and northern Mexico; and (2) characterize turquoise artifacts recovered from pre-Columbian cultural areas, specifically the early Pueblo or Chaco World, but to include materials from the Casas Grandes, Mexico.If the results to date are confirmed, the turquoise sourcing project will provide a 'source fingerprint' for turquoise, permitting archaeologists to identify the sources of turquoise found at sites across the continent and providing new insight into pre-contact trade patterns in North America. The intellectual merit of the research will be to better understand the evolution of the turquoise trade and its role in the cultural intensification of the social systems along the northern frontier of Mesoamerica and southwestern portions of the United States.The broader impacts of the study are that it will contribute significant information about the social systems along the northern frontier of Mesoamerica and southwestern portions of the United States. The substantial increase in knowledge will provide the basis for major revisions in the scientific understanding of the prehistory of this dynamic region. U.S., Canadian and Mexican students will participate in the project to enhance their training and increase their knowledge of the importance of southwestern and Mesoamerican prehistory.