Geoarchaeology And Archaeological Mineralogy

This book of Springer Proceedings in Geoarchaeology and Archaeological Mineralogy contains selected papers presented at the 7th Geoarchaeology Conference, which took place during October 19–23, 2020, at the South Urals Federal Research Center, Ural Branch of Russian Academy of Sciences, Miass, Russia. The Proceedings combine studies in archeometry, geoarchaeology, and ancient North Eurasian technologies, including paleometallurgy, stone tools investigation, past exploitation of geological resources, bioarchaeology, residue analysis, pottery, and lithics studies. This book also specializes in various non-organic materials, rocks, minerals, ores, and metals, especially copper and metallurgical slags. Many types of research also use modern analytical methods of isotopic, chemical, and mineralogical analysis to address the composition and structure of ancient materials and the technological practices of past human populations of modern Russia, Ukraine, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, and Mongolia. This book is intended for archaeologists, historians, museum workers, and geologists, as well as students, researchers from other disciplines, and the general public interested in the interdisciplinary research in the field of archaeology and archaeological materials, strategies and techniques of past quarrying, mining, metallurgy and lithic technologies at different chronological periods in Eurasian steppe and adjacent forest zone.

This book presents general problems in geoarchaeology, and discusses geophysical solutions, X-ray fluorescence spectrometry applications, X-ray and isotope analyses and GIS technologies. It also examines practical reconstructions of technological processes used in ancient time, and investigates the use of minerals and rocks by ancient societies in the territories of modern Russia, Ukraine, Turkmenistan, and Tajikistan, as well as the characteristics of ores, metallurgical slags and data on the composition and impurities of archaeological metals. Intended for archaeologists, historians, museum workers and geologists studying noble metals and copper, the book is also a useful resource for students, graduate students, experts and anyone interested in the use of various minerals at different stages of humanity’s development.

This book unites studies in the fields of archaeometry, geoarchaeology, and ancient technologies, based on cases from northern Eurasia, and includes archaeometallurgy, stone tools investigation, exploitation of geological resources in the past, bioarchaeology, residue analysis, pottery and lithics investigation, and use of the GIS in archaeology. The book of Springer Proceedings in Geoarchaeology and Archaeological Mineralogy contains selected papers presented at the 8th Geoarchaeology Conference, which took place during September 20–23, 2021, at the South Urals Federal Research Center, the Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Miass, Russia. A study of non-organic materials, rocks, minerals, ores, metals and metallurgical slags is a special focus of the book. Many papers also use modern analytical methods of isotopic, chemical, and mineralogical analysis to study the composition and structure of ancient materials and the technological practices of past human populations of Modern Russia, Ukraine, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan and Mongolia. The book is intended for archaeologists, historians, museum workers and geologists, as well as students, researchers from other disciplines and the general public interested in the interdisciplinary research in the field of archaeology and archaeological materials, strategies and techniques of past quarrying, mining, metallurgy and lithic technologies at different chronological periods in Eurasian steppe and adjacent forest zone.

The volume of Springer Proceedings in Geoarchaeology and Archaeological Mineralogy contains selected papers presented at the 9th Geoarchaeology Conference, which took place during September 19–22, 2022, at the South Urals Federal Research Center, the Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Miass, Russia. The Proceedings unite studies in the fields of archeometry, geoarchaeology, and ancient technologies, based on cases from northern Eurasia, and include archaeometallurgy, stone tools investigation, exploitation of geological resources in the past, bioarchaeology, residue analysis, pottery and lithics investigation, use of the GIS in archaeology. A study of non-organic materials, rocks, minerals, ores, metals, metallurgical slags is a special focus of the book. Many papers also use modern analytical methods of isotopic, chemical, and mineralogical analysis to study the composition and structure of ancient materials and the technological practices of past human populations of Modern Russia, Ukraine, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, and Mongolia. The volume is intended for archaeologists, historians, museum workers, and geologists, as well as students, researchers from other disciplines, and the general public interested in the interdisciplinary research in the field of archaeology and archaeological materials, strategies and techniques of past quarrying, mining, metallurgy and lithic technologies at different chronological periods in Eurasian steppe and adjacent forest zone.

This book of Springer Proceedings in Geoarchaeology and Archaeological Mineralogy contains selected papers presented at the 7th Geoarchaeology Conference, which took place during October 19-23, 2020, at the South Urals Federal Research Center, Ural Branch of Russian Academy of Sciences, Miass, Russia. The Proceedings combine studies in archeometry, geoarchaeology, and ancient North Eurasian technologies, including paleometallurgy, stone tools investigation, past exploitation of geological resources, bioarchaeology, residue analysis, pottery, and lithics studies. This book also specializes in various non-organic materials, rocks, minerals, ores, and metals, especially copper and metallurgical slags. Many types of research also use modern analytical methods of isotopic, chemical, and mineralogical analysis to address the composition and structure of ancient materials and the technological practices of past human populations of modern Russia, Ukraine, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, and Mongolia. This book is intended for archaeologists, historians, museum workers, and geologists, as well as students, researchers from other disciplines, and the general public interested in the interdisciplinary research in the field of archaeology and archaeological materials, strategies and techniques of past quarrying, mining, metallurgy and lithic technologies at different chronological periods in Eurasian steppe and adjacent forest zone.

This book presents general problems in geoarchaeology, and discusses geophysical solutions, X-ray fluorescence spectrometry applications, X-ray and isotope analyses and GIS technologies. It also examines practical reconstructions of technological processes used in ancient time, and investigates the use of minerals and rocks by ancient societies in the territories of modern Russia, Ukraine, Turkmenistan, and Tajikistan, as well as the characteristics of ores, metallurgical slags and data on the composition and impurities of archaeological metals. Intended for archaeologists, historians, museum workers and geologists studying noble metals and copper, the book is also a useful resource for students, graduate students, experts and anyone interested in the use of various minerals at different stages of humanity's development.

This book unites studies in the fields of archaeometry, geoarchaeology, and ancient technologies, based on cases from northern Eurasia, and includes archaeometallurgy, stone tools investigation, exploitation of geological resources in the past, bioarchaeology, residue analysis, pottery and lithics investigation, and use of the GIS in archaeology. The book of Springer Proceedings in Geoarchaeology and Archaeological Mineralogy contains selected papers presented at the 8th Geoarchaeology Conference, which took place during September 20-23, 2021, at the South Urals Federal Research Center, the Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Miass, Russia. A study of non-organic materials, rocks, minerals, ores, metals and metallurgical slags is a special focus of the book. Many papers also use modern analytical methods of isotopic, chemical, and mineralogical analysis to study the composition and structure of ancient materials and the technological practices of past human populations of Modern Russia, Ukraine, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan and Mongolia. The book is intended for archaeologists, historians, museum workers and geologists, as well as students, researchers from other disciplines and the general public interested in the interdisciplinary research in the field of archaeology and archaeological materials, strategies and techniques of past quarrying, mining, metallurgy and lithic technologies at different chronological periods in Eurasian steppe and adjacent forest zone.

1.1 Prologue What is archaeomineralogy? The term has been used at least once before (Mitchell 1985), but this volume is the first publication to lay down the scientific basis and systematics for this subdiscipline. Students sometimes call an introductory archaeology course "stones and bones." Archaeomineralogy covers the stones component of this phrase. Of course, archaeology consists of a great deal more than just stones and bones. Contemporary archaeology is based on stratigraphy, geomorphology, chronometry, behavioral inferences, and a host of additional disciplines in addition to those devoted to stones and bones. To hazard a definition: archaeomineralogy is the study of the minerals and rocks used by ancient societies over space and time, as implements, orna ments, building materials, and raw materials for ceramics and other processed products. Archaeomineralogy also attempts to date, source, or otherwise char acterize an artifact or feature, or to interpret past depositional alteration of archaeological contexts. Unlike geoarchaeology, archaeomineralogy is not, and is not likely to become, a recognized subdiscipline. Practitioners of archaeomineralogy are mostly geoarchaeologists who specialize in geology and have a strong background in mineralogy or petrology (the study of the origin ofrocks).