Characterization of Archaeological Sediments Using Fourier Transform Infrared (FT-IR) and Portable X-ray Fluorescence (pXRF): An Application to Formative Period Pyro-Industrial Sites in Pacific Coastal Southern Chiapas, Mexico

Archaeological sediments from mounds within the mangrove zone of far-southern Pacific coastal Chiapas, Mexico, are characterized in order to test the hypothesis that specialized pyro-technological activities of the region’s prehistoric inhabitants (salt and ceramic production) created the accumulations visible today. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) is used to characterize sediment mineralogy, while portable X-ray fluorescence (pXRF) is used to determine elemental concentrations. Elemental characterization of natural sediments by both instrumental neutron activation analysis (INAA) and pXRF also contribute to understanding of processes that created the archaeological deposits. Radiocarbon dates combined with typological analysis of ceramics indicate that pyro-industrial activity in the mangrove zone peaked during the Late Formative and Terminal Formative periods, when population and monumental activity on the coastal plain and piedmont were also at their peaks.

[1]  Dates… , 1973, The Social World of the Abbey of Cava, c. 1020-1300.

[2]  M. Coe.  La Victoria: An Early Site on the Pacific Coast of Guatemala , 2017 .

[3]  H. Neff,et al.  Geochemistry of the Tlacuachero Floors , 2015 .

[4]  David E. Friesem,et al.  Physical and mineralogical properties of experimentally heated chaff-tempered mud bricks: Implications for reconstruction of environmental factors influencing the appearance of mud bricks in archaeological conflagration events , 2015 .

[5]  E. Boaretto,et al.  The taphonomy and preservation of wood and dung ashes found in archaeological cooking installations: case studies from Iron Age Israel , 2014 .

[6]  E. Boaretto,et al.  An ethnoarchaeological study of cooking installations in rural Uzbekistan: development of a new method for identification of fuel sources , 2013 .

[7]  C. Buck,et al.  IntCal13 and Marine13 Radiocarbon Age Calibration Curves 0–50,000 Years cal BP , 2013, Radiocarbon.

[8]  H. Rowe,et al.  The quantification and application of handheld energy-dispersive x-ray fluorescence (ED-XRF) in mudrock chemostratigraphy and geochemistry , 2012 .

[9]  P. Goldberg,et al.  Micromorphology and context , 2010 .

[10]  S. Weiner.  Microarchaeology: Beyond the Visible Archaeological Record , 2010 .

[11]  Christopher Bronk Ramsey,et al.  BAYESIAN ANALYSIS OF RADIOCARBON DATES , 2009 .

[12]  C. Ramsey.  Deposition models for chronological records , 2008 .

[13]  S. Weiner,et al.  Sediments exposed to high temperatures: reconstructing pyrotechnological processes in Late Bronze and Iron Age Strata at Tel Dor (Israel) , 2007 .

[14]  D. Kennett,et al.  A Middle Archaic Archaeological Site on the West Coast of Mexico , 2002, Latin American Antiquity.

[15]  S. Weiner,et al.  Diagenesis in Prehistoric Caves: the Use of Minerals that Form In Situ to Assess the Completeness of the Archaeological Record , 2000 .

[16]  H. Neff.  RQ‐MODE PRINCIPAL COMPONENTS ANALYSIS OF CERAMIC COMPOSITIONAL DATA* , 1994 .

[17]  C. R. Nance.  Guzmán Mound: A Late Preclassic Salt works on south coast of Guatemala , 1992 .

[18]  A. Andrews.  Maya Salt Production and Trade , 1983 .

[19]  H. Barker.  Dating methods in archaeology: By Joseph W. Michels. 1973. 230 pp. London, New York, San Francisco: Seminar Press. £3·25 , 1975 .

[20]  M. L. Verheijke.  Neutron activation analysis , 1974 .

[21]  K. V. Flannery,et al.  Archeological Report. (Book Reviews: Early Cultures and Human Ecology in South Coastal Guatemala) , 1967 .

[22]  F. W. McBryde.  Cultural and historical geography of southwest Guatemala , 1949 .