Archeological Chemistry. By A. Mark Pollard and Carl Heron
2
MICROCHEMICAL JOURNAL 57, 389–390 (1997) BOOK REVIEWS Archeological Chemistry. By A. Mark Pollard and Carl Heron. Royal Society of Chemistry, c/o American Chemical Society, Washington, DC, 1996. Pollard and Heron are explicit about the contents, audience, and goals of this work. The book is about the applications of chemistry to archaeological findings. This approach stands in contrast to the employment of physics, for example, in explicating archaeological materials and sites. The authors state their somewhat ambitious premise that practitioners of archaeological chemistry will be knowledgeable in both archaeology and chemistry (methods, theory, techniques, limitations, etc.). Their audience is archaeologists who use or plan to use scientific analysis to illuminate their findings and aid in interpretation, and chemists who want to pursue new applications of the techniques of chemistry. While those with strong inclinations and back- grounds in chemistry might be less intimidated by this work than archaeologists would, Pollard and Heron have a welcome ability to define and explain processes in a very clear and straightforward way. The authors admit that most chapters exhibit a Eurocentric bias (the exceptions are a chapter dealing with the question of the peopling of the Americas and a few other references relevant to other topics). This is to be expected from a work emanating from the Royal Society of Chemistry and is in no way to be seen as a drawback. It merely requires that other readers, perhaps inexperienced students, be warned and, thus, prepared. Terminology throughout is European, or what those on this side of the Atlantic would call Old World. For example, prehistoric has a different connotation in European contexts than it does in the Americas, whereas much of what New World archaeologists would term historic archaeology is Europe’s post-Medieval period. References to the Neolithic, the Bronze Age, the Sixth Millennium, and so on reflect the geographical origins, interests, and applications of most of the chapters’ authors; there is no similar limit to the applications of the methods of archaeological chemistry. This caveat aside, the book begins with a short, but not geographically limited, historical overview of archaeological chemistry. Most previous works dealing with archaeological chemistry have focused on the techniques and methods, but Pollard and Heron devote only a single chapter to brief descriptions of the underlying theory and practical use of various techniques. The bulk of the book is devoted to the applications of some of those techniques to specific archaeological problems. Putting together the book this way illustrates the ways various techniques might be employed by others to answer specific questions of an archaeological nature. Chapters encompass such topics as obsidian characterization and analytical methods that have been utilized to source obsidian artifacts; the structure and geochemistry of clays and the subsequent use of this information in ceramic analysis; characteristics of Medieval glass and the manner and effects of its corrosion. Metals chemistry is examined in chapters dealing with brass and with the use of isotopic lead to track source, use, and trade of metals. Amino acid racemization is applied to Paleoindian remains in North America to attempt to define the dates marking the entrance of humans. Throughout the book there is a decided emphasis on taphonomy — postdepositional alteration of materials and artifacts. Each chapter ends with a list of references, both ancient (for Medieval texts dealing with very early chemistry) and recent (within the last four years). The final chapter notes that second only to dating methods, chemical methods of analyzing archaeological materials have proven themselves valuable contributions to understanding archaeological remains and taphonomical processes. These contributions represent the tip of the iceberg in terms of the applications of chemistry to archaeological finds and in terms of the new questions and refinements of methods and interpretation that have been generated. Chemists will be more comfortable with the brief appendixes than will most archaeologists. Jane Brown Department of Geosciences and Anthropology Western Carolina University Cullowhee, North Carolina 28723 ARTICLE NO. MJ971504 389 0026-265X/97 $25.00 Copyright q 1997 by Academic Press All rights of reproduction in any form reserved.
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Transcript of Archeological Chemistry. By A. Mark Pollard and Carl Heron
MICROCHEMICAL JOURNAL 57, 389–390 (1997)
BOOK REVIEWS
Archeological Chemistry. By A. Mark Pollard and Carl Heron. Royal Society of Chemistry, c/oAmerican Chemical Society, Washington, DC, 1996.
Pollard and Heron are explicit about the contents, audience, and goals of this work. The book is aboutthe applications of chemistry to archaeological findings. This approach stands in contrast to the employmentof physics, for example, in explicating archaeological materials and sites. The authors state their somewhatambitious premise that practitioners of archaeological chemistry will be knowledgeable in both archaeologyand chemistry (methods, theory, techniques, limitations, etc.). Their audience is archaeologists who use orplan to use scientific analysis to illuminate their findings and aid in interpretation, and chemists who wantto pursue new applications of the techniques of chemistry. While those with strong inclinations and back-grounds in chemistry might be less intimidated by this work than archaeologists would, Pollard and Heronhave a welcome ability to define and explain processes in a very clear and straightforward way.
The authors admit that most chapters exhibit a Eurocentric bias (the exceptions are a chapter dealingwith the question of the peopling of the Americas and a few other references relevant to other topics). Thisis to be expected from a work emanating from the Royal Society of Chemistry and is in no way to be seenas a drawback. It merely requires that other readers, perhaps inexperienced students, be warned and, thus,prepared. Terminology throughout is European, or what those on this side of the Atlantic would call OldWorld. For example, prehistoric has a different connotation in European contexts than it does in theAmericas, whereas much of what New World archaeologists would term historic archaeology is Europe’spost-Medieval period. References to the Neolithic, the Bronze Age, the Sixth Millennium, and so on reflectthe geographical origins, interests, and applications of most of the chapters’ authors; there is no similarlimit to the applications of the methods of archaeological chemistry.
This caveat aside, the book begins with a short, but not geographically limited, historical overview ofarchaeological chemistry. Most previous works dealing with archaeological chemistry have focused on thetechniques and methods, but Pollard and Heron devote only a single chapter to brief descriptions of theunderlying theory and practical use of various techniques. The bulk of the book is devoted to the applicationsof some of those techniques to specific archaeological problems. Putting together the book this way illustratesthe ways various techniques might be employed by others to answer specific questions of an archaeologicalnature. Chapters encompass such topics as obsidian characterization and analytical methods that have beenutilized to source obsidian artifacts; the structure and geochemistry of clays and the subsequent use of thisinformation in ceramic analysis; characteristics of Medieval glass and the manner and effects of its corrosion.Metals chemistry is examined in chapters dealing with brass and with the use of isotopic lead to tracksource, use, and trade of metals. Amino acid racemization is applied to Paleoindian remains in NorthAmerica to attempt to define the dates marking the entrance of humans. Throughout the book there is adecided emphasis on taphonomy—postdepositional alteration of materials and artifacts. Each chapter endswith a list of references, both ancient (for Medieval texts dealing with very early chemistry) and recent(within the last four years). The final chapter notes that second only to dating methods, chemical methodsof analyzing archaeological materials have proven themselves valuable contributions to understandingarchaeological remains and taphonomical processes. These contributions represent the tip of the iceberg interms of the applications of chemistry to archaeological finds and in terms of the new questions andrefinements of methods and interpretation that have been generated. Chemists will be more comfortablewith the brief appendixes than will most archaeologists.
Jane BrownDepartment of Geosciences and AnthropologyWestern Carolina UniversityCullowhee, North Carolina 28723
ARTICLE NO. MJ971504
3890026-265X/97 $25.00Copyright q 1997 by Academic PressAll rights of reproduction in any form reserved.
ah0f$$1504 11-13-97 06:49:31 mica AP: MCH
390 BOOK REVIEWS
Trace Analysis: A Structured Approach to Obtaining Reliable Results. Edited by E. Prichard,G. M. MacKay, and J. Points. Royal Society of Chemistry, c/o American Chemical Society, Washington,DC, 1996. $144.00.
This volume describes methods used to obtain reliable quantitative results of organic and inorganicanalytes. The introductory chapter includes introductory material on quality control. Chapter 2 includes somevaluable information regarding sample handling, including storage, particle size reduction, and methods tominimize contamination. Chapters 3 and 4 describe sample preparation and determination methods forinorganic analytes. The chapter on sample preparation contains a lot of helpful advice regarding methodsof sample preparation and preconcentration. The analysis chapter is a survey of methods and gives goodadvice on which methods are most applicable to employ for a determination, although there is limitedinformation on each method. The next two chapters discuss sample preparation and determination fororganic analytes, including extraction methods, gas chromatography, liquid chromatography, and massspectrometry. A relatively brief chapter discusses speciation methods. This chapter focuses upon the couplingchromatography instruments to atomic spectrometry detectors, which generally must be performed in thelaboratory due to the absence of commercial instrumentation. Unfortunately, little discussion of qualitycontrol is present in this chapter. Chapter 8 discusses techniques that may be employed for both inorganicand organic analytes, such as UV visible spectroscopy, electochemistry, and bioanalytical techniques. Thefinal chapter is a relatively brief discussion of signal processing and reporting. In my opinion, this chapterprobably was too brief, particularly with regard to signal processing. However, overall I think this volumeis a valuable asset to the practicing analytical chemist. The book contains a lot of references to the primaryliterature that can be used to obtain more information about specific areas of interest to the reader.
David J. ButcherDepartment of Chemistry and PhysicsWestern Carolina UniversityCullowhee, North Carolina 28723
ARTICLE NO. MJ971505
ah0f$$1504 11-13-97 06:49:31 mica AP: MCH
