Tuesday, June 01, 2021

More non-invasive archaeology

TECHNOLOGY WATCH: A non-invasive procedure allows obtaining archaeological information without excavating (Universitat Pompeu Fabra - Barcelona press release, Phys.org).
An international archaeological study, led by researchers from the Culture and Socio-Ecological Dynamics (CaSEs) research group at Pompeu Fabra University, has advanced in the understanding and preservation of archaeological sites and in improving their analysis and surveying, thanks to the application of pXRF (portable X-ray fluorescence analysis) to anthropogenic sediments in Africa. It is a rapid, inexpensive, non-invasive procedure, which enables generating an additional archaeological record from the anthropogenic deposit by analyzing chemical elements, combined with geostatistics.

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I keep saying it: non-invasive and non-destructive technologies are the future of archaeology. Also see here.

HT Archaeologica News (28 May) and Joseph I. Lauer. Joe also notes:

The underlying journal article, “Identifying anthropogenic features at Seoke (Botswana) using pXRF: Expanding the record of southern African Stone Walled Sites,” was published in PLoS ONE on May 12, 2021, and may be read at https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0250776
https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0250776

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