Hi,
In a recent archaeological excavation on a historical site at Amazon. I recovered six clay smoking pipes with soil content from a sugar mill slave quarters. Besides palynology and phytolith analysis what other research can be made?
Thank you.
Dear Menezes Costa
1. paleomagnetism or carbon 14 to give age of Pottry.
2. an investigation with a metals detector if posible to even the metallic objects. tools, silver, gold ...
Good luck
Menezes, be careful with C14 because it dates organic material and pottery is inorganic. TL is better for pottery dating, keeping the earth for elements as Th, U and K whereas samples can be taken from the core of the pipe without that the sample ever sees daylight. Look for the right procedure for Thermoluminescence dating (TL)..
You could try to establish who made these pipes by tracing their provenience. This can be done with petrography, EDXRF and finally (best but expensive) neutron activation analysis. If you have a good data base, you will be able to trace trade within the area you are working.
Dear Menezes Costa
C14 is used for sediements around or Inside pottery
but paleomag,etisme is best for pottery and this is the reason :
The Earth has a magnetic field generated by the liquid outer core rich in iron (a kind of geodynamo). The seed (solid inner core), yet also very rich in iron, does not create a magnetic field because its temperature is over 6000 ° C (T> TCurie iron).
This magnetic field has an influence on the material is in particular on the rocks. When a rock solidifies, the ferromagnetic minerals are oriented according to the ambient Earth's magnetic field and retain the orientation (this is called thermal-retentive).
Indeed, on cooling, they spend a paramagnetic state (disordered magnetic dipoles) to a ferromagnetic state (the dipoles are aligned according to the external magnetic field creating a permanent magnetization). This is a reversible phase transition, when the temperature exceeds the body's Curie temperature (temperature at which the transition takes place), the rock loses its magnetization and becomes paramagnetic. But if the rock is neither heated nor impaired, so she keeps "in memory" the direction and intensity of the magnetic field.
Good luck
Smaine, dear, in fact Menezes Costa will need an enormous amount of luck if he follows your direction to date pottery. TL is up to the present the best technique, in spite of the many doubts around the TL method..
I am aware of the tecnique you suggested, but this only works if you find a kiln in situ and take the measurement on that kiln,. On any pottery not in situ, it will not work, I am afraid. We have done the magnetic measurements in Biblical Beer Sheba in Israel and it was doubtful to say the least.
Thank you both, I am sure if I have the opportunity, I will do the dating of the clay pipes according your recommendations.
However, this is not the issue, because they are of a context dated, with include european ceramic and glass from historic period.
My issue is about the content of these pipes, what they are smoking? It is only tobacco? What physical and chemical analysis it is possible?
Thank you again.
Diogo
Since it was found in a slave quarter, you should already have a date for the quarter from historical records which will be far more accurate than the dating methods mentioned. As you mention context with other artifacts so there is no need for other dating- better spending money on chemical analysis
Yes, you can run chemical residue tests on the pipes. Were they only smoking tobacco?
Are these pipes local or imported? Are they like the pipes found on other sites from your region. In the past few years we have found a few locally made pipes on 18th Century pipes made of soapstone where as the other Kaoline pipes are from europe
Now I got the information that we are dealing with tobacco smoking--or any other substance for that matter--I had a big success with High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) which was performed at the Royal Brussels Laboratory on the identification of the various dyes that were used on Qumran textiles. This technique works and is straightforward. Our contriburion can be found in COST Action G-8 under J. Gunneweg, J. Wouters and M. Balla on the RG publication list.
The later technique we used was Synchrotron-based FT-IR at the ESRF which was less successful than HPLC, a proof that the more expensive technique used is not always the better one.
Gas chromatography / mass spectrometry is a technique that have had very good results in detecting nicotine in pipes.
googling chemical analysis of clay pipes I found this
Chemical analysis of residues from seventeenth-century clap pipes from Stratford-upon-Avon and environs
Thackeray, J. F.; van der Merwe, N. J.; van der Merwe, T. A. ---2001
http://connection.ebscohost.com/c/articles/4251876/chemical-analysis-residues-from-seventeenth-century-clap-pipes-from-stratford-upon-avon-environs
- Badges
- Science topic
- Similar topics
- Biological Science
- Bioecology
- Systems Ecology
- Landscape Ecology
- Connectivity