TY - JOUR
T1 - Using X-ray fluorescence to examine ancient Maya granite ground stone in Belize
AU - Tibbits, Tawny L.B.
AU - Peuramaki-Brown, Meaghan M.
AU - Brouwer Burg, Marieka
AU - Tibbits, Matthew A.
AU - Harrison-Buck, Eleanor
N1 - Funding Information:
The reported research at Alabama was funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, Athabasca University, and Experiment.com. Permissions and permits were granted by the Belize Institute of Archaeology, property owners, and the leadership of Maya Mopan Village. Stann Creek Regional Archaeology Project members conducted all associated surveys and excavations from 2014 to 2016. The Belize River East Archaeology (BREA) Project has been generously funded by grants from the Alphawood Foundation and additional support from the University of New Hampshire. Permits were granted by the Belize Institute of Archaeology and permissions derived from local property owners and inhabitants in and around Banana Bank, Cocos Bank, Saturday Creek, Never Delay, Kitty Bank, McRae, Meditation, More Tomorrow, Castile, Beaver Dam, and Coquericot. Tibbits' research was funded through various awards from the University of Iowa, including the Graduate Student Senate, the Center for Global and Regional Environmental Research, a T. Anne Cleary Doctoral Fellowship, a Stanley International Travel Award, the Littlefield Fund, and the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences.
Funding Information:
The reported research at Alabama was funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, Athabasca University, and Experiment.com . Permissions and permits were granted by the Belize Institute of Archaeology, property owners, and the leadership of Maya Mopan Village. Stann Creek Regional Archaeology Project members conducted all associated surveys and excavations from 2014 to 2016. The Belize River East Archaeology (BREA) Project has been generously funded by grants from the Alphawood Foundation and additional support from the University of New Hampshire. Permits were granted by the Belize Institute of Archaeology and permissions derived from local property owners and inhabitants in and around Banana Bank, Cocos Bank, Saturday Creek, Never Delay, Kitty Bank, McRae, Meditation, More Tomorrow, Castile, Beaver Dam, and Coquericot. Tibbits' research was funded through various awards from the University of Iowa, including the Graduate Student Senate, the Center for Global and Regional Environmental Research, a T. Anne Cleary Doctoral Fellowship, a Stanley International Travel Award, the Littlefield Fund, and the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 The Authors. Geoarchaeology published by Wiley Periodicals LLC.
PY - 2023/3/1
Y1 - 2023/3/1
N2 - While ubiquitous among ancient Maya sites in Mesoamerica, archaeological analysts frequently overlook the interpretive potential of ground stone tools. The ancient Maya often made these heavy, bulky tools of coarse-grained, heterogeneous materials that are difficult to chemically source, unlike obsidian. This paper describes an application of handheld, energy-dispersive X-ray fluorescence (XRF) to provenance ground stone artifacts (tools and architectural blocks) composed of granite: a nonhomogenous, phaneritic stone. We present a multicomponent methodology that independently tested whole-rock, thin-sectioned, and powdered samples by petrographic microscope, conventional, lab-based XRF, and portable XRF units, which yielded comparable results. After establishing distinct geochemical signatures for the three geographically restricted granite plutons in Belize, we devised a field-based XRF application on a whole rock that could replicate the compositional readings of lab-based XRF on powdered materials with sufficient accuracy and reliability. We applied this multishot XRF technique to granite ground stone items from a range of ancient Maya sites throughout Belize; we discuss two specific case studies herein. Our results underscore the widespread potential of multishot XRF applications for determining the provenance of coarse-grained, heterogeneous rock materials. These results can help push the boundaries from one-dimensional, functional explanations of ground stone items to their social and ideological dimensions, alongside deeper understandings of granite resource management.
AB - While ubiquitous among ancient Maya sites in Mesoamerica, archaeological analysts frequently overlook the interpretive potential of ground stone tools. The ancient Maya often made these heavy, bulky tools of coarse-grained, heterogeneous materials that are difficult to chemically source, unlike obsidian. This paper describes an application of handheld, energy-dispersive X-ray fluorescence (XRF) to provenance ground stone artifacts (tools and architectural blocks) composed of granite: a nonhomogenous, phaneritic stone. We present a multicomponent methodology that independently tested whole-rock, thin-sectioned, and powdered samples by petrographic microscope, conventional, lab-based XRF, and portable XRF units, which yielded comparable results. After establishing distinct geochemical signatures for the three geographically restricted granite plutons in Belize, we devised a field-based XRF application on a whole rock that could replicate the compositional readings of lab-based XRF on powdered materials with sufficient accuracy and reliability. We applied this multishot XRF technique to granite ground stone items from a range of ancient Maya sites throughout Belize; we discuss two specific case studies herein. Our results underscore the widespread potential of multishot XRF applications for determining the provenance of coarse-grained, heterogeneous rock materials. These results can help push the boundaries from one-dimensional, functional explanations of ground stone items to their social and ideological dimensions, alongside deeper understandings of granite resource management.
KW - Belize
KW - XRF
KW - ancient Maya
KW - granite
KW - ground stone
KW - provenance
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85143499694&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1002/gea.21944
DO - 10.1002/gea.21944
M3 - Journal Article
AN - SCOPUS:85143499694
SN - 0883-6353
VL - 38
SP - 156
EP - 173
JO - Geoarchaeology
JF - Geoarchaeology
IS - 2
ER -