Hostname: page-component-77c89778f8-sh8wx Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-16T14:42:26.971Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Electron Microprobe Analysis of Weathered Florida Chert

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

David E. Clark  and
Barbara A. Purdy
David E. Clark
Affiliation:
University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611
Barbara A. Purdy
Affiliation:
University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Underlying paleo-Indian period artifacts, deeply weathered chert implements have been recovered in Florida from a sandy clay horizon heretofore considered culturally sterile. Although the stratigraphic position of the stone implements in the sandy clay deposit has been demonstrated without question, dating has been a problem because no carbon-containing material has been preserved. Thus experiments were undertaken to investigate the environmental conditions under which the stone artifacts have weathered and the time required for the given extent of weathering. The electron microprobe was used to evaluate the surface compositional changes that occur in Florida chert during weathering. The patina of a chert surface exposed to an acid environment was found to be depleted of iron to a depth of ∼ 600μm. The mechanism through which Fe is leached from the surface is thought to be a diffusion-controlled process in which the depth of leaching is proportional to the square root of exposure time. This may provide a means of dating artifacts fashioned from these cherts.

Type
Reports
Information
American Antiquity , Volume 44 , Issue 3 , July 1979 , pp. 517 - 524
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for American Archaeology 1979

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

References Cited

Clark, D. E., Acree, W. A., and Hench, L. L. 1976 Electron microprobe analysis of corroded soda-lime-silica glasses. Journal of the American Ceramic Society 59:463–464.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Clark, David E. Pantano, C. G. Jr. , and Hench, L. L. 1978 Glass corrosion. Glass Industry, New York.Google Scholar
Clark, David E., and Purdy, Barbara A. 1978 Surface characterization of weathered Florida cherts. Symposium on Archaeometry and Archaeological Prospection, Bonn, Germany. n. d. Weathering of thermally altered prehistoric stone implements (in preparation). Google Scholar
Dragoo, Don W. 1976 Some aspects of eastern North American prehistory: a review 1975. American Antiquity 41:3–27.Google Scholar
Friedman, I., and Smith, R. L. 1960 A new dating method using obsidian: Part 1, the development of the method. American Antiquity 25:476–522.Google Scholar
Hayden, J. D. 1976 Pre-Altithermal archaeology in the Sierra Pinacate, Sonora, Mexico. American Antiquity 41:274–289.Google Scholar
Hurst, V. J., and Kelly, A. R. 1961 Patination of cultural flints. Science 28:251–256.Google Scholar
Johnson, L. Jr. 1969 Obsidian hydration rate for the Klamath of California and Oregon. Science 165:1354–1355.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kingery, W. D. 1960 Introduction to ceramics. John Wiley and Sons, New York.Google Scholar
Krieger, Alex D. 1964 Early man in the New World. In Prehistoric man in the New World, edited by Jennings, Jesse D. and Edward, Norbeck. pp. 23–81. University Chicago Press, Chicago.Google Scholar
Mac Neish, Richard S. 1976 Early man in the New World. American Scientist 64:316–326.Google Scholar
Michels, J. W. 1967 Archeology and dating by hydration of obsidian. Science 158:211–214.Google Scholar
Purdy, Barbara A., and Clark, David E. 1978 Weathering studies of chert: a potential solution to the chronology problem in Florida. Symposium on Archaeometry and and Archaeological Prospection, Bonn, Germany.Google Scholar
Rouse, Irving 1976 Peopling of the Americas, Quaternary Research 6:597–612.CrossRefGoogle Scholar