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Laboratory Speaker Series
RADIOCARBON DATING: A PRACTICAL PRIMER
Speaker: Dr. Carla Hadden, UGA Center for Applied Isotope Studies
Discussants: Muscogee (Creek) Nation, Historic Culture and Preservation Department
This lecture provides a practical primer on radiocarbon dating, with an emphasis on maximizing the information potential and minimizing destruction to the archaeological record. Dr. Hadden provides an overview of the radiocarbon dating method and its limitations, and describes what actually happens to your sample before, during, and after analysis. She offers guidance on selecting the “best” samples for your project, and which should be avoided, and explores the topic of minimum sample size requirements: why they differ between sample types, and even between labs, and new developments that facilitate direct dating of ever-smaller samples. 09.30.2021
STABLE ISOTOPE ANALYSIS OF SHELLS FROM ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITES: INSIGHTS INTO PAST CLIMATE AND SUBSISTENCE
Speaker: Dr. Fred Andrus, University of Alabama
Discussant: Miranda Panther, Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians
Stable isotopes of oxygen (016 and 018) are measured in ancient mollusk shells and fish otoliths to learn about past subsistence activities and environmental changes. Since shells and otoliths grow by adding new material on top of older skeletons, one can measure how oxygen isotopes varied over the organism’s life. The talk describes the process of making these measurements, demonstrates the degree of destruction to the samples, and how such analyses may contribute to collaboration between descendant communities, and archaeologists, and how the method relates to NAGPRA. 10.22.2021
LASER ABLATION-INDUCTIVELY COUPLED PLASMA-MASS SPECTROMETRY (LA-ICP-MS): AN INTRODUCTION FOR ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND CULTURAL MATERIALS
Speaker: Dr. Lindsay Bloch, Ceramic Technology Laboratory, Florida Museum of Natural History
Discussant: Ben Yahola, Seminole Nation of Oklahoma
LA-ICP-MS is an analytical technique that uses a microscopically focused laser to analyze materials and obtain their elemental composition. This technique is particularly well suited for small, rare, or fragile objects, but is commonly used for a wide range of materials, including pottery, lithics, bone, and glass. Samples can remain whole or have small fragments removed for analysis. This talk outlines the method of LA-ICP-MS, discusses best practices, and provides several case studies of successful projects. 11.19.2021
ANCIENT DNA FOR ARCHAEOLOGY IN THE GENOMIC ERA
Speaker: Dr. Logan Kistler, Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of Natural History
Discussants: RaeLynn Butler and Turner Hunt, Muscogee (Creek) Nation
When used alongside other archaeological methods, DNA from the remains of plants, animals, humans, and the environment has potential to add tremendous depth of information and new dimensions of knowledge. DNA research has come to play an important role in toolkits for archaeological science, and introduces some of the methods, requirements, and procedures to recover genomic data from archaeological tissues and sediments. Dr. Kistler discusses key strengths and limitations of ancient DNA analysis to contextualize when it is appropriate to consider using these methods for archaeological questions. 01.28.2022
THE DIRT ON SOILS, SEDIMENTS, AND GEOARCHAEOLOGY
Speaker: Dr. Sarah Sherwood, University of the South - Sewanee
Discussant: Kenneth Carleton, Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians
For a long time, soils, and sediments were just the dirt that held artifacts. But through collaboration and interdisciplinary training, geoarchaeologists now use perspectives and methods from the natural sciences that carefully consider soils and sediments (the dirt) and how it can provide important information towards questions about the past. Dr. Sherwood discusses what geoarchaeology is and what soils and sediments can tell us and the basics of the techniques used in the field and the lab. 02.25.2022
LIDAR, REMOTE SENSING, AND ARCHAEOLOGY
Speaker: Dr. Tim Murtha and Dr. Whit Schroeder, University of Florida
Discussant: LeeAnne Wendt, Muscogee (Creek) Nation
Drs. Murtha and Schroeder present recent advancements in remote sensing and archaeology, including a specific focus on LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) for archaeological site identification, documentation, and landscape archaeology. Airborne, spaceborne, and more recently UAV mounted LiDAR systems provide high precision systems for quickly and accurately mapping archaeological sites and features. As these data become more common in archaeological science, critical questions about data access, availability, and accessibility have emerged. This presentation first summarizes the various forms of newly available advanced remote sensing data, with an emphasis on LiDAR. The presenters then demonstrate how these data capture complex site based information, how data are processed, and exhibit a variety of ways these data are being used in archaeological research and conservation. They also summarize and describe how these data can be used for addressing broader archaeological and anthropological questions about the past, while sharing useful resources for cultural resource managers. Finally, they introduce some of the ethical and serious preservation considerations that are introduced by these new data and how data can be leveraged for long term preservation of cultural heritage. As sensors become more cost effective, the use and application of LiDAR and other remote sensing products are opening the door to rapid documentation and intimate information about archaeological landscapes once previously inaccessible. The promise of these data needs to coupled to rigorous methods and community engagement to best study, manage, and preserve cultural heritage. 03.25.2022