Thin Section Petrography

SUMMARY: Chapter 9, in Renfrew & Bahn's textbook (Archaeology: Theories, Methods, and Practice), covers the various types of trade and exchange in past societies, and how one may assess it, including different types of interactions (e.g., gift exchange), various scientific techniques (e.g., microscopic examination of materials; trace-element analysis; isotopic analysis), studying material and/or artifact distributions, assessing production and consumption, and analyzing the various means of exchange and interaction.  In my view, this is one of the best college textbooks available, and is invaluable for students, archaeologists, and the public in general, to obtain a top notch overview of approaching and interpreting the archaeological record. UPDATED/REVISED March, 2021, some editing and new formatting, minimal new materials.

Petrographic analysis of large brown-ware jars from the Classic Mimbres occupation of the Mimbres Valley, New Mexico, revealed use of two distinct temper types. One type, a coarse granite, had limited natural availability. Analyzing the distribution of jars using this temper type throughout the Mimbres River drainage indicated that the jars were being transported from their place(s) of manufacture, in turn suggesting they were part of trading patterns, either of the jars themselves or as containers for other trade items. This is contrary to the traditional view that large utilitarian jars were used exclusively where they were manufactured.

Secara geografis lokasi penelitian berada pada koordinat 49 M 409513 9137374 UTM (Universal Transverse Mercator). Lokasi penelitian terdapat pada peta geologi lembar Yogyakarta, dengan luas daerah penelitian adalah 1km2. Berada di Desa Banyuroto, Kecamatan Nanggulan, Kabupaten Kulon Progo, Provinsi Daerah Istimewa Yogyakarta. Morfologi daerah penelitian berupa perbukitan bergelombang sedang, dengan slope 13o. Penelitian yang dilakukan pada lokasi ini bertujuan untuk mengetahui batuan apa saja yang berkembang pada daerah tersebut sehingga peneliti dapat menarik kesimpulan bagaimana proses awal terjadinya batuan tersebut untuk kemudian dianalisa. Pengamatan secara mikroskopis dilakukan dengan cara mengambil 5 titik pada sayatan tipis kemudian dilakukan deskripsi, perhitungan butiran (point counting), penamaan batuan, dan penyusunan petrogenesa. Berdasarkan hasil pengamatan secara megaskopis dan mikroskopis didapatkan batuan yang berkomposisi butiran allochem berupa fosil foraminifera, micrite berupa lumpur karbonatan, serta sparite karbonatan.

ABSTRACT
A detailed geologic mapping coupled with petrographic mineral identification and description
were carried out on various rock types around NE Okene, Kogi State, south-central Nigeria.
The studied area is located between latitude 70
30’and 70
35’ North and between longitude 60
10’and 60
16’ East of the Greenwich Meridian and covers an approximate area of 92 Km2
.
Mapping was done by traverse mapping method together with systematic sampling of the
various outcrops encountered. The rock types within the area of study include migmatites,
gneisses, granitic rocks and charnockites. There were also minor occurrences of quartzitic,
quartzo-feldspathic and pegmatitic veins. Field relations observed on the rock samples
collected from the various outcrops, coupled with available information and literature, showed
that the oldest lithologic units in the mapped area are those belonging to the migmatite-gneiss-
quartzite complex of the Nigerian Basement Complex, and they are the various gneisses
(granodioritic and garnetiferous gneiss) and the migmatites (granite-gneiss), which were
intruded by the Pan-African granitoids (600 Ma). These lithologic units are characterized by
parallel layers consisting of alternation of felsic (light coloured) and mafic (dark coloured)
minerals in what is referred to as gneissic layering. Structural features such as faults, minor and
major folds observed on these outcrops are indications that the rocks have suffered more than
one episode of deformation. The charnockitic and granitic rocks occur as low lying outcrops in
association with these older units. Petrographic analysis of the charnockite show that it is
hypersthene-bearing which is as expected of charnockitic rocks except in cases where the
hypersthene have been converted to olivine. The granitic rocks are mainly felsic with mineral
assemblages of feldspar, quartz and biotite conspicuously observed both in hand specimen on
the field and under a polarizing microscope of their thin sections in the laboratory. Most of the
rocks in the mapped area has been affected by physical, chemical and biological weathering
which is characteristic of areas with high rainfall, humidity and high temperature.

This research deals with the economic and commercial Phoenician networks during the early Iron Age in the southern Levant. Optical Mineralogy (petrography) analysis was conducted on a large scale on three categories of early Iron Age ceramic vessels. The first category includes transport and storage vessels, mainly pithoi, jars, and small lentoid flasks; the second category comprises Phoenician decorated ware, namely Phoenician Monochrome and Phoenician Bichrome; and the third category are open vessels of various types selected as a control group in order to better understand local fabrics and technological aspects of productions in the different sites. Lastly a unique assemblage of Egyptian imports from Tel Dor offer an addition view of relation of Egypt and Phoenicia during this period. 
Vessels for analysis were collected from both Phoenician and non-Phoenician sites: the Phoenician sites include Tel Achziv, Tell Keisan and Tel Dor. Non-Phoenician sites include Tel Dan, Tel Rehov, Tel Megiddo ‛En-Haggit, Tell Qasile and Nahal Patish in the Negev; altogether, about 450 vessels.
In general, three main petro-fabric groups were identified that represent ceramic production centers on the Phoenician coast: petro-fabric group A is produced in sites along the coast between Haifa and Achziv; petro-fabric group B originated on the southern Lebanese coast between Tyre and Sidon; and petro-fabric group C represents the Carmel Coast.
Three main commercial circles of Phoenician involvement in trade were identified in the early Iron Age. The first one is the inner Phoenician circulation of ceramics between Phoenician sites along the sea routes of the Levantine coast. Movement of Phoenicians transport vessels of various types were identified up and down the coast: this includes mainly carinated jars and Phoenician decorated wares.
The second commercial circle is characterized by overland trade between the Phoenician coastal centers and sites that fall within their immediate hinterland. Vessels made in Phoenicia, especially small lentoid flasks and Phoenician decorated ware found deep inland and southwards in the land of Philistia. The Phoenician Carmel Coast shows a particular connection with the Jezreel Valley and the southern Lebanese coast shows ties to Rehov and Dan. The realization of this close connection is solidified in the local production of Phoenician Bichrome ware in the Jezreel Valley and Dan in the northern Hula Valley. In reciprocity, transport vessels, mainly oval jars of inland production travel to the Phoenician coast. In addition to that, jars of various types (but not carinated) were found to travel from Philistia and the Sharon Coast to Phoenician sites especially during the 10th century BCE; this is the first time this phenomenon is identified.
The third commercial circle is the traffic that existed between the Phoenician coastal cities and their old political master, now turned large consumer, Egypt. In the void left by retreating Egypt at the end of the 12th century, the Phoenician marinners step-in, building and negotiating a large multi-leveled commercial network, with themselves in the center. These networks in the so-called Dark Age of the 11th to early 9th centuries BCE mark the beginning of the Phoenician's market economy.
 

In 1969–70, a single Tang dynasty blue-spotted Gongyi sherd was found at Siraf, Iran, the main trading port on the Persian Gulf in the early Islamic period. This is the only known example of Chinese blue-and-white ware, whether low- or high-fired, found in the Middle East from such an early date. The sherd provides direct archaeological evidence for the Indian Ocean trade between China and the Middle East in the ninth century AD. The body paste, clear glaze and blue glaze or pigment were analyzed by thin-section petrography, scanning electron microscopy with energy-dispersive X-ray spectrometry (SEM-EDX) and X-ray fluorescence (XRF). The technological analysis reveals the different steps of the chaîne opératoire: clay mixing, slip and glaze
application, and decoration with the cobalt blue glaze before high-temperature firing. These steps are characteristic of Tang stoneware production at Gongyi in Henan province, China.
The use of cobalt blue pigment as part of a simple spotted decoration scheme on the Gongyi sherd, and its find context within the Middle East, provides evidence for the complex interplay and influence occurring between Chinese and Middle East ceramic industries at this time.
Closely comparable examples of contemporary low-fired earthenware ceramics with cobalt blue decoration on a white tin glaze manufactured within the Middle East also occur within the same assemblage from Siraf.

Kamafugites are rare and it is recognized on the border between Uganda and Zaire (Africa), Italy and Brazil. Other rocks with kamafugitic affinity occur in China, Turkey and Serbia. In Brazil, vulcanism of kamafugitic rocks occurs in Goiás, in the Goiás Alkaline Province (GAP) and in Minas Gerais, in the Alto Paranaíba Igneous Province (APIP). The target area of work is the southern region of GAP, more specifically in Santo Antônio da Barra and Rio Verde, where are the places that there are extensive volcanic and pyroclastic expositions of kamafugites. This rock dates from the Upper Cretaceous and there are different hypotheses for their genesis, such as through mantle plumes and extensive activities (rifts). The kamafugitic rocks of Rio Verde and Santo Antônio da Barra, in hand sample, are light gray, dark gray and black. They have a massive structure and more rarely a magmatic flow structure marked by the orientation of pyroxene phenocrysts. They are phaneritic, with aphanitic matrix and phenocrysts of piroxene, olivine, leucite and / or analcimes and carbonates. Some lava rocks have many vesicles that sometimes can be filled with by carbonates, zeólitas or clay minerals. There are pyroclastic rocks that are mixed or partially over the lava rocks. Pyroclastic rocks sometimes host blocks of other rocks. Microscopically, there are holocrystalline and hypocrystalline rocks. They are inequigranular porphyritic with glomereroporphyrytic texture and some with vesicular and amygdaloidal texture. The minerals present in these rocks, in general, are: clinopyroxene, olivine, leucite, analcime, carbonate, kalsilite / nepheline, apatite and titanobiotite. There are other minerals that have not been defined that fill the vesicles, matrix’s interstices and veins. The vesicular and amygdaloidal textures and the presence of pyroclastic rocks with fragments of other rocks may indicate that the magma generator was rich in volatiles and that the volcanism was explosive.

The goal of this work is to understand the management of heavy stone tools, first from supply of
the raw material to the moment the tool is discarded. This study is based on the artefacts of three
palafittic settlements: Chalain/Clairvaux (Jura), Charavines « Les Baigneurs » (Isère) and Sutz-
Lattrigen « Riedstation » (Switzerland). The first line of research is chronological and is best
applied to the Combe d’Ain limestone region. In the case of the “back-and-forth” mill, the choice
of the raw material differs greatly between the Middle and Late Neolithic. During the earlier
period the raw material is exclusively local whereas in the later period it is imported. For the
Late Neolithic these tools are treated differently according to their origin. Siliceous stones,
imported from more than 50 km, seem to have an important economic value. The clearest
indication of evolution is the reorientation of the supply network, which would be consistent
with cultural changes. Polishing tools, consisting mostly of fine-grained sandstone, do not vary
during the Late Neolithic and some outcrops (20 km from the village) were already exploited
during the Middle Neolithic. A constant between 3200 and 2600 BC is that tools were always
used until to their end. The second line of research deals with the spatial spread of the heavy
stone tools. On lake-dwelling their interpretation is very complex. “Back-and-forth” mill
nevertheless seem to be used either in front of the house or at the entrance. There is possibly an
evolution of the place of grinding activity from the outside to inside of the house, indicating an
evolution of social practices during the Late Neolithic.

"Utilitarian Ceramic Production and Distribution in the Prehistoric Tonto Basin" synthesizes sand temper-based provenance evidence collected over 15 years from three widely spaced project areas. Ideas regarding pottery manufacture in households and communities during the A.D. 100 - 1350 span are presented.

When the results of the work carried out by the expeditions to Serabit el-Khadem by Petrie (1905), Starr and Valbelle (1935) and Bonnet (‘90s) are observed, it immediately becomes clear that the epigraphic, iconographic and architectural remains at Serabit have received a lot of attention. More mundane objects such as ceramics, faience and lithics have received much less attention. Despite this lack of attention these materials can still tell us much about the organization of the mining expeditions, the site of Serabit el-Khadem, and about their dependence on the Egyptian mainland. Moreover, the study of these objects might gain even more importance since new archaeological research at Serabit is hampered by the erosion and weathering of the steles and architectural remains caused by both human and natural factors.

This study intends to step into the gap of material studies at Serabit el-Khadem by studying the ceramics from an assemblage which was collected in the temple area by Starr in 1935.5 Except for a short macroscopic study of ceramics gathered in the ‘90s under direction of Charles Bonnet and Dominique Valbelle, no pottery from Serabit el-Khadem was studied in detail.

The material which will be used in this thesis comes from Starr’s expedition in 1935 and is currently stored at the Harvard Semitic Museum in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The main goal of this study is to revisit this old museum collection in order to try and gain new information on Serabit el-Khadem and its mining expeditions without the need for new archaeological research on site.

This monograph explores pottery making and communities during the Bakun period (c. 5000 – 4000 BCE) in the Kur River Basin, Fars province, southwestern Iran, through the analysis of ceramic materials collected at Tall-e Jari A, Tall-e Gap, and Tall-e Bakun A & B. Firstly, it reconsiders the stratigraphy and radiocarbon dates of the four sites by reviewing the descriptions of excavation trenches, then presents a new chronological relationship between the sites. The book sets out diachronic changes in the the Bakun pottery quantitatively, namely the increase of black-on-buff ware and the gradual shift of vessel forms. It also presents analyses of pottery-making techniques, painting skills, petrography, and geochemistry and clarifies minor changes in the chaînes opératoires and major changes in painting skill. Finally, the book discusses the organisation of pottery production from a relational perspective. It concludes that the more fixed community of pottery making imposed longer apprenticeship periods and that social inequality also increased. I thank Archaeopress for allowing me to upload this monograph to academia. (the publisher's link is https://www.archaeopress.com/Archaeopress/Products/9781803270586)

The impact of clay minerals within a petroleum reservoir is a well-known problem. They acts as double-edged weapons upon reservoir properties such as porosity and permeability. However, clay minerals not only can affect the reservoir properties, but they also have impact upon those measured physical data that are used to evaluate the reservoir properties, upon the forms of the petrophysical relationships between subsets of these parameters and upon log response. Thus, this leads to inaccurate values of porosity, water saturation, permeability and other useful output of the reservoir petrophysical measurement in both conventional and unconventional reservoirs. Any interpretation based on that mislead data may drastically change the economics of the drilling program and business opportunities will be missed. 

It is therefore very important for both Geoscientists and Petrophysicists to identify the different types of clay minerals, and their properties within a petroleum reservoir prior to any useful evaluation. Unfortunately, there arose series of problems in identifying different types of clay minerals for reservoir evaluation. In shale reservoirs (which is unconventional)  for example, determining the clay composition is a significant challenge considering the chemical complexity and heterogeneous nature of the shale. Considering the fact that the physical (i.e., permeability, fracability, wettability) and chemical properties of shale rocks depend strongly on the type and amount of clay minerals present, understanding the relationship between clay mineralogy and the reservoir physical parameters is therefore crucially important in characterizing and developing the reservoir. Proper knowledge and good understanding of clay minerology and their applications in petroleum industry is essential in all oil business life cycle (Exploration, Appraisal, Production and Development). 

The purpose of this presentation is therefore to highlight the difficulties of clay minerals identification, delineate the effect of the identified minerals upon the reservoir properties; either enhancing or destroying them as well as to bring into light different solutions that can be used in addressing the problems or challenges of identifying clay minerals in reservoir evolution through integration of certain different methods.

This article presents results of the analysis of 23 thin sections of early medieval pottery from Pliska (obl. Schumen / BG). This investigation was planned as part of a comprehensive study of the so-called yellow pottery from Pliska, which aimed to characterize these vessels and their production technology as well as to illuminate the connection of this pottery group with the Avar-period yellow pottery in the Carpathian Basin (present-day Hungary and surrounding areas). The yellow pottery from Pliska became well-known primarily through the vessel-set found in a secret passage of »Krum’s Palace« in 1979. Various hypotheses have been suggested for the conceptual origin and place of production of this pottery group, including a Byzantine and a central Asian background. Chemical analyses of the yellow pottery from Pliska and of local sediments have shown that a local production of this pottery in Pliska was possible. The aim of the investigations presented here is to characterize the microstructure of the yellow pottery and other investigated pottery groups from Pliska, in order to determine possible similarities / differences between these groups, as well as to show / disprove potential connections with yellow pottery groups of the 8th and 9th centuries from the Carpathian Basin and neighbouring areas.

"A Petrographic Approach to Sand-Tempered Pottery Provenance Studies: Examples from Two Hohokam Local Systems" summarizes methods developed by the authors to model sand temper resource compositions in Arizona's Tucson and Tonto basins and major findings regarding the concentration of production and spatial distribution of sand-tempered Hohokam pottery in those basins. The petrofacies approach to provenance determination and ethnographic/ethnoarchaeological data used to evaluate annual prehistoric ceramic ceramic production rates should prove useful in reconstructing pottery manufacturing and distributions systems elsewhere.

Im Frühjahr 1969 wurde bei Ausgrabungen der Universität Bonn unter Leitung von Elmar Edel auf der Qubbet el-Hawa ein außergewöhnliches Depot mit Materialien einer antiken Gusswerkstatt gefunden. Im Zuge der Fundteilung gelangten die meisten Stücke des Konvolutes in das Ägyptische Museum der Universität Bonn und werden dort aufbewahrt.

Die Deponierung des für die Forschung zur antiken Metallurgie bisher einzigartigen Konvoluts geschah im Zuge der Nachnutzung von Grabanlagen aus dem Alten Reich (um 2100 v. u. Z.) in der ägyptischen Spätzeit (um 550 – 400 v. u. Z.). Das Depot enthält Objekte, die alle Fertigungsstufen von Metallgegenständen im Wachsausschmelzverfahren dokumentieren. Es wurden Stücke von Rohwachs sowie Wachsmodelle und die zu deren Herstellung genutzten Negativformen gefunden. Weiterhin enthielt es vollständige Gussformen, die in einem aufwendigen Mehrschalenverfahren hergestellt wurden und teilweise bereits für den Guss ausgebrannt worden sind. Schließlich zählen einige Metallfiguren sowie weitere figürliche Objekte zum Konvolut, die alle in den Bereich einer kunsthandwerklichen Werkstatt deuten. Eine Besonderheit stellen zudem Gussformen dar, in denen Fragmente von Metallfiguren zur Reparatur im Überfangguss vorbereitet waren.

Das Depot wurde in der Gesamtpublikation der Bonner Grabungen bisher nur summarisch vorgestellt. 2014/15 initiierten die Abteilung Ägyptologie der Universität Bonn und das LVR-LandesMuseum Bonn unter Ludwig D. Morenz und Michael Schmauder ein gemeinsames und von der Fritz-Thyssen-Stiftung gefördertes Forschungsprojekt, das von Martin Fitzenreiter, Johannes Auenmüller und Frank Willer geleitet wurde. In Kooperation mit Dietmar Meinel (Bundesanstalt für Materialforschung und -prüfung Berlin / BAM, Fachbereich 8.5 Mikro-ZfP), Roland Schwab (Curt-Engelhorn-Zentrum Archäometrie gGmbH, Mannheim), Gerwulf Schneider (FU Berlin, Exzellenzcluster TOPOI), Ursula Baumer und Patrick Dietemann (beide Doerner-Institut / München), Thorsten Geisler-Wierwille (Steinmann Institut für Geologie, Mineralogie und Paläontologie der Universität Bonn) sowie Ursula Tegtmeier (Labor für Archäobotanik der Universität Köln) wurden die Objekte des Konvolutes eingehend und mit zeitgemäßen Verfahren untersucht. Die Ergebnisse dieses Forschungsprojekts werden in dieser Publikation vorgelegt.

This article discusses how the analysis of late 6th to 10th-century ceramic finds can contribute to a better understanding and reconstruction of the chronology and economy of the Avar Khaganate and the post-Avar Period in the Carpathian Basin (today´s Hungary and adjacent areas). It comprises a critical review of available research results on Avar-Period and 9th to 10th-century pottery, including results from the author’s own investigations, thus offering a critical assessment of many decades of research on pottery from c. 400 years in this region.

It consists of preliminary studies carried out the wall paintings found in the Late Roman Villa, Karabük Hadrianoupolis Ancient City. In the examination studies; the conservation status of the paintings, past restorations, humidity conditions, UV-light examinations, optical microscope images and analytical measurements of the samples taken from the paint and renders were evaluated. Then some suggestions were given about the conservation processes. There are wall paintings in the room of 3, 4 and 5 in the villa. Merely the protection cover of room-3 was removed and samples were taken. Thin-section petrography, crosssection optical microscope images, FTIR (Fourier Transform Infrared) Spectroscopy, XRF (X-Ray Fluorescence), XRD (X-ray diffraction) and CRS (Confical Raman Spectroscopy) were examined. Lime, sulfate salts and acrylic resins were determined in IR spectrum and acrilic resins may be used in past restorations. Mortars with medium hydraulic and natural cement renders/mortars in XRF, calcite crystal structures in XRD; pigments based on carbon and siderite (FeCO3) in CRS were identified. Broken bricks (cocciopesto) and natural fibres mortars are observed in thin-section petrography. Moreover, the images in cross-section optical microscope examinations indicate fresco techniques. In the 5-day preliminary study, which started with the removal of the protective cover of the wall paintings and completed with a new cover, the moisture changes of the plaster was determined and 80% relative humidity were measured. Humidity

This paper presents the results of the archaeological and archaeometric study of a little amount of roman amphorae fragments coming from the excavation of a rural settlement in the site of Villanders in Südtirol. Some samples  have been studied in thin section to give a compositional and technical characterisation of the pastes, contribute to identify the provenance areas (also using the reference database of the DISTAV) and, as for pottery sherds lacking diagnostic features, verify or improve the typological attributions
These finds indicate the import in the site, albeit sporadically, of foodstuffs coming from the Adriatic and Aegean regions.

Although many students of Hohokam archaeology have argued that ceremonies held at ballcourt villages facilitated the movement of goods, most have found it easier to make that assertion than to prove it. Here compositional analyses of sand-tempered Middle Rincon phase (ca. A.D. 1000 - 1100) ceramics and direct evidence of pottery production are used to identify three villages that specialized in the manufacture of red-slipped, red-on-brown, and polychrome wares that were distributed widely throughout the Tucson Basin. Regression analysis of spatial patterning in the temper provenance data, and associated statistical tests, supports the inference that a significant amount of exchange occurred at sites with ballcourts.

Here we present the first results provided from the geo-archaeological characterisation of the quartzites from the site of Ravensberg-Troisdorf. This location is an open-air site situated in the village of Troisdorf, in the North Rhine-Westfalia. The site was excavated in one campaign during the summer of 2015 and preliminary techno-typological results point that this site was used as workshop of quartzite by Middle Palaeolithic societies.
The geo-archaeological analysis performance here only includes the characterisation and identification of a sample of the complete assemblage. This research constitutes a descriptive analysis of eleven artefacts of quartzite sampled from the complete collection. These items of rocks were prepared for thin section analysis and X-Ray Fluorescence to understand the different types of quartzites potentially exploited at the site. These protocols have help us to understand their textures, grain size and morphological distribution, mineral characterisation and geo-chemical composition. Additionally, these artefacts and another 49 items were described under binocular microscopy to guide the procedures of following research.
We have described two different types of quartzite, according to the methodology recently proposed by our team (Prieto, 2018, Prieto, et al., 2019). These types are Clastic and Cemented quartz-arenite (CC) and Syntaxially Overgrown Orthoquartzite (OO). Moreover, two clear varieties or facies were distinguish based on the composition of the cement and matrix, the CC type with clayey matrix (CC_CM) and the CC type with microcrystalline quartz (CC_MQC).
The analysis performed in the site of Ravensberg concludes that the properties of the CC_MQC variety make it optimal for knapping and use. Then, its massive exploitation could be the main reason for human activity in this site. We propose that use and acquisition of the OO type would be secondary and derived from the main product, the CC_MQC type. The CC_CM variety could not be used for knapping due to its friable properties. Then, its usefulness is reduced and it was probably considered a waste product.
This research constitutes the first step to understand catchment, management, and distribution of quartzite in the Rin Valley but also the foundation stone for the post-doctoral research of the first author.

Se presenta el estudio arqueométrico de una serie de artefactos de carácter cultual hallados en conexión espacial con construcciones funerarias prehistóricas, durante el transcurso de una campaña de prospecciones de superficie realizada en el verano de 2000 en la localidad de Almadén de la Plata (Sevilla). La investigación en la que este hallazgo se enmarca tiene como objetivo la interpretación de la dimensión espacial (territorial y paisajística) de los diversos núcleos de construcciones megalíticas presentes en la zona, por lo que las prospecciones de superficie se han dirigido específicamente a la identificación de lugares de habitación, producción y reproducción ideológica asociados a los monumentos megalíticos (previamente desconocidos). Los artefactos analizados en este trabajo fueron hallados en superficie en conexión espacial con varias estructuras funerarias megalíticas nuevas identificadas en el transcurso de dicha campaña. El estudio arqueométrico permite avanzar una serie de interpretaciones de carácter tecnológico y funcional sobre estos artefactos culturales.

Seven ceramic samples were analyzed from the Fence Site in the Avra Valley of Arizona that dated to the Rillito Phase (A.D. 850-950). Along with point-counting the sherds, three sand samples were point-counted and added to a sand discriminant model for the Avra Valley and Tucson Basin. The results indicated that plain and red-on-brown pottery was locally produced in addition to the acquisition of some decorated pottery from a nearby area to the southeast. The utilization of non-local schist with local sand as a technological choice was also confirmed for this period.

This study compares the consolidation efficiency and compatibility of three selected alkoxysilanes on two porous carbonate and silicate substrates. Emphasis was given to artificially induced microstructural defects and subsequent restoration of mechanical and physical properties. Two newly engineered formulations (1) a TiO2 modified tetraethyl-orthosilicate in isopropanol with 70% active content and (2) a TiO2 modified alkyl-trialkoxysilane in isopropanol with 75% active content were compared to a commercial product (3), a solvent free tetraethyl-orthosilicate with 99% active content. Treatments were evaluated by scanning electron microscopy, mercury intrusion porosimetry, colour impact and their effect on dynamic modulus of elasticity, splitting tensile-and flexural strengths, capillary water absorption and water vapour permeability. A key outcome was that mechanical strength gain induced by treatments is primarily governed by a stone's texture and microstructure, and secondarily by the gel deposition rate of consolidants. Likewise, the kinetics of the gel-forming reaction during curing is dependent not only on the product but also on the substrate. Therefore, the moisture related properties and the visual impact develop during time. There is no general trend on how it evolves in time, which can lead to incorrect interpretations of treatment compatibility. The results prove that wide-ranging treatment performance is obtained when applying the same products on different substrates.