The Contribution of Mineralogy to Cultural Heritage

The chapters contributed to the volume recognize the important and diverse contributions of mineralogy to the valorization, characterization, interpretation and conservation of cultural heritage. The book focuses on examples of materials and methodological issues rather than technical/analytical details. We have attempted to deal with the cultural heritage materials in chronological order of their technological developments, to relate them to past human activities, and to highlight unresolved problems in need of investigation.
Obsidian and volcanic glass shards: Characterization and provenancing Available to Purchase
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Published:January 01, 2019
Obsidian is a volcanic product that forms under particular geological conditions, and hence occurs in limited areas of the Earth. In ancient times, obsidian was used successfully by various peoples to produce artistic artefacts, but also to make tools and weapons used in everyday life. For this reason, obsidian was transported from geological sources to other locations. The study of methods used to identify the provenance of obsidian artefacts has become crucial for understanding commercial relations between distant ancient populations. Other volcanic products, generally associated with obsidian, are volcanic glass shards. Glass shards were used in Mexico as aggregates to produce plasters, and recent studies have shown that they were also transported along commercial routes. This chapter presents an introductory overview of the sources of obsidian in the Tyrrhenian area, showing how minor, trace and rare earth elements can be used to solve provenance problems. A case study regarding the provenance of glass shards inside archaeological plasters taken from Teopacazco (Teotihuacan, Mexico) is also presented.
- archaeological sites
- archaeology
- artifacts
- Cenozoic
- construction materials
- electron microscopy data
- Europe
- glasses
- Holocene
- ICP mass spectra
- igneous rocks
- Italy
- Lipari Island
- Lipari Islands
- mass spectra
- metals
- Mexico
- Mexico state
- minor elements
- Neolithic
- obsidian
- provenance
- pyroclastics
- Quaternary
- rare earths
- rhyolitic composition
- Sardinia Italy
- SEM data
- Sicily Italy
- Southern Europe
- spectra
- Stone Age
- trace elements
- Valley of Mexico
- volcanic glass
- volcanic rocks
- Teotihuacan Mexico