Imaging and analysis of near-infrared fluorescence from tiger chert and Native American tiger chert artifacts

Autor: Barry W. Hicks, Chris Dunlap, Campbell Andersen, Mike Freeman
Rok vydání: 2021
Předmět:
Zdroj: Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports. 35:102722
ISSN: 2352-409X
DOI: 10.1016/j.jasrep.2020.102722
Popis: Tiger chert was used extensively by Native American people of the Clovis lithic industry as the source material for stone tools. Although tiger chert occurs naturally only within the Bridger Formation of Southwest Wyoming, tiger chert artifacts have been found throughout the American west. This paper explores the previously unreported near-infrared fluorescence emitted from tiger chert upon visible excitation. The two objectives of this study were to demonstrate the utility of near-infrared fluorescence imaging (NIRFI) to tiger chert artifacts and to identify the chemical origin of the observed fluorescence. Tiger chert was analyzed by visible and NIRFI, SEM-EDX, ICP-OES, and fluorescence spectroscopy. NIRFI can be easily used to discriminate between tiger chert artifacts and the environment, since most materials such as soil and most rocks appear black in the resultant image. This suggests NIRFI should be utilized by archeologists at any site where tiger chert has been previously identified. Additionally, NIRFI was used to differentiate between tiger chert artifacts and an artificially weathered, recently-knapped tiger chert point, suggesting that NIRFI could be used to distinguish genuine tiger chert artifacts from counterfeits. Tiger chert fluorescence was confined to the manganese-and-iron-rich surface, suggesting the presence of desert varnish; however, red agate from the same site did not exhibit fluorescence, instead implicating tiger-chert-specific weathering. Thus, the chemical origin of fluorescence was not conclusively identified.
Databáze: OpenAIRE
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