Laure Dussubieux - Böcker

Confronting national, linguistic and disciplinary boundaries, contributors to African Archaeology Without Frontiers argue against artificial limits and divisions created through the study of 'ages' that in reality overlap and cannot and should not be understood in isolation. Papers are drawn from the proceedings of the landmark 14th PanAfrican Archaeological Association Congress, held in Johannesburg in 2014, nearly seven decades after the conference planned for 1951 was re-located to Algiers for ideological reasons following the National Party's rise to power in South Africa. Contributions by keynote speakers Chapurukha Kusimba and Akin Ogundiran encourage African archaeologists to practise an archaeology that collaborates across many related fields of study to enrich our understanding of the past. The nine papers cover a broad geographical sweep by incorporating material on ongoing projects throughout the continent including South Africa, Botswana, Cameroon, Togo, Tanzania, Kenya and Nigeria. Thematically, the papers included in the volume address issues of identity and interaction, and the need to balance cultural heritage management and sustainable development derived from a continent racked by social inequalities and crippling poverty. Edited by three leading archaeologists, the collection covers many aspects of African archaeology, and a range of periods from the earliest hominins to the historical period. It will appeal to specialists and interested amateurs.

This book explores different aspects of LA-ICP-MS (laser ablation-inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry). It presents a large array of new analytical protocols for elemental or isotope analysis. LA-ICP-MS is a powerful tool that combines a sampling device able to remove very small quantities of material without leaving visible damage at the surface of an object. Furthermore, it functions as a sensitive analytical instrument that measures, within a few seconds, a wide range of isotopes in inorganic samples. Determining the elemental or the isotopic composition of ancient material is essential to address questions related to ancient technology or provenance and therefore aids archaeologists in reconstructing exchange networks for goods, people and ideas. Recent improvements of LA-ICP-MS have opened new avenues of research that are explored in this volume.

This book explores different aspects of LA-ICP-MS (laser ablation-inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry).

Ancient glass beads as a window to the ancient worldGlass beads, both beautiful and portable, have been produced and traded globally for thousands of years. Modern archaeologists study these artifacts through sophisticated methods that analyze the glass composition, a process which can be utilized to trace bead usage through time and across regions. This book publishes open-access compositional data obtained from laser ablation – inductively coupled plasma – mass spectrometry, from a single analytical laboratory, providing a uniquely comparative data set. The geographic range includes studies of beads produced in Europe and traded widely across North America and beads from South and Southeast Asia traded around the Indian Ocean and beyond. The contributors provide new insight on the timing of interregional interactions, technologies of bead production and patterns of trade and exchange, using glass beads as a window to the past.This volume will be a key reference for glass researchers, archaeologists, and any scholars interested in material culture and exchange; it provides a wide range of case studies in the investigation and interpretation of glass bead composition, production and exchange since ancient times.Contributors: Bernard Gratuze (Institut de Recherche sur les ArchéoMATériaux, Centre Ernest-Babelon, UMR 5060 CNRS/Université d'Orléans), Alicia L. Hawkins (University of Toronto Mississauga), Elliot H. Blair (University of Alabama), Jessica Dalton-Carriger (Roane State Community College), Lee M. Panich (Santa Clara University), Thomas R. Fenn (The University of Oklahoma), Alison K. Carter (University of Oregon), Jennifer Craig (McGill University), Mark Aldenderfer (University of California, Merced), Mudit Trivedi (Stanford University), Lindsey Trombetta (The University of Texas at Austin), Jonathan R. Walz (The Field Museum / SIT-Graduate Institute), Akshay Sarathi (Florida Atlantic University), Carla Klehm (University of Arkansas), Marilee Wood (University of the Witwatersrand), Katherine A. Larson (Corning Museum of Glass), Heather Walder (The Field Museum / University of Wisconsin – La Crosse), Laure Dussubieux (The Field Museum)Supplementary Material 'The Elemental Analysis of Glass Beads' >Ebook available in Open Access.This publication is GPRC-labeled (Guaranteed Peer-Reviewed Content).

It is comprised of five sections, and each section discusses different aspects of glass study: the origin of glass and its evolution, its scientific study and its care, ancient glass in literature and glass ethnography, glass in South Asia and the diffusion of glass in different parts of the world.