Geochemical Source Analysis: Preliminaries and Potential at Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania
Date
2018-07-03
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Abstract
The Early Stone Age of Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania encompasses the transition between Oldowan and Acheulian industries as well as the complex overlap of multiple hominin species in a diverse and changing environment. Interpretations of behaviour have relied heavily on the analysis of stone tools with discussions of material provenance in the region limited to macroscopically observable traits. These characteristics were recorded for the geological samples collected from quartzite, phonolite, granite and gneiss formations before preparation for x-ray fluorescence analysis (XRF). A combination of desktop and portable models were employed and protocols compared. The results established that intra-source variability is significantly less than inter-source for many elements, validating a geochemical approach to raw material discrimination. Quartzites, rarely the subject of geochemical sourcing exercises, have been successfully assigned to outcrops with a success rate of over 74% through discriminant analysis using desktop XRF. Portable XRF results demonstrated that method not suitable for discriminating quartzite outcrops that were found to vary primarily by trace elements. The necessity of appropriate reference standards and the production of quartzite specific calibrations to ensure that results are replicable outside of study was confirmed by consideration of the United States Geological Survey RGM-2 powdered standard. The geochemical characteristics of potential lithic raw material sources in the immediate vicinity of Olduvai Gorge was determined, providing the foundation for the assignment of archaeological materials to the source.
Description
Keywords
Olduvai, Geochemical, XRF, Portable XRF, Sourcing, Quartzite, Naibor Soit
Citation
Abtosway, M. (2018) Geochemical Source Analysis: Preliminaries and Potential at Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania (Master's thesis, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada). Retrieved from https://prism.ucalgary.ca. doi:10.11575/PRISM/32301