11:00 AM - 11:15 AM
[HQR03-08] Regional Environmental Reconstruction after the Bronze Age by analysis of paleo-swamp sediments in the northern part of the Kaman-Kalehöyük Site, Central Anatolia, Using XRD and WD-XRF: A feasibility study
Keywords:human activity, technological evolution, Kaman-Kalehöyük, sediment, XRD, WD-XRF
The Anatolia region of the Republic of Turkey is an important area for elucidating the origin and development process of civilizations, as the beginning of agro-pastoralism, the development of metallurgical technology, and the development of urban civilization occurred extremely early, even by world standards. The Kaman-Kalehöyük site has a detailed cultural chronology, and excavations to date have identified four cultural layers within the site: Ottoman/Byzantine, the Iron Age, the Late and Middle Bronze Age, and the Early Bronze Age, with the possibility of further deposits from the Copper Stone Age and Neolithic periods in the lower layers. (e.g., Omura 2011).
Therefore, by collecting lake and swamp sediments from the around of this site and reconstructing regional paleoenvironmental changes and comparing them with records of past human activities read from the site, the relationship between changes in natural environmental and changes in human activities could be discussed.
Since it is forbidden in Turkey to take samples for archaeological and geological research out of the country, we had to ask an analytical laboratory in Turkey to analyze them. After visiting several laboratories in Turkey, we requested analysis from the General Directorate of Mineral Exploration and Research (MTA), where the equipment is in good operation and the technical staff is highly reliable.
X-ray diffraction (XRD) analyses and wavelength dispersive X-ray fluorescence (WD-XRF) analyses were performed on sediments collected from a paleo-swamp near the Kaman-Kalehöyük in September 2022 as a feasibility study to compared changes in the paleoenvironment around the site with changes in human activities at the site. Details of the drilling will be presented by Suzuki et al. (this session).
We drilled the swamp site in the northern part of the Kaman-Kalehöyük to a depth of about 288 cm, and recovered sections at depths of 87~168 cm and 230~288 cm. Of these, the sandy layer was present up to a depth of 145 cm, the muddy layer from 145 to 215 cm, the fine gravel layer from 215 to 235 cm, and the sandy mud to clay layer from 235 cm to 288 cm.
To examine how the major elements and mineral composition in the drilled cores vary with depth, a total of 10 analytical samples were collected, eight from each layer and from differently colored sections within the same layer, plus one from each core catcher.
X-ray diffraction XRD analysis was performed on these samples to identify the constituent minerals. Since the raw data was not provided, peak positions and intensities were read from the image of the obtained diffraction patterns. These results were read and analyzed with Rigaku's integrated X-ray diffraction software PDXZ. The peak heights of the mineral compositions were compared with the WD-XRF results for the same sample to try to make sense of the changes in chemical composition in terms of mineralogy.
The results of the XRD and WD-XRF analyses and the paleoenvironment and its changes inferred from the results are discussed.
Therefore, by collecting lake and swamp sediments from the around of this site and reconstructing regional paleoenvironmental changes and comparing them with records of past human activities read from the site, the relationship between changes in natural environmental and changes in human activities could be discussed.
Since it is forbidden in Turkey to take samples for archaeological and geological research out of the country, we had to ask an analytical laboratory in Turkey to analyze them. After visiting several laboratories in Turkey, we requested analysis from the General Directorate of Mineral Exploration and Research (MTA), where the equipment is in good operation and the technical staff is highly reliable.
X-ray diffraction (XRD) analyses and wavelength dispersive X-ray fluorescence (WD-XRF) analyses were performed on sediments collected from a paleo-swamp near the Kaman-Kalehöyük in September 2022 as a feasibility study to compared changes in the paleoenvironment around the site with changes in human activities at the site. Details of the drilling will be presented by Suzuki et al. (this session).
We drilled the swamp site in the northern part of the Kaman-Kalehöyük to a depth of about 288 cm, and recovered sections at depths of 87~168 cm and 230~288 cm. Of these, the sandy layer was present up to a depth of 145 cm, the muddy layer from 145 to 215 cm, the fine gravel layer from 215 to 235 cm, and the sandy mud to clay layer from 235 cm to 288 cm.
To examine how the major elements and mineral composition in the drilled cores vary with depth, a total of 10 analytical samples were collected, eight from each layer and from differently colored sections within the same layer, plus one from each core catcher.
X-ray diffraction XRD analysis was performed on these samples to identify the constituent minerals. Since the raw data was not provided, peak positions and intensities were read from the image of the obtained diffraction patterns. These results were read and analyzed with Rigaku's integrated X-ray diffraction software PDXZ. The peak heights of the mineral compositions were compared with the WD-XRF results for the same sample to try to make sense of the changes in chemical composition in terms of mineralogy.
The results of the XRD and WD-XRF analyses and the paleoenvironment and its changes inferred from the results are discussed.