This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).
The Micromorphology Laboratory in the Archaeology Department at Boston University is a unique facility in the United States and focuses on the microscopic analysis of intact sediments, soils, and archaeological materials (e.g. ceramic, plaster, and concrete). Principally, these techniques make use of petrographic thin sections, which are prepared from intact blocks of soil or sediment that are impregnated with polyester resin. The blocks are trimmed to size (typically 50 by 75 mm), mounted on glass slides, and ground to a thickness of 30 µm, close to the thickness of a human hair.
Micromorphology has made significant contributions to archaeological analysis and interpretation over the past two decades. Since undisturbed sediments and soils are used, the context of the objects is preserved within the thin section and within the site's stratigraphy. Thus, the technique has been successful in isolating depositional and post-depositional processes at the site and regional level, whether they are of geological or human origin. Thus, it furnishes a holistic view of site formation processes, and robust insights into past human activities and behaviors. Its application has illuminated a wide range of key archaeological issues, such as the putative early use of fire at Zhoukoudian in China, evidence of early agriculture in Europe, the analysis of occupational space and activity areas, and more realistic interpretations of cultural deposits than have been provided in the past. It has been increasingly realized that micromorphology is an essential method for identifying precise archaeological contexts and for the understanding the use of space in archaeological sites. The Laboratory uses petrographic microscopes, ultra violet epi-fluorescence, and infra red spectrometry (Fourier Transform Infrared Spectrometry - FTIR) attached to a petrographic microscope. This equipment (purchased mostly with funds from the National Science Foundation) has enabled us to make careful measurements of bones and sediments within thin sections, for example, enabling the determination of the mineralogy of objects and to make estimates of temperature achieved in prehistoric and historic archaeological settings. The Laboratory is investigating issues that include refinement of dating in early hominid sites, such as Dmanisi in Georgia; Neanderthal vs. modern human pyrotechnology in France, Israel, and Spain as high resolution indicators of hominin behavior; the analysis of cultural deposits from Near Eastern tells; analysis of putative earliest human coprolites in the New World; household archaeology during the Early Bronze in Southern Italy; and pottery making and table salt production during Pre-classic and classic Maya in Belize. Numerous PhD students from Boston University and elsewhere (e.g., Harvard, Universities of Connecticut, Arizona, Tennessee, and Toronto) have been or are being trained in the laboratory. The intellectual merit of the Micromorphology Laboratory is to improve and enhance the development of micromorphological techniques and strategies in archaeology. The ultimate goal is to make more effective and efficient inroads to understanding past human activities, behavior, and social interactions through detailed analysis of the deposits that past occupants left or modified at an archaeological site. In addition to scientific analyses, the broad impacts of the laboratory include the training of students in this unique facility and attracting researchers from various disciplines (e.g., earth sciences, archaeology, archaeological conservation, or chemistry) and locations, as both short- and long-term visitors. Both in-house training and interaction with external researchers serve to advance the technique and provide a deeper understanding of archaeological sediments.
