Dr. Price and his colleages at the University of Wisconsin's Laboratory for Archaeological Chemistry will develop and test a number of methods for reconstructing past human activities which are reflected in living surfaces from excavated archaeological sites. They will apply a series of physical and chemical analyses on materials collected from a present day settlement in Oaxaca Mexico. A large series of soil samples were excavated under controlled conditions in earthern floor houses where the actual activities carried out were directly observed. The team will now conduct physical analysis to determine micromorphology and particle size. They will also search for phytoliths and other organic inclusions. On a chemical level they will determine element concentrations and and attempt to identify organic materials, especially fatty acids. They will use this situation to determine the relationship between specific human behavior and the subtle physical and chemical indications left on the ground. The results will then be evaluated through application in a series of "true" archaeological contexts. Unfortunately many activities which take place at a simple technological level leave little if any evident archaeological debris. Many others leave traces which rapidly disintegrate and thus escape archaeological attention. By studying archaeological sites at a chemical and fine scale physical level, Dr. Price and his colleagues hope to develop techniques which will help in the reconstruction of prehistoric behavior. If successful these approaches can be employed by archaeologists in many parts of the world and serve to increase our understanding of the past.
