Crossing the Borders: New Methods and Techniques in the Study of Archaeological Materials from the Caribbean

24 / Hofman, Isendoorn, Booden, and Jacobs
type of nonplastics, their shape, size, and quality as well as the presence and shape
of pores and cracks. Potsherds were cut with a diamond saw and treated with fine
sandpaper to obtain a smooth fraction surface. The sherds were fired in an oxidizing
oven at a temperature of 750°C for 30 minutes. The refiring removes organic
impurities and improves the visibility of the inclusions and the paste color.
This is because all carbon is burned and volatilized in the oxidizing refiring atmosphere.
Refiring also implies a standardization in circumstances and temperatures
and therefore makes the comparison of the samples more reliable.
Geochemical Analysis
X- ray fluorescence spectrometry (XRF) was carried out at the Free University Amsterdam
to identify and compare the bulk chemical composition of raw clay materials
and the precolonial potsherds (see also Hooijkaas and Booden 2004). Element
abundance ratios in the clays and potsherds showed several distinct groups, each
geographically related. Since most potsherds can be geographically linked to their
clay source, it was possible to identify exotic potsherds in the sample set.
XRF was carried out to determine the concentrations of over 30 elements in
each sample of clay and potsherds. In order to prepare the samples for analysis,
they were oven dried, then crushed in a jaw crusher, homogenized, and finally pulverized
in an agate planetary ball mill. The powdered samples were then pressed
into pellets after mixing them with 10 percent binding powder (Emu) and homogenizing
the mixture in an agate ball shaker. These pellets were then loaded
into the XRF- spectrometer to perform a quantitative analysis of the elemental
composition. The resulting data were analyzed graphically and through multivariate
statistical analysis.
Ethnoarchaeological Research
Ethnoarchaeological studies among Palikur, Wayana, and Kari’na potters in Surinam
and French Guiana has been carried out by a number of graduate students
from Leiden over the past 10 years. The data collected during their fieldwork in
combination with the results obtained from the technological and geochemical
analyses have proved to be very helpful in understanding the sociocultural parameters
involved in the modes of clay procurement and the selection of clay and
temper materials in traditional Amerindian society (Duin 2000/2001; Hagen 1991;
Hofman and Jacobs 2000/2001; Jacobs and Van den Bel 1995:125–130; Van den Bel
et al. 1995; Vredenbregt 2004).
Searching for the Source:
Provenance of the Pottery from Saba
Archaeological research of Ceramic Age sites on Saba has been carried out between
1987 and 2002 (Hofman 1993; Hoogland 1996) (Figure 2.3). Studies of the
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