Geochemical Sourcing of New Zealand Obsidians by Portable X-Ray Fluorescence from 2011 to 2018

Mark D Mccoy,Isaac Mcivor,Andrew Mcalister,Brendan Kneebone,Dion O O’Neale,Alex Jorgensen,Caleb Gemmell,Arden Cruickshank,Hayley Glover,Thegn N Ladefoged,Christopher Stevenson

doi:10.5334/joad.52

Abstract

This dataset includes 4,582 obsidian artefacts matched to their natural geological source from 45 archaeological sites in New Zealand (Aotearoa). It is a compilation of a number of independent projects conducted in the laboratories of the University of Auckland and University of Otago from 2011 to 2018 [1–13]. It combines previously published studies [3, 5–13], an MA thesis [1], a BA(Hons) dissertation [2], a site report [4], and other previously unpublished primary data. The dataset has high reuse potential for future non-destructive studies of artefacts and social network analyses. Funding statement: This database began as part of a project funded by Royal Society of New Zealand Marsden Grant (UOA1619) and the support of Te Pūnaha Matatini.

Highlights

Temporal coverage Collections include artefacts that may date from the initial settlement by the ancestors of Māori around AD 1280 through the period of regular contact with Europeans after AD 1850
Examples of methods for Bruker portable X-ray florescence (pXRF), a type used in both laboratories, is summarised below
Examples of quality check results for Bruker pXRF, a type used in both laboratories, is summarised below: University of Auckland: Comparison of calibrated results to accepted values for reference Standard NIST-278

Summary

DATA PAPER

Geochemical Sourcing of New Zealand Obsidians by Portable X-Ray Fluorescence from 2011 to 2018. This dataset includes 4,582 obsidian artefacts matched to their natural geological source from 45 archaeological sites in New Zealand (Aotearoa) It is a compilation of a number of independent projects conducted in the laboratories of the University of Auckland and University of Otago from 2011 to 2018 [1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13]. Examples of quality check results for Bruker pXRF, a type used in both laboratories, is summarised below: University of Auckland: Comparison of calibrated results to accepted values for reference Standard NIST-278. The exception is Th, which for this standard is near the limit of detection (LOD)

Zn Th Rb Sr Y

Language English