Skip to main content
eScholarship
Open Access Publications from the University of California

The Archaeological Research Facility (ARF), founded in 1948 as the University of California Archaeological Survey, is a research unit supporting UC Berkeley archaeologists who are faculty members and researchers from a wide-range of academic departments. The ARF provides equipment for field and laboratory research, laboratory space, and internal funding for archaeological studies. In 1965 the ARF began to publish data-rich monographs in the Contributions to the Archaeological Research Facility serial and the ARF Special Publications volumes. Digital versions of most volumes (1965-2005) are available in PDF format at the Foster Anthropology Library's AnthroHub website. Complementing the monograph series, the ARF site on eScholarship hosts digital reports produced from field work and laboratory analysis by Berkeley archaeologists.

Cover page of New Pen & Old Ink: XRF Analysis of a Unique Archive from 1st c. BCE Tebtunis

New Pen & Old Ink: XRF Analysis of a Unique Archive from 1st c. BCE Tebtunis

(2023)

This study examines the ink used in an archive of >50 bilingual papyri (in Greek and Demotic) written by a single scribe that were found in two crocodile mummies excavated from Tebtunis by B.P. Grenfell and A.S. Hunt in 1900.

Cover page of AN ENERGY-DISPERSIVE X-RAY FLUORESCENCE ANALYSIS OF MAJOR, MINOR, AND TRACE ELEMENTS OF SOIL SAMPLES FROM RIO VERDE, OAXACA, WEST MEXICO

AN ENERGY-DISPERSIVE X-RAY FLUORESCENCE ANALYSIS OF MAJOR, MINOR, AND TRACE ELEMENTS OF SOIL SAMPLES FROM RIO VERDE, OAXACA, WEST MEXICO

(2021)

The analysis here of 62 powdered soil samples indicates considerable variability based on the EDXRF analysis. I leave the interpretive details to you.

Cover page of ENERGY-DISPERSIVE X-RAY FLOURESCENCE (EDXRF) WHOLE ROCK ANALYSIS OF MAJOR, MINOR AND TRACE ELEMENTS FOR SEVENPOWDERED LIMESTONE AND PLUTONICROCK SAMPLES

ENERGY-DISPERSIVE X-RAY FLOURESCENCE (EDXRF) WHOLE ROCK ANALYSIS OF MAJOR, MINOR AND TRACE ELEMENTS FOR SEVENPOWDERED LIMESTONE AND PLUTONICROCK SAMPLES

(2021)

The analysis here of sevenpowdered samples indicates a variable composition(Table 1). The plutonicrocks vary from mafic to silicic(Table1).

Cover page of AN ENERGY-DISPERSIVE X-RAY FLUORESCENCE ANALYSIS OF OBSIDIAN ARTIFACTS FROM CABEZA PRIETA WILDLIFE REFUGE, SOUTHWESTERN ARIZONA

AN ENERGY-DISPERSIVE X-RAY FLUORESCENCE ANALYSIS OF OBSIDIAN ARTIFACTS FROM CABEZA PRIETA WILDLIFE REFUGE, SOUTHWESTERN ARIZONA

(2021)

The artifacts were produced with Sauceda Mountains obsidian (n=2) with one from Los Vidrios,not unlike the distribution of sources in previous studies at CPWR (Table 1 and Figure 1).

Cover page of AN ENERGY.DISPERSIVE X.RAY FLUORESCENCE ANALYSIS OFOBSIDIAN ARTIFACTS FROM LA 1 87467 AND LA 190067, LORDSBURGMESA, SOUTHWESTERN NEI'V MEXIGO

AN ENERGY.DISPERSIVE X.RAY FLUORESCENCE ANALYSIS OFOBSIDIAN ARTIFACTS FROM LA 1 87467 AND LA 190067, LORDSBURGMESA, SOUTHWESTERN NEI'V MEXIGO

(2021)

All the artifacts were produced from two of the sources in the Mule Creek Obsidian Complex, Mogollon-Datil volcanic province, western New Mexico (Antelope Creek and Mule Mountains), although obsidian from these sources are also available as secondary deposits in San Francisco and Gila River Quaternary alluvium in eastern Arizona (Shackley 1992. 1998; Shackley et al. 2018; Table 1, Figure 1, and cover image herein). The cortex on sample #12 fnmLA 187467 appears to be typical of the secondary deposit obsidian in Gila River alluvium (Shackley 1992,1998).

Cover page of MAJOR, MINOR, AND TRACE ELEMENT COMPOSITION OF THE NEWMAN DOME DACITE, TAOS PLATEAU VOLCANIC FIELD, NORTHERN NEW MEXICO: GEOARCHAEOLOGICAL INTERPRETATIONS

MAJOR, MINOR, AND TRACE ELEMENT COMPOSITION OF THE NEWMAN DOME DACITE, TAOS PLATEAU VOLCANIC FIELD, NORTHERN NEW MEXICO: GEOARCHAEOLOGICAL INTERPRETATIONS

(2021)

The Newman Dome pyroxene dacite dome complex in the Taos Plateau Volcanic Field is a prominent stone tool raw material that was used for stone tool production for at least 11,000 years throughout northern New Mexico and southern Colorado, and perhaps beyond(Boyer 2010; Newman and Nielsen 1987; Shackley 2011a; Vierra 2010; Figures1 and 2 herein). The analysis here of 24 source samples is an extension of the earlier study (Shackley 2011a) and indicates that this extensive dacite dome complex is compositionally homogeneous in trace elements at least in the northern and central portion of the dome complex

Cover page of SOURCE PROVENANCE OF OBSIDIAN CRUCIFORMS FROM THE SOUTHERN U.S. SOUTHWEST

SOURCE PROVENANCE OF OBSIDIAN CRUCIFORMS FROM THE SOUTHERN U.S. SOUTHWEST

(2021)

The analysis here of 21 obsidian cruciforms, and one cruciform produced from a volcanic or plutonic rock, from archaeological sites presumably from southern New Mexico and northern Chihuahua indicates a diverse provenance assemblage dominated by the northern Chihuahuan obsidian source at Sierra Fresnal (Shackley 2005). The remainder of the artifacts are produced from one of the sources in the Jemez Mountains of northern New Mexico, but likely procured from Rio Grande Quaternary alluvium (see Church 2000; Shackley 2021). A brief discussion is offered below.

Cover page of SOURCE PROVENANCE OF OBSIDIAN ARTIFACTS FROM EIGHT SITES ON THE NAVAL WEAPONS STATION CHINA LAKE, INYOCOUNTY, CALIFORNIA

SOURCE PROVENANCE OF OBSIDIAN ARTIFACTS FROM EIGHT SITES ON THE NAVAL WEAPONS STATION CHINA LAKE, INYOCOUNTY, CALIFORNIA

(2021)

The analysis here of 132 artifacts from eight sites in Inyo County within the China Lake Naval Weapons Station indicates a relatively diverse provenance assemblage dominated by West Sugarloaf dome obsidian in the Coso Volcanic Field, as in all the previous studies by this laboratory, and all the artifacts were produced entirely from Coso Volcanic Field sources, Sugarloaf, West Sugarloaf, and West Cactus Peak domes (see discussion below). No sources outside the Coso field were present.

Cover page of AN ENERGY-DISPERSIVE X-RAY FLUORESCENCE ANALYSIS OF OBSIDIAN ARTIFACTS FROM SL01, LAS ANIMAS COUNTY, COLORADO

AN ENERGY-DISPERSIVE X-RAY FLUORESCENCE ANALYSIS OF OBSIDIAN ARTIFACTS FROM SL01, LAS ANIMAS COUNTY, COLORADO

(2021)

Both the artifacts were produced from the Valles Rhyolite (Cerro del Medio) source in the Jemez Mountains, northern New Mexico (Shackley 2005; Table 1 and Figure 1 here).

Cover page of SOURCE PROVENANCE OF OBSIDIAN ARTIFACTS FROM LAS CAPAS(AZ AA:12:111 ASM), SANTA CRUZ RIVER BASIN, TUCSON, ARIZONA

SOURCE PROVENANCE OF OBSIDIAN ARTIFACTS FROM LAS CAPAS(AZ AA:12:111 ASM), SANTA CRUZ RIVER BASIN, TUCSON, ARIZONA

(2021)

The analysis here of 6 obsidian artifacts from the Early Agricultural Las Capas site in the Santa Cruz River basin in Tucson, Arizona indicates a diverse provenance assemblage with sources all from one of the major Mogollon-Datil Volcanic Province sources in western New Mexico and eastern Arizona - Cow Canyon eastern Arizona, and Antelope Creek and North Sawmill Creek at Mule Creek, western New Mexico (Shackley 2005; Shackley et al. 2018). While the sample sizes are quite different, this obsidian provenance assemblage is quite different from the nearby and mainly contemporaneous Los Pozos that exhibited an obsidian provenance assemblage from all cardinal directions