Phosphate Analysis

SUMMARY: Chapter 7, in Renfrew & Bahn's textbook (Archaeology: Theories, Methods, and Practice), covers how to assess past subsistence and diet, including plant food (e.g., macro- and microbotanical remains; plant residues; seasonality; domestication), animal resources (e.g., macro-faunal remains; age, sex, and seasonality; domestication; small fauna; types of exploitation), and assessing diet from human remains (e.g., stomach contents; feces; teeth; isotopic methods; bone collagen).  A small case study is placed at the end of this ppt. lecture, emphasizing some aspects of subsistence.  In my view, this is one of the best college textbooks available, and is invaluable for students, archaeologists, and the public in general, to obtain a top notch overview of approaching and interpreting the archaeological record. UPDATED May 2023.

Sugar (raw and processed) is consumed in considerable amount in Pakistan annually. In this study, thirteen locally marketed raw and processed sugar brands have been analyzed for phosphate and sulphate contents. Analyses have been carried out using spectrophotometric methods. Results show that phosphate contents were found to be in the range of 1710-3315 μg g-1 and 0.4-216 μg g-1 in raw and processed sugar samples respectively. Sulphate contents were found in the range of 34.11-62.01 mg g-1 and 36.19-111.80 mg g-1 in raw and processed sugar samples respectively. In general, phosphate contents were observed to be comparatively higher in raw sugars, whereas sulphate contents were comparatively higher in processed sugars. This study provides baseline data on phosphate and sulphate contents in locally marketed raw and processed sugars.

The Florida phosphate deposits in Four Corners and Hardee County mines are composed mainly of phosphate minerals and quartz in addition to subordinate proportions of feldspars, dolomite, calcite, gypsum, kaolinite, attapulgite and montmorillonite. These phosphorites contain three structurally different types of mudclasts: massive mudclasts, mudclasts with concentric structure and mudclasts consisting of agglomerates of apatite mi-croparticles. The latter are represented by particles resembling phosphatized fossil bacteria associated with microbial filaments, and hollow apatite particles having surfacial coatings and connected to microbial filaments. The Florida phosphate particles are reworked and vary in mineral composition, color and shape. They are composed of a mixture of well-crystalline species including carbonate fluorapatite (francolite), carbonate apatite and fluorapatite. The color variation of the phosphate particles is related to difference in mineral composition, extent of diagenetic effects and reworking. The light-colored mudclasts are characterized by the presence of carbonate apatite and aluminum hydroxide phosphate minerals, whereas the dark mudclasts are rich in iron aluminum hydroxide phosphate minerals. The Florida phosphorites are suggested to be formed partially by authigenetic precipitation, replacement of the sea floor carbonate and diatomite, and microbial processes. With respect to elemental geochemistry, the analyzed particles contain small percentages of sulfur and iron which are related to the occurrence of pyrite. Traces of silica and alumina are recorded which may be attributed to the diagenetic. Some of the tested particles are relatively rich in phosphorous, fluorine, calcium, and magnesium, while poor in silicon, potassium and sulfur. Whereas, the bioclasts (especially teeth) are relatively rich in calcium, phosphorous and fluorine while poor in silicon, aluminum, magnesium and potassium. Hence, the microchemical analyses revealed that differential dia-genesis affected mudclasts more than bioclasts. There is a complete compositional gradation between clay and phosphate particles which reflects their interaction. This involved kaolinitization of the phosphate particles, phosphatization of the clay mineral particles and production of silica.

The properties of porous hydroxyapatite (HA) bioceramic produced by heat treatment (annealing) of bovine bone were evaluated over temperatures between 400 °C and 1200 °C. The annealed body was characterized by thermal analysis (thermogravimetric analysis (TG)/differential thermal analysis (DTA)), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX) and Fourier transformed infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy. The XRD results showed that the annealing process enhanced the crystallinity of HA phase in the bone matrix particularly when annealed above 700 °C. There was no secondary phase formation in bones annealed between 600 °C and 1000 °C. However, decomposition of HA to β-tricalcium phosphate (TCP) was observed for samples heat-treated at 1100 °C and 1200 °C. The FTIR spectra and the TG/DTA thermogram of as-received bovine bone indicated the presence of organic compounds, which upon annealing at temperatures above 600 °C was completely removed from the matrices. Bovine bone annealed between 800 °C and 1000 °C revealed the characteristics of a natural bone with the interconnecting pore network being retained in the structure.

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0272884206001581

Many reconstructions and models of the Late Prehistoric period in the Ohio Valley discuss changes in the structure and organization of primary habitations. These changes are often associated with changes in social organization, intra-community relationships, and socio-political complexity. It is also being increasingly recognized that typological Culture Historical narratives often over-simplify or misconstrue actual local trajectories. What is needed to both develop accurate historical narratives and test extant models is a very large sample of communities with a reconstructed organization pattern. Excavation is not an efficient way to increase the size of the known sample of community organization patterns; however, excavation is still the dominant method of archaeological investigation in the region.

In this dissertation I illustrate a multi-staged approach to quickly reconstruct the structure of a given archaeological site (irrespective of time period) applied specifically to a Late Prehistoric community in the Middle Scioto Valley: the Reinhardt Village (33PI880). The approach used here begins with a suite of minimally invasive/destructive data-generation techniques (extensive surface survey, intensive surface survey, volumetric shovel testing, gradiometry, magnetic susceptibility, and soil phosphate) supplemented by excavation. The minimally invasive techniques provided most of the salient details regarding settlement structure and if employed iteratively in a regional survey could quickly increase the database to reconstruct local prehistory and test extant models. Specifically, the strategy employed at Reinhardt could be used to reconstruct 2 – 4 community structures in the typical field school, summer season.

The results at the Reinhardt site reveal a small, late fourteenth century planned community. The Reinhardt community is organized around an open, oblong plaza oriented northeast-southwest with multiple activity areas roughly concentrically around the plaza. The Reinhardt community varies from a typical plan in that the activity zones are irregularly distributed around the plaza, with an isolated productive area south and outside of the concentric zones. The Reinhardt investigations add to the knowledge of variability of community structure for the Middle Ohio River Valley in general, but specifically for the Middle Late Prehistoric period of the Scioto River Valley.

""Im Bereich von »Lungenkärchen« bei Mendig wurde eine neue Axialhofanlage entdeckt. Sie weist ein Hauptgebäude im Reihentyp, ein großes Wasserbecken sowie sieben Nebengebäude teils bekannter Funktion auf. Die Fundstelle wird exemplarisch für eine Reihe von mehreren reichen villae rusticae im unmittelbaren Umfeld der Mühlsteinbrüche untersucht, die dort in exzeptionell hoher Dichte vorliegen. Auf die zum großen Teil außerhalb der Landwirtschaft verankerte ökonomische Grundlage könnten die vergleichsweise kleine pars rustica und die nur durchschnittlich bemessene Wirtschaftsfläche der villa von »Lungenkärchen« weisen. Der enge räumliche Bezug zu den Steinbrüchen, die
Mühlsteinrohlinge im Villengelände sowie Parallelen wohlhabender römischer Landsitze nahe anderen Steinbrüchen belegen in hohem Maße einen Profit von dem Export der Steine. Hier sowie in den umliegenden Großvillen residierten demnach die Besitzer der Mühlsteinbrüche. Im Gegensatz zu dem vicus von Mayen erfolgte im nördlichen Umfeld des römischen Industriereviers ab etwa 100 n. Chr. bis mindestens in das 3. Jahrhundert eine monumentalisierende Landnutzung, die dem gesteigerten Repräsentationsbedürfnis der hiesigen Elite entsprach.

De riches propriétaires de carrières? La villa à »pavillons multiples alignés« de »Lungenkärchen« près de Mendig (Lkr. Mayen-Koblenz) dans le contexte de l’occupation du sol à l’époque romaine
Une nouvelle villa à »pavillons multiples alignés« a été découverte sur le territoire de »Lungenkärchen« près de Mendig. Elle présente un bâtiment principal à pièces en enfilade, un grand bassin et sept bâtiments annexes dont la fonction est établie pour certains. Ce site fait l’objet d’une étude à titre d’exemple pour une série de riches villae rusticae situées à proximité immédiate des meulières dont la concentration est très élevée dans cette région. La pars rustica relativement modeste et les dimensions moyennes de la surface utilitaire de la villa de »Lungenkärchen« signalent peut-être des ressources économiques essentiellement extérieures à l’agriculture. La proximité des carrières, les ébauches de meules sur le terrain de la villa ainsi que des domaines aisés comparables dans le voisinage d’autres carrières témoignent clairement du profit tiré de l’exportation des pierres. Ainsi, c’est ici comme dans les autres grandes villas que devaient habiter les propriétaires des meulières. au nord du bassin industriel romain, contrairement au vicus de Mayen, se développe à partir d’environ 100 ap. J.-C. jusqu’au 3e siècle au moins une exploitation du sol monumentale, correspondant au besoin accru de représentation des élites locales. Traduction: Y. Gautier""

The here presented PhD project explores the phenomenon of cereal cultivation during the Iron Age (c. 500 BC – AD 1100) in southern Scandinavia. The main body of the thesis consists of four articles. These were written with the aim to identify chronological, geographical, theoretical and methodological gaps in current research, to develop, apply and evaluate approaches to how new knowledge on Iron Age cereal cultivation can be attained, and to assess the interaction between archaeobotany and other specialisms currently used in settlement archaeology. The introduction section of the thesis also contains a historical overview of archaeobotanical research on cereal cultivation in southern Scandinavia.

The first article is a compilation and summary of all available previously performed  archaeobotanical investigations in southern Sweden. This data is compared and discussed in relation to similar publications in Denmark and smaller scale compilations previously published in Sweden. The main result of the study is an updated and enhanced understanding of the main developments in the investigation area and a deepened knowledge of local development chronologies and trajectories in different parts of southern Sweden.

The second article is a methodological presentation of a multiproxy analysis combining plant macrofossil analysis, phosphate analysis, magnetic susceptibility analysis and measurement of soil organic matter by loss on ignition. The applicability of the method for identification and delineation of space functions on southern Scandinavian Iron Age sites is discussed and illustrated by two case studies from the Danish site of Gedved Vest. Particular focus is placed on exploration of the use of the functional analysis for assessment of taphonomic and operational contexts of carbonised plant macrofossil assemblages.

The third article aims at presenting an Iron Age cereal cultivation history for east-central Jutland, an area identified at the outset of the project as under-represented in archaeobotanical studies. The article combines data from depth analyses of material from the sites of Gedved Vest and Kristinebjerg Øst (analysed with the methods and theory presented in the second article) with a compilation of previously performed archaeobotanical analyses from east-central Jutland. The main results of the study are that developments in the study area appear to follow a chronology similar to that previously observed on Funen rather than the rest of the peninsula. Rye cultivation is furthermore discussed as more dynamic and flexible than previously presented in Scandinavian archaeobotanical literature.

The fourth and final article leaves archaeobotany as the main topic. It focuses instead on evaluating, theorising and expanding the multiproxy method presented in the second article by a thorough comparison of the botanical, geochemical and geophysical methods to other techniques of functional analysis currently used in archaeology. These techniques include studies of artefact distributions, assessments of spatial relations between settlement features, and studies of the structural details of dwellings and other constructions. The main result is that there is a correspondence between the functional indications provided by botanical, geochemical and geophysical methods and techniques used in mainstream archaeology. The comparison furthermore shows that a combination of the two data sets allows for more highly resolved functional interpretations than if they are used separately.

The main conclusion of the PhD thesis, based on the discussions in all four articles, is that archaeobotanical questions commonly necessitate the assessment of non-botanical archaeological material. The comparison of archaeobotanical data to other segments of the archaeological record does, however, enable the use of the former as an archaeological resource for addressing non-botanical questions. The increased understanding of (mainly settlement) site dynamics resulting from this integration of methods allows archaeobotanists to address increasingly complex botanical questions. Increased and more structured integration between archaeobotany and other specialisms operating within the framework of settlement archaeology is therefore argued to be the preferred approach to performing both high quality archaeobotany and settlement archaeology.

Opracowanie stanowi podsumowanie wyników badań archeologicznych prowadzonych w latach 2009-2012 na stanowisku nr 6 w podgłogowskiej miejscowości Bytnik. Znajdują się tam pozostałości wielokulturowej osady, jednak przedmiotem niniejszych studiów stały się zabytki po-hodzące z epoki żelaza oraz pojedynczy obiekt datowany na wczesną epokę brązu. Badania odbywały się pod kierownictwem dr hab. Artura Błażejewskiego z Instytutu Archeologii Uniwersytetu Wrocławskiego. Obejmowały prospekcję powierzchniową, geofizyczną, badania wykopaliskowe, analizę geomorfologii terenu, analizy pyłkowe, analizę poziomu fosforu na powierzchni objętej wykopaliska-mi w latach 2011 i 2012 oraz analizy specjalistyczne zabytków kamiennych.

Phosphate mapping is a controversial issue within modern archaeology. The method is costly because a meaningful
result is depending on a large number of samples. Furthermore, the interpretation is strongly dependant on an "intelligible" relation between the phosphate pattern and the observed archaeological structures on the mapped site. It is therefore a risk that the interpreter may fall victim to circular argumentation. If a result is only accepted when it is confirming already known or expected patterns, then indeed the scientific value of the method may be questioned. To avoid making it trivial, it is important to present and discuss even the results of mappings that appear to be "failures". In the present paper some unexpected results from excavations in Denmark and Scania are presented. These examples serve as a basis for a critical discussion of the potential and limitations of the method of phosphate mapping, and some strategies to avoid circular argumentation arc pointed out.

Contrary to common opinion, our understanding of the particularistic of the Celtic field systems that are held typical for the Late Bronze Age to Roman period is quite limited. Questions such as ‘why and how were Celtic field ridges erected?’, ‘How exactly did the interplay of habitation and agriculture work?’ and ‘How did Celtic field complexes evolve?’ remain unanswered.
To this end, new fieldwork in the Celtic field of Zeijen - Noordse Veld was initiated during the summer of 2010. Seven small test-trenches were dug in Celtic field ridges and plots. Provisional analysis shows that the ridges evolved in several stages (initially being raised with settlement debris and dung, and later-on with locally acquired sods), but showed no signs of intensification towards the end of the Celtic field system.

The recommended analysis of phosphate which is by now approved in practice, demonstrates an economic form of Bleck’s method of analysis. Thanks to method suitability for routine analysis more than 100 samples a day can easily be measured and evaluated. As the procedure of analysis comes along with a reduction of reagent quantities, not only the consumption of vanadate, molybdate and nitric acid is reduced. Only a minimal part of the generally used reagents quantity reaches the waste disposal, also. In this way, for example, our consumption of vanadate to 0.5mg per soil sample is calculated.

Boplatsvallar, often translated as semi-subterranean settlements, is an ancient monument with a diffuse definition. Defined as -embankments that partially or completely surround a often lowered/dug down surface- this category of ancient monuments is also made up of a former category which traditionally was interpreted as winter settlements from the late Stone age in Sweden. This view of the ancient monuments carried over, to a certain extent, to this new definition. Should this be the case, that this category of monuments are remains of winter settlements, used recurringly over an extended period of time, then they should exhibit similar signasl in regards to the distribution of the anthropogenically altered soil chemical and soil physical properties ath the sites.
The area around Lillsjön, Anundsjö parish, Ångermanland, have four "boplatsvallar" located separately in the regional area. This means they can be considered single contexts suitable to test the aforementioned hypothesis.
The result of the intra-site study indicates that the sites have been used differently. Two of the sites exhibit a more local distribution of the heightened values of phosphates and magnetic susceptibility, distributed close around the ancient monument itself. The other two sites have a distribution of heightened values distributed over a larger area around the monuments, where one of them shows no particular difference from the background values at the site. This result thus suggests that there is a difference in how these "boplatsvallar" have been used prehistorically.

Erstmals wir die "chemische Dimension" einer bandkeramischen Siedlung (Phosphat) in deren Baugeschichte eingebunden - Phosphatanalysen in den Häusern zeigen dort sehr niedrige Werte, daher keine Stallhaltung von Haustieren - Erstmals konnte eine der bekannten, rechteckigen Einhegungen neben einem Haus phosphatanalytisch untersucht werden: Keine geschlossene Konzentration, daher kein Viehpferch - Die  Phosphatwerte in drei unterirdischen Öfen sind im Innern der Öfen und auf der Arbeitsfläche vor den  Öfen hoch: vermutlich durch Verarbeitung von Fleisch und Fett. Die drei Öfen wurden in die Ruine von Haus 2 hineingebaut  - Eine dreieckige, phosphatreiche Fläche östlich von Haus 2 war ein Viehstandplatz und ist stratigraphischjünger als Haus 2, dessen Ruine sie durchquert. Die drei Öfen sind jünger als Haus 2 und älter als der Viehstandplatz.

Cooking pits are numerous in the
prehistoric archaeology of Northern Europe. At
the same time, due to their lack of artefacts, they
are strangely anonymous. They occur as
isolated finds, in smaller or larger numbers at
settlements, in relation with cemeteries and on
so-called ^specialized cooking pit sites».
Especially the latter group of finds has given
rise to speculations about cultic or ritual sites
and activities, but the speculations have been
hampered by the lack of clear evidence in the
shape of artefacts or anything else that could
support the theories. This paper deals with the
problem of the specialized cooking pit sites by
posing two essential questions: are the
apparently similar phenomena representing
similar prehistoric realities in the entire
distribution area of the specialized cooking pit
sites? and are the cooking pits representing the
core activity on these sites or are they in fact nothing more than a biproduct?

"The cooperation of archaeologists with representatives of other scientific disciplines has a long tradition. In Central Europe there has been an especially strong relationship between archaeology and history. With the emergence of culture-historical archaeology, with its special focus on ethnicity and ethongenesis, to find arguments in support of its principles researchers turned to methods such as settlement geography. This opened up the way to an increasingly intimate relationship with nature sciences. In Upper Silesia a closer cooperation of archaeologists with representatives of other disciplines dates from the first half of the twentieth century, with a heyday from the 1970s onwards. Cooperation, at first in the form of non-regular expert studies, with time generated a basis for multi-faceted interdisciplinary research projects. Nowadays projects of this sort continue to grow in number and cover diverse types of archaeological site – from the campsites of Palaeolithic hunter-gatherers to urban sites, castles and palaces of the early modern age.
Cooperation with specialists in nature sciences is particularly intensive. Accurate recording of archaeological finds during excavation makes it necessary to join forces with specialists in geodesy and cartography, and also, to use remote detection methods and photogrammetry. In non-destructive investigation of the archaeological record a special role is played by cooperation with geophysicists. Stratigraphy, the basic method for determining the relative age of archaeological finds, was borrowed from geology. Progressive methods of absolute dating used for determining the true age of artefacts are the province of specialist laboratories. Precise dating of timber features is possible thanks to cooperation with dendrologists and dendrochronologists. Thanks to physicists archaeologists can obtain absolute age determinations making use of physical phenomena such as radioactive isotope decay (radiocarbon, potassium-argon and uranium-thorium dating).
A vital aspect of archaeological research is the interaction of humans with their natural environment. These are studied in three ways: through analysis and assessment of the ancient environment, one contemporary with the archaeological features, palaeoenvironmental studies which make it possible to reconstruct the environment, and specialist analyses of assorted environmental data recovered during fieldwork (animal bones, plant macro-remains, plant pollen, insects, lithic resources, etc.). These studies call for a close cooperation with many specialists: geographers, geologists, geomorphologists, pedologists, hydrologists, petrographers, demographers, pollen specialists, botanists, zoologists, ceramographers, metallographers, etc.
A vast body of potential data on the life of ancient communities is to be found in the skeletal remains recovered from cemeteries and in the forms of burial when these are submitted for analysis to osteologists.
Other crucial studies focus on production and technology and can be pursued thanks to cooperation with nature scientists and specialists in technical sciences. Different artefact categories are subjected to specialist analyses to determine their material, area of origin and to reconstruct processes used in manufacturing individual categories of objects and the level of sophistication of technology. Next to archaeological objects archaeologists discover built structures – the remains of dwellings, storage pits, sacred sites, etc. Their study requires cooperation with ethnographers, historians of architecture, civil engineering and art.
Increasingly more often archaeologists are turning their attention closer to the modern period. Archaeology of the more recent past unavoidably comes into contact with diverse categories of written and iconographic evidence and cannot function without cooperation with historians, representatives of auxiliary sciences of history and art historians. An important role is played by numismatics. Coins are useful for dating archaeological assemblages. Linked inextricably with trade and exchange they had also other uses and a symbolic meaning as well, one associated with their issuer, his environment, place of deposition, etc.
"

Specialized cooking pit sites have attracted some attention during the last decades. They are constituted by a large number of cooking pits either organized in rows or apparently scattered unsystematically around the site. However, even in the latter case it is very seldom that they cut each other. This gives the impression that the often quite large number of pits must have been in use over a rather limited period of time. Unfortunately, the pits are very seldom furnished with anything but fire-cracked stones and charcoal, so the use of the pits is still a matter of discussion. However, research seems to favour an interpretation of the sites as places of cult connected to the use of fire. The present investigation took the outset in these and other assumptions about the cooking pit sites and tried by means of different excavation methods and scientific analyses to get a step further. A major question was: is a cooking pit site just a cooking pit site or are the cooking pits just a symptom of the action? A phosphate mapping gave an especially intriguing hint of the answer to that question.

ABSTRACT:
A pot exrpriment was conducted in a greenhouse in Tishreen University. The experiment included three soils differ in their chemical properties: 1) heavy clay red soil rich in iron oxides; 2) a silty loam basiltic soil; 3) a heavet clay red soil rich in total calcium carbonate (34.8 %). Treatments include application of different levels of triple super phosphate (TSP, 46 % P2O5) ranged from 0, 20, 40, 60, 80, 100, 150, to 200 mg P/kg soil. Pots were sowned with maize (2 plants/pot) and grown for 48 days. At harvest, plant were hatvested before flowering by cutting shoots and extracting roots which were oven dried and weight were recorded prior to digestion and P determination in shoot and root tissues. Samples of rhizosphere soils from each pot replicate were taken for P fractionation and determination.
The response of maize to P application differs at period test according to soil type. The increase in growth was linear with increasing P level of application in the heavy red and calcareous red soils, while was polynomial in basilitic soil. The speed of growth increase in response to P application was influenced by native available P in the soil prior to application. The application of  P led to linear increase in resin-P and MRP fraction in the bicarbonate  extract, but not the Po fraction of the bicarbonate extract. The quantities of fixed applied P varied according to level of P application, the ratio of P uptake by maize plants, and chemical properties of the soil type. The proportion of applied P that was fixed increased linerarly with increasing level of P application. It constitutes 41.7, 68.5 and66 % at level of P application (20 mg/kg soil), and decreasing to30.2 , 41.9 and 59.1% at level of P application (200 mg/kg soil) for red, basiltic, and calcerous red soils, respectively.

Key words: Zea mays, phosphorus uptake, P-fixation, P-fractionation

In order to assess the comparative efficiency of different phosphatic fertilizers on growth and yield of wheat, an experiment was conducted during Rabi (crop season) 2013-2014 at Latif Experimental Farm, Sindh Agriculture University, Tandojam, Pakistan on wheat (cv. Kiran-95). All the cultural practices were applied according to crop requirement. Nitrogen was applied at the rate of 160 N kg ha-1 through urea. Phosphorus was applied at the rate of 85 P 2 O 5 kg ha-1 through DAP, SSP, NPK and Zoraawar respectively, except control and potassium was applied at the rate of 60 K 2 O kg ha-1 through SOP fertilizer. Soil of the experimental area was heavy in texture, non-saline (EC=0.17 to 0.54 dSm-1), medium alkaline in reaction (pH=8.0 to 8.2), moderately calcareous (4.16 to 11.66 %) in nature, poor to medium

Radoslaw Grabowski 2014. Identification and delineation of settlement space functions in the South Scandinavian Iron Age: Theoretical perspectives and practical approaches This article presents an overview of methods used in south Scandinavian archaeology for identification and delineation of settlement space functions. The overview includes commonly utilised archaeological approaches, such as artefact distribution studies and inferences based on assessment of house and settlement morphologies, as well as archaeobotanical, geochemical and geophysical approaches to functional analysis. The theoretical potential and limitations of each presented functional parameter are outlined and thereafter applied and compared using material from five case study sites in east-central Jutland, Halland and Bohuslän. The presentation of the site of Gedved Vest in east-central Jutland also incorporates a comparison of two common approaches to geochemical sampling: 1) sampling and analysis of soil retrieved from feature fills, and 2) horizontal sampling of soil from the interface between the topsoil (A/ Ap) and the subsoil (C) -horizons along a pre-determined grid.

The sintering behaviour of hydroxyapatite (HA), the resulting microstructure and properties are influenced not only by the characteristics and impurities of the raw materials but also were found to be dependent on the thermal history during the fabrication process. This work is concerned with the effects of grain size on the relative density and hardness. A commercially available HA powder was cold isostatically pressed at 200 MPa and sintered at temperatures ranging from 1000 to 1450 °C with a dwell time of 2 hours. It has been found that, at the optimum sintering temperature of 1250 °C where the material is composed of pure hydroxyapatite phase, the samples exhibited densities >99% of theoretical value and possessed a hardness value of 6.08 GPa. Decomposition of HA starts to occur at approximately 1400 °C with the formation of TCP phase. The change in hardness was found to be dependent on the relative density up to a certain grain size limit. However, above this grain size limit, no correlation exists between the two properties. Porosity and grain size were found to play an important role in determining the properties of sintered hydroxyapatite compacts.

http://ac.els-cdn.com/S0272884299000462/1-s2.0-S0272884299000462-main.pdf?_tid=71666aca-e777-11e2-a713-00000aacb35f&acdnat=1373251276_93a64089598e9ab649030079384185f2

"04 CHALKPIT NORTH EXCAVATIONS, Trench 14 in the Anglo-Saxon Settlement .................

06 THE ANIMALS OF SEDGEFORD, Animal Bones from Trench 14 Anglo-Saxon Settlement .................

08 MORE NEWS FROM THE FINDS HUT, Small finds from Trench 14 Anglo-Saxon Settlement .................

10 WHAT THE FLINT CAN TELL US, A Mesolithic Temporary hunting camp at Sedgeford .................

13 SHARP LANDSCAPE ARCHAEOLOGY GROUP
    Work carried out by the Sedgeford LAGs .................

14 PUBLIC OUTREACH AND EDUCATION .................

17 WELL COTTAGE REPORT BY JOHN HENSBY, Test Pitting and Recording of A Sedgeford Cottage .................

22 PHOSPHATE ANALYSIS IN CHALKPIT FIELD, Phosphate Analysis from Trench 14 Anglo-Saxon Settlement .................
 
24 SEDGEFORD AERODROME PROJECT, Excavations of a First World War Aerodrome .................

27 S8001: THE FIRST CROUCHED BURIAL,  A Late Neolithic/ Early Bronze Age crouch Burial .................

30 S8002: A SECOND CROUCHED BURIAL, An Iron Age Crouch Burial .................

33 ‘MA’ DREWERY OF SEDGEFORD, A History of a Sedgeford Resident in the First World War" .................

Report from an archaeological excavation of a Mesolithic settlement site in Haninge, Sweden. The site was located c. 50 m above sea-level, but at the time of occupation probably shore-bound, which gives a rough shore-line dating to between 6000 and 5500 BC. A cooking pit with fire-cracked stone yielded a C14-date to the Pre-Roman Iron Age. A relatively sparse Mesolithic find-material was collected, dominated by artifacts of quartz. Noteworthy are 42 artifacts of coarse rocks like granite and sandstone. 52 quartz artifacts were analyzed by Dr Helena Knutsson, Stoneslab, whereof 42% had use-wear traces. This, in combination with a low proportion of waste and micro-debitage, indicates that this was a site where stone tools were mainly used, not produced. Five find concentrations were discerned. The uppermost two were connected with relatively high phosphate values and the lowermost with rapidly decreasing values. Within the find concentrations, the distribution of quartz and coarse stone tools together with quartz tools identified in the use-wear analysis were analyzed in an attempt to reveal the function of the site. In all, the finds are interpreted as reflecting a fairly contemporary situation with main activity areas at safety height and distance from the sea-shore and a lower situated fluctuating beach-zone with boats and other activities. In the lowermost concentration there is also an area with stone tools which could be interpreted as a wind shed, in which case this must have been used at a somewhat later date, when the sea-shore had withdrawn enough to leave the ground dry. The settlement is discussed in a Late Mesolithic context, with an ample review of previous Mesolithic excavations in the surroundings and a compilation of C14-dates which are plotted in a shore-displacement curve for comparison. It is concluded that the Late Mesolithic saw changes, from a Middle Mesolithic settlement pattern with many sites of different size, in all parts of the archipelago from sheltered locations to isolated islands, to a Late Mesolithic pattern with a larger percentage of the sites restricted to sheltered and sandy locations, often on eskers. Other simultaneous trends in the find-material is seen in the shape of axes and increasing content of fire-cracked stone on sites. The changes are briefly discussed in economic and social terms.

Abstract: Vassås. A multi-phased deserted farm in Vestfold
The Vassås project in Vestfold County concerns the investigation of a deserted farm from the Late Middle Ages, complete with a medieval fossil field system.
Minor excavations, metal detection, and phosphate mapping was used in the investigation. The result showed that what initially was believed to be a medieval farm deserted during the Black Death was inhabited already during the Roman period, then again during the late middle ages, and again during the 19th century.
It is a project with strong local commitment, and involvement and cooperation of individuals and several institutes working with archaeology and cultural history.
Key words: Medieval, deserted farm, fossil field systems, soil chemistry, phosphate mapping,

The Stone Age settlement at Hemmor, situated on southeastern Gotland, is relatively well-known in the swedish archaeological record. The find material is typical for the Pitted Ware Culture and the Middle Neolithic (3300-2300 BC). Thick cultural layers and a diversity of well preserved artefacts, features and human remains at the site, together with the island's location in the centre of the Baltic Sea, makes it an interesting object for the discussion of identity, ethnicity, contacts and exchange.

Summary:
The Neolithic site of the Bosquet del Vau is located in the Brabant Province in Belgium. Two different rescue excavations took place on the site both in 2006 and 2007 : the first was subsequent to a housing project of about 110 houses, the latter to the building of the R.E.R. (Express Regional Transportation System).
The site was discovered in the 1980 by a group of three teenagers going flint tools hunting all around Waterloo and Braine l’Alleud. Flint tools pertaining to the Late Neolithic and Early Bronze Age were recovered on site as well as some Mesolithic flint tools.
The site is located on a small sandy hill and covers 2.5 hectares. Steep slopes surround it to the west and north-west and gentler ones to the northeast and south, an isthmus exists to the east linking it o the plateau.
The settlement is protected by a palisade to the east and south, a wide ditch links the palisade to the nearly valley to the west. The western side of the hill has seen its slope artificially steepened as did part of the northern side. No palisade was found on either of those two sides.
Part of one house and a complete second one were discovered in 2006 and 2007. They are aligned north to south, 18 meters long and 4.5 meters wide. A narrow ditch houses the post holes, posts are maximum 0.30 m in diameter and spaced evenly. Central posts suggest a two-sloped roof. No hearth was found inside of the first house, the one of the second has yet to be associated with the house.
A phosphate map was made in both cases, evidence points to a house divided into three parts, with maybe a cattle area next to the second one.
Potsherds recovered in two postholes of the 2007 house fit together and could be dated to the Late Neolithic Period.
Flint tools are mostly micro-denticulates though a few polished axes fragments have been discovered as well as arrowheads and a beautifully knapped flint knife.
The various types of stones used: from black flintstone to Parisian

This paper presents the results of phosphorus mapping conducted on a number of coastal activity zones on the multi-period, archaeological farm site of Vatnsfjörður, northwest Iceland. The aim of the study was to detect the exact levels and extents of shorelines contemporary with the archaeological site's activities and to use sea-level change to establish a relative chronology of coastal activity zones. Absolute dating of the coastal zones and sea-level changes was achieved by integrating an existing sea-level curve with a novel tephrochronology-based curve, created for the purpose of this research. Results were projected onto a detailed digital terrain model of the area in order to reconstruct the extent of the coastline contemporary with human activity in the respective zones. A significant component of the research was an attempt to develop the existing approach to phosphorus mapping results interpretation. This has resulted in an improved methodology that can be applied to the dynamic and challenging environments of coastal sites worldwide.

In connection with the excavation programme caused by the construction of the Scanian West Coast Rail Road 14 sites were being phosphate mapped. The method applied was the one which W. Haio Zimmerman has been advocating - i.e. mapping of the "sterile" subsoil below the settlements, avoiding any humus or other disturbing factor. Due to the extent of the programme it was possible to ajust the method on the way. In this paper the results are presented and the method is critically discussed.

This paper summarizes the results of geoarchaeological studies undertaken in the last few years at Palaeolithic and Neolithic sites in south-western Poland. In the following paragraphs applied methods are reviewed. Very valuable were microstratigraphic investigation which shed light on site formation processes of the Upper Palaeolithic sites as well as provide a set of data on microfossils contained in palaeosoils and the settlement floor. The isotopic studies of Pleistocene faunal remains yielded important data on palaeotemperatures at the time of human occupation connected with the late stage of the Middle Palaeolithic. Finally the geophysical prospection. with the use of magnetometer, combined with geochemical analysis of phosphate content in soil enabled to characterize and identify functional variability of Neolithic settlements

The Applied Archaeology Laboratories (AAL) of Ball State University conducted an archaeological reconnaissance project for archaeological materials in Hamilton County, Indiana, for an FY2012 Historic Preservation Fund Grant (Grant #18-12-41921-4). This Historic Preservation Fund grant project investigated the archaeological resources of Hamilton County, Indiana. This specific project focused on the White River and its associated tributaries, as well as the southern half of the county. Approximately 565 acres (228.55 ha) of agricultural land underwent pedestrian survey, uncovering 230 new archaeological sites and 1625 artifacts. Over 157 acres (63.54 ha) underwent soil phosphate survey, revealing multiple possible prehistoric agricultural fields or gardens. The project recovered 1154 prehistoric artifacts and 471 historic artifacts from 9 different parcels of land within Hamilton County. Multiple cultural periods are represented in the artifact assemblage, including diagnostics of the Early Archaic, Middle Archaic, Late Archaic, Middle Woodland, Late Woodland, and Historic periods. The average site density recorded for the project was one archaeological site per 2.46 acres (0.41 sites/acre). The average artifact density was one artifact per 0.34 acres (2.9 artifacts/acre). A total of 13 sites are recommended as potentially eligible for Indiana Register of Historic Sites and Structures or the National Register of Historic Places.

Snowdonia has hundreds of Bronze Age burial cairns, of a wide variety of types, of which some 50 are located on mountain-tops between 500 and 1100m above sea level. The excavations at Drosgl revealed that the main cairn had a complex structural development with two cists, one of which had a whetstone and cremated bone deliberately hidden within the structure. A smaller, nearby, cairn had been robbed but still retained an intact cremation deposit. It is argues that the main cairn was situated on a false-crest, inter-visible with putative Bronze Age settlement in the valley below. Appendices include reports on the cremations, phosphate and heavy mineral analyses of soil deposits and a catalogue of all the then-known mountain-top cairns in Snowdonia.

Investigations of a Bell Beaker grave were conducted at Těšetice-Kyjovice in Moravia, and included a trial of a geochemical phosphate analysis and Brongers method for detecting decomposed wood. The grave was well-equipped, comprising a chamber, skeleton and surrounded by a trough. The aim of this paper is to provide an interpretation of anthropogenic phosphates in the grave, their relation to the skeleton, a description of an application of Brongers method and comments on the outcomes. Through the use of the GIS approach, the eochemical methods have a more logical structure which improves burial rite research. The authors are of the opinion that the body was deposited into the grave chamber before soft tissue decomposition due to phosphate accumulation recognized under the skeleton. A second accumulation of phosphates is in all probability related to organic grave goods. Brongers method identified the features at the 40 cm level and provided a more complete picture of the features identified at 110 cm and 140 cm. The features recorded are thought to be the remains of a wood structure along the chamber wall, a divider wall or a top cover. The authors tested this method, which had only been sporadically used in the Czech Republic. The geochemical approach provided relevant results for a thorough interpretation of an archaeological context which is not recognizable through the naked eye.

The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of phosphate (Pi) deficiency on growth and phosphorus content of three varieties (V1: white, V2: red and V3: burgundy/purple) of Bambara groundnut (Vigna subterranea (L.) Verdc.). For this purpose, plants were grown for 30 days in a greenhouse on river sand, watered with Hoagland solutions of two different concentrations of Pi (0 and 1000 μM Pi). The results obtained showed that from 1000 to 0 μM Pi, V. subterranea shoot fresh biomass reduced by 13.48%, 9.46% and 14.57% for varieties V1, V2 and V3 respectively. Its total fresh biomass also reduced by 8.29% for V1, 3.32% for V2 and 6.94% for V3. But Pi deficiency (0 μM Pi) led to an increase in root fresh biomass (V2: 8.82% and V3: 7.90%) and root/shoot ratio (V1: 15.17%, V2: 21.57% and V3: 25%). These results show a preferential allocation of biomass to the roots in Pi deficient plants. Pi deficiency had no significant effect on the number of emerged leaves and the plant water cont...

In this report, we demonstrate that continuous improvement in XPS instruments and the calibration standards as well as analysis with standard component-fitting procedures can be used to determine the binding energies of compounds containing phosphorus and sulfur of different oxidation states with higher confidence. Based on such improved XPS analyses, the binding energies (BEs) of S2p signals for sulfur of increasing oxidation state are determined to be 166-167.5 eV for S=O in dimethyl sulfoxide, 168.1 eV for S=O 2 in polysulfone, 168.4 eV for SO 3 in polystyrene sulfonate and 168.8 eV for SO 4 in chondroitin sulfate. The BEs of P2p signals show the following values: 132.9 eV for PO 3 in triisopropyl phosphite, 133.3 eV for PO 4 in glycerol phosphate, 133.5 eV for PO 4 in sodium tripolyphosphate and 134.0 eV for PO 4 in sodium hexametaphosphate. These results showed that there are only small increases in the binding energy when additional oxygen atoms are added to the SO chemical group. A similar result is obtained when the fourth oxygen or poly-phosphate environment is added to the phosphorus compound. These BE values are useful to researchers involved in identifying oxidation states of phosphorus and sulfur atoms commonly observed on modified surfaces and interfaces found in applications such as biomaterials, super-capacitors and catalysis.

In archaeological research designs that focus on sites in coastal and shorebound areas, a short geographical distance is often equated with a high degree of functional correlation between settlement and water without any further investigations of this (pre-)supposed relationship. This is both a theoretical and a methodological problem: instead of testing a hypothesis against the empirical material as the result of actions carried out by prehistoric people, a vaguely characterized empirical pattern is argued to reflect the inherent interrelationship to water. This article presents a process of generating and applying appropriate methodological approaches in the study of water-bound strategies. It explores a site with an initially unknown character and date, but with the remains of a still monumental artificial earthen wall standing close to what was hypothesized to be a former shore zone at Garn, in east central Sweden, and delves into how water-bound strategies might be expressed and investigated in archaeology.