A NEW DATING METHOD FOR HIGH-CALCIUM ARCHAEOLOGICAL GLASSES BASED UPON SURFACE-WATER DIFFUSION: PRELIMINARY CALIBRATIONS AND PROCEDURES*

Authors: STEVENSON, C. M.¹; WHEELER, D.²; NOVAK, S. W.³; SPEAKMAN, R. J.⁴; GLASCOCK, M. D.⁵

Source: Archaeometry, Volume 49, Number 1, February 2007 , pp. 153-177(25)

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Abstract:

The first European settlers came to North America in the early 17th century using glass in the form of containers and decorative objects. Thus, glass is a horizon marker for all historic period settlements and a potential source of chronometric dates at archaeological sites belonging to the historic period in the Americas. We have developed a new absolute dating method based upon water diffusion into the surface of manufactured glasses that predicts diffusion coefficients based upon variation in glass chemical constituents. Low-temperature (< 190°C) hydration experiments have been performed on a set of five high-calcium (21.7-28.3%) glasses that were used to manufacture wine bottles from the 17th−19th centuries. Infrared spectroscopy and secondary ion mass spectrometry was used to model the water diffusion/alkali exchange process. The ability of the model to accurately predict archaeological ages was evaluated with artefacts recovered from ceramic-dated contexts at Thomas Jefferson's plantation known as Monticello.

Keywords: ALKALI EXCHANGE; DATING; DIFFUSION; GLASS; INFRARED; MEAN CERAMIC DATE; MONTICELLO; SIMS; VAPOUR HYDRATION

Document Type: Research article

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1475-4754.2007.00293.x

Affiliations: 1: Virginia Department of Historic Resources, 2801 Kensington Avenue, Richmond, Virginia 23221, USA 2: The Thomas Jefferson Foundation, Charlottesville, Virginia 22902, USA 3: Evans East, 104 Windsor Center, Suite 101, East Windsor, New Jersey 08520, USA 4: Museum Conservation Institute, Smithsonian Institution, Suitland, Maryland 20746, USA 5: Research Reactor Center, University of Missouri, Columbia, Missouri 65211, USA

Publication date: 2007-02-01

A NEW DATING METHOD FOR HIGH-CALCIUM ARCHAEOLOGICAL GLASSES BASED UPON SURFACE-WATER DIFFUSION: PRELIMINARY CALIBRATIONS AND PROCEDURES*

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