42 Analysis of Twenty-Five Absorbed Residues Submitted by the Kansas University Natural History Museum. Report uri icon

Abstract

  • Twenty-five pottery sherds were submitted from 14WY1 and 23PL43. The sherds were rimsherds, from a range of decoration and vessel types. Maize was definitely present in four of the residues, and a C4 presence, possibly maize, was detected in an additional seven. Of the other residues in the study, five were primarily plant and/or riverine resources with meat possibly present, four were primarily meat with plant present, two contained primarily riverine resources (fish or shellfish), and one contained a more-or-less equal mixture of riverine and plant resources. One residue contained an unusual mixture of compounds, deriving either from modern contamination or an unusual medicinal herb. One residue was so contaminated by plasticizers that it could not be easily interpreted. All interpretable residues in the study included multiple resources, either processed together as a stew or sequentially, and all contained sufficient non-plasticizer residue to demonstrate archaeological use processing or serving foods. Conifer resin was present in seventeen of the twenty-three interpretable residues, often in small amounts. Depending on the presence of conifer trees in the area surrounding the sites, this presence could derive in part from ritual censing or purification, pot sealing, or firing over conifer wood. Contamination from DDT and plasticizers were present in many sherds, but was not an insuperable bar to analysis in all but one case. Hopanes were present in sherds from both sites, but it is unclear whether this indicates archaeological use of petroleum or bitumen or contamination from the soil.