Taphonomy or paint recipe: In situ portable x-ray fluorescence analysis of two anthropomorphic motifs from the Woronora Plateau, New South Wales

Australian Archaeology

Volumn 75, Issue , 2012, Pages 78-94

  Huntley, Julian ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF NEW ENGLAND   (Australia)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 84875674134     PISSN: 03122417     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1080/03122417.2012.11681952     Document Type: Article

References (94)

1. Aloupi, E., A.G. Karydas and T. Paradellis 2000 Pigment analysis of wall paintings and ceramics from Greece and Cyprus. The optimum use of x-ray spectrometry on specific archaeological issues. X-Ray Spectrometry 29:18-24.
2. Attenbrow, V. 2002 Sydney's Aboriginal Past. Sydney: University of New South Wales Press.
3. Attenbrow, V. and G. Happ 1983 Proposed Maldon to Dombarton Rail Route: Report on Archaeological Survey for Aboriginal Sites. Unpublished report prepared for Dames and Moore by Search Archaeological Enterprises, Sydney.
4. Aubert, M. 2012 A review of rock art dating in the Kimberley, Western Australia. Journal of Archaeological Science 39(3):573-577.
5. Baxter, M.J. 2003 Statistics in Archaeology. London: Arnolds.
6. Baxter, M.J. and CM. Jackson 2001 Variable selection in artefact composition studies. Archaeometry 43(4):253-268.
7. Bednarik, R.G. 1992 Ethics in rock art research and conservation. Rock Art Quarterly 3:17-22.
8. Cesareo, R., S. Ridolf, M. Marabelli, A. Castellano, G. Buccolieri, M. Donativi, G.E. Gigante, A. Brunetti and M.A. Rosales Medina 2008 Portable systems for energy-dispersive x-ray fluorescence analysis of works of art. In P.J. Potts and M. West (eds), Portable X-Ray Fluorescence Spectrometry: Capabilities for In Situ Analysis, pp. 204-246. Cambridge: Royal Society of Chemistry Publishing.
9. Clarke, EW 1916 The data of geochemistry. US Geological Survey Bulletin 616:362-363.
10. Clegg, J. 1988 Comment on F.D. McCarthy, Rock art sequences: A matter of clarification. Rock Art Research 5(1): 19-22.
11. Clottes, J. 1992 'Professional vandalism' and'Indigenous ownership': An alternative perspective of several ethical issues in rock art research. Rock Art Quarterly 3:22-24.
12. Cole, N. and A. Watchman 1993 Blue paints in prehistory: Preliminary investigations into the use of the blue in Aboriginal rock paintings near Laura, Cape York Peninsula. Rock Art Research 10:58-61.
13. Cole, N. and A. Watchman 1996 Archaeology of white hand stencils of the Laura region, north Queensland, Australia. Techne: La Science au Service de L'Histoire de L'Art et des Civilisations 3:82-90.
14. Cook, N., I. Davidson and S. Sutton 1990 Why are so many ancient rock paintings red? Australian Aboriginal Studies 1990(1) 30-33.
15. Creagh, D.C., M.E. Kubik and M. Sterns 2007 On the feasibility of establishing the provenance of Australian Aboriginal artefacts using synchrotron radiation x-ray diffraction and proton-induced x-ray emission. Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research A 580:721-724.
16. David, B., E. Clayton and A. Watchman 1993 Initial results of PIXE analysis on northern Australian ochres. Australian Archaeology 36:50-57.
17. de Boer, D.K.G. 1989 Angular dependence of x-ray fluorescence intensities. X-Ray Spectrometry 18:119-129.
18. Dibden, J. 2011 Drawing in the Land-Rock-Art in the Upper Nepean, Sydney Basin, New South Wales. Unpublished PhD Thesis, Department of Archaeology and Anthropology, The Australian National University, Canberra.
19. Dillian, CD. and C. White 2010 Introduction: Perspectives on trade and exchange. In CD. Dillian and C. White (eds), Trade and Exchange: Archaeological Studies from History and Prehistory, pp. 3-16. New York: Springer.
20. Ford, B., I. Macleod and P. Haydock 1994 Rock art pigments from the Kimberley region of Western Australia: Identification of the minerals and conversion mechanisms. Studies in Conservation 39:57-69.
21. Ford, J.A. 2006 Painting Contact: Characterising the Paints of the South Woronora Plateau Rock Art Assemblage, Wollongong, NSW. Unpublished BA(Hons) Thesis, Department of Archaeology and Anthropology, The Australian National University, Canberra.
22. Forster, N., P. Grave, N. Vickery and L. Kealhofer 2011 Non-destructive analysis using PXRF: Methodology and application to archaeological ceramics. X-Ray Spectrometry 40(5):389-398.
23. Glascock, M.D. 1992 Characterisation of archaeological ceramics at MURR by neutron activation analysis and multivariate statistics. In H. Neff (ed.), Chemical Characterisation of Ceramic Pastes in Archaeology, pp. 11-26. Madison: Prehistory Press.
24. Glascock, M.D., H. Neff and K.J. Vaughn 2004 Instrumental neutron activation analysis and multivariate statistics for pottery provenance. Hyperfine Interactions 154:95-105.
25. Goodall, R.A. and B. David 2001 Mineralogical and chemical analyses of an ochred rock, Ngarrabullgan Cave (N. Qld Australia). Rock Art Research 18(1):58-60.
26. Goodall, R.A., B. David, P. Kershaw and P.M. Fredericks 2009 Prehistoric hand stencils at Fern Cave, north Queensland (Australia): Environmental and chronological implications of raman spectroscopy and FT-IR imaging results. Journal of Archaeological Science 36:2617-2624.
27. Gosden, C. and Y. Marshall 1999 The cultural biography of objects. World Archaeology 32(2):169-178
28. Green, R.L. and J.R. Watling 2007 Trace element fingerprinting of Australian ochre using laser ablation inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (LAICP-MS) for the provenance establishment and authentication of Indigenous art. Journal of Forensic Science 52(4):851-859.
29. Guilherme, A., A. Cavaco, S. Pessanha, M. Costa and M.L. Carvalho 2008 Comparison of portable and stationary x-ray fluorescence spectrometers in the study of ancient metallic artefacts. X-Ray Spectrometry 39:444-449.
30. Haworth, R.J. 2003 The shaping of Sydney by its urban geology. Quaternary International 103:41-55.
31. Hazelton, P.A. and P.J. Tile 1990 Soil Landscapes of the Wollongong-Port Hacking 1: 100 000 Sheet. Sydney: Soil Conservation Service of New South Wales.
32. Heginbotham, A., A. Bezur, M. Bouchard, J.M. Davis, K. Ermin J.H. Franz, L. Glinsman, L-A. Hayek, D. Hook, V. Kantarelou, A. Germanos Karydas, L. Lee, J. Mass, C. Matsen, B. McCarthy M. McGrath, A. Shugar, J. Sirois, D. Smith and R.J. Speakman 2011 An evaluation of inter-laboratory reproducibility for quantitative XRF of historic copper alloys. In C. Chemello, P. Mardikian, C. Watters and P. Hull (eds), Metal 2010: Interim Meeting of the International Council of Museums Committee for Conservation Metal Working Group, October 11-15 2010, Charleston, South Carolina, USA 2010, pp. 178-188. Charleston: Clemson University.
33. Hughes, P.J. 1978 Weathering in sandstone shelters in the Sydney Basin and the survival of rock art. In C. Pearson (ed.), Conservation of Rock Art: Proceedings of the International Workshop on the Conservation of Rock Art, Perth, pp. 36-41. Sydney: Institute for the Conservation of Cultural Material.
34. Hunt, P.A., P.B. Mitchell and T.R. Paton 1977 'Laterite profiles' and 'lateritic ironstones' on the Hawkesbury Sandstone, Australia. Geoderma 19:105-121.
35. Huntley, J., A. Watchman and J. Dibden 2011 Characteristics of a pigment art sequence: Woronora Plateau, New South Wales. Rock Art Research 28:85-97.
36. nd ed.). New York: Wiley.
37. Johnson, A.R.M. 1974 Cavernous weathering at Berowra, New South Wales. Australian Geographer 12:531-555.
38. Joyce, R.A. 2011 Is there a future for XRF in twenty-first century archaeology? In M.S. Shackley (ed.), X-Ray Fluorescence Spectrometry (XRF) in Geoarchaeology, pp. 193-202. New York: Springer.
39. Karydas, A.G. 2005 Self-element secondary fluorescence enhancement in XRF analysis. X-Ray Spectrometry 34:426-431.
40. Kuleff, I. and R. Djingova 1998 Mean concentration of elements determined in Ohio Red Clay. Journal of Radioanalytical and Nuclear Chemistry 237:3-6.
41. Lambert, D. 1980 The influence of groundwater salts in the formation of sandstone shelters near Gosford, NSW. Institute for the Conservation of Cultural Materials Bulletin 6:29-34.
42. Langouet, L. 1982 Connections between archaeometry and archaeology. In J.S. Olin (ed.), Future Directions in Archaeometry: A Round Table, pp. 52-54. Washington DC: Smithsonian Institution.
43. Liangquan, G., W Lai and Y Lin 2005 Influence of and correction for moisture in rocks, soils and sediments on in situ XRF analysis. X-Ray Spectrometry 34:28-34.
44. Lirtzis, I. and N. Zacharias 2011 Portable XRF of archaeological artefacts: Current research, potentials and limitations. In M.S. Shackley (ed.), X-Ray Fluorescence Spectrometry (XRF) in Geoarchaeology, pp. 109-142. New York: Springer.
45. Lovering, J.R 1952 Epigenetic common opal from the Hawkesbury Sandstone Formation of the SydneyBasin. Records of the Australian Museum 23:29-32.
46. MacDonald, B.L., R.G.V. Hancock, A. Pidruczny and A. Cannon 2008 Neutron activation analysis of archaeological ochres from coastal British Columbia. Antiquity Bulletin 82 (316). Retrieved 5 July 2011 from
47. Mantler, M. and M. Schreiner 2000 X-ray fluorescence spectrometry in art and archaeology. X-Ray Spectrometry 29:3-17.
48. McCarthy, F. 1961 Aboriginal cave art in the Woronora and Cordeaux catchment areas. Sydney Water Board Journal January 1961:97-103.
49. rd ed.). Sydney: Australian Museum.
50. McCarthy, F.D. 1988 Rock art sequences: A matter of clarification. Rock Art Research 5(1):16-19 and 38-42.
51. McDonald, J. 1994 Dream time Super Highway: An Analysis of Sydney Basin Rock Art and Prehistoric Information Exchange. Unpublished PhD Thesis, Department of Archaeology and Anthropology, The Australian National University, Canberra.
52. McDonald, J. 2008 Dreamtime Superhighway: Sydney Basin Rock Art and Prehistoric Information Exchange. Terra Australis 27. Canberra: ANU E Press.
53. Mol, L. and H. Viles 2011 The role of rock surface hardness and internal moisture in tafoni development in sandstone. Earth Surface Processes and Landforms 37(3):301-314
54. Officer, K.L.C. 1984 From Tuggerah to Dharawal: Variation and Function within a Regional Art Style. Unpublished BA(Hons) Thesis, Department of Archaeology and Anthropology, The Australian National University, Canberra.
55. Odlyha, M., J.J. Boon, O. van den Brink and M. Baci 1997 Environmental research for art conservation (ERK). Journal of Thermal Analysis 49:1571-1584.
56. Piorek, S. 2008 Coatings, paints and thin film deposits. In P.J. Potts and M. West (eds), Portable X-Ray Fluorescence Spectrometry: Capabilities for In Situ Analysis, pp. 56-82. Cambridge: Royal Society of Chemistry Publishing.
57. Plog, F. 1982 The integration of archaeometry and archaeological research. In J.S. Olin (ed.), Future Directions in Archaeometry: A Round Table, pp. 59-61. Washington DC: Smithsonian Institution.
58. Pollard, M., C. Batt, B. Stern and S.M.M. Young (eds) 2007 Analytical Chemistry in Archaeology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
59. Popelka-Filcoff, R.S., E.J. Miksa, J.D. Robertson, M.D. Glascock and H. Wallace 2008 Elemental analysis and characterisation of ochre sources from southern Arizona. Journal of Archaeological Science 35:752-762.
60. Popelka-Filcoff, R.S., C. Lenehan, M. Glascock, J. Bennett, A. Stopic, J. Quinton, A. Pring and K. Walshe 2012 Evaluation of relative comparator and k0-NAA for characterisation of Aboriginal Australian ochre. Journal of Radioanalytical and Nuclear Chemistry 291(1):19-24.
61. Potts, P.J. 2008 Introduction, analytical instrumentation and application overview. In P.J. Potts and M. West (eds), Portable X-Ray Fluorescence Spectrometry: Capabilities for In Situ Analysis, pp. 1-12. Cambridge: Royal Society of Chemistry Publishing.
62. Potts, P.J., O. Williams-Thorpe and P.C. Webb 1997 The bulk analysis of silicate rocks by portable x-ray fluorescence: Effect of sample mineralogy in relation to the size of the excited volume. The Journal of Geostandards and Geoanalysis 21(1):29-41.
63. Potts, P.J., P.C. Webb and O. Williams-Thorpe 2005 Investigation of a correction procedure for surface irregularity effects based on scatter peak intensities in the field analysis of geological and archaeological rock samples by portable x-ray fluorescence spectrometry. Journal of Analytical Atomic Spectrometry 12:769-776.
64. nd ed.). Sydney: Geological Survey of New South Wales.
65. Rowe, M. 2001 Physical and chemical analysis. In D. Whitley (ed.), Handbook of Rock Art Research, pp. 190-220. Lanham: Altamira Press.
66. nd ed.). Canberra: Collections Council of Australia.
67. Sefton, C. 1991 1990-1991 Archaeological Survey of the Cordeaux River by the Illawarra Prehistory Group. Unpublished report prepared for the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies.
68. Shackley, M.S. 2011 An introduction to x-ray fluorescence spectrometry (XRF) analysis in archaeology. In M.S. Shackley (ed.), X-Ray Fluorescence Spectrometry (XRF) in Geoarchaeology, pp. 7-44. New York: Springer.
69. Sim, I.M. 1964 Aboriginal drawings near Wilton, NSW. Oceania 35(1):57-65.
70. Smith, M.A. and B. Fankhauser 2009 Geochemistry and Identification of Australian Red Ochre Deposits. Palaeoworks Technical Papers 9. Retrieved 5 November 2009 from .
71. Smith, M.A. and S. Pell 1997 Oxygen-isotope ratios in quartz as an indicator of the provenance of archaeological ochres. Journal of Archaeological Science 24:773-772.
72. Smith, M.A., B. Fankhauser and M. Jercher 1998 The changing provenance of red ochre at Puritjarra rock shelter, Central Australia: Late Pleistocene to present. Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society 64:275-292.
73. Smith, M.A., S.D. Mooney and C. Geiss 2002 The use of mineral magnetic parameters to characterise archaeological ochres. Journal of Archaeological Science 2:1-13.
74. Speakman, R.J., C. Little, D. Creel, M.R. Miller and G.I. Javier 2011 Sourcing ceramics with portable XRF spectrometers? A comparison with INAA using Mimbres pottery from the American Southwest. Journal of Archaeological Science 38(1):3483-3496.
75. Sumner, P.D., K.J. Hall, J.L. van Rooy and K.I. Meiklejohn 2009 Rock weathering on the eastern mountains of southern Africa: Review and insights from case studies. Journal of African Earth Sciences 55:236-244.
76. Twidale, CR. 1968 Geomorphology: With Special Reference to Australia. Melbourne: Nelson.
77. Twidale, CR. and E.M. Campbell 1993 Australian Landforms: Structure, Process and Time. Adelaide: Gleneagles Publishing.
78. Vinnicombe, P. 1980 Predilection and Prediction: A Study of Aboriginal Sites in the Gosford/Wyong Region. Unpublished report prepared for the New South Wales National Parks and Wildlife Service.
79. Watchman, A. 1990a What are silica skins and how are they important in rock art conservation? Australian Aboriginal Studies 1990(1):21-29.
80. Watchman, A. 1990b A review of studies into the composition of pigments used in Australian rock paintings. In J. Brunet, P. Vidal and J. Vouvé (eds), 50 ans Après la Découverte de Lascaux: Journées Internationales D'étude sur la Conservation de L'art Rupestre: Dordogne-Périgord (France), 20-23 Août 1990: Actes, pp. 57-64. Périgueux: Atelier de recherches et d'études en Péïigord.
81. Watchman, A. 1992a A conservation scientist's perspective on rock art sampling standards. Rock Art Quarterly 3:17-22.
82. Watchman, A. 1992b Composition, formation and age of some Australian silica skins. Australian Aboriginal Studies 1992(1):61-66.
83. Watchman, A. 1993 Perspectives and potentials for absolute dating prehistoric rock paintings. Antiquity 67:58-65.
84. Watchman, A. 1996 Properties and Dating of Silica Skins associated with Rock Art. Unpublished PhD Thesis, University of Canberra, Canberra.
85. Watchman, A., J. Sirois and N. Cole 1993 Mineralogical examination of Aboriginal rock-painting pigments near Laura, north Queensland. In B. Fankhauser and R. Bird (eds), Archaeometry: Current Australian Research, pp. 141-150. Occasional Papers in Prehistory 22. Canberra: Research School of Pacific Studies, The Australian National University.
86. Watchman, A., G.L. Walsh, M.J. Morwood and C. Tuniz 1997 AMS radiocarbon age estimates for early rock paintings in the Kimberley, NW Australia: Preliminary results. Rock Art Research 14:18-26.
87. Watchman, A., I. Ward, R. Jones and S. O'Connor 2001 Spatial and compositional variations within finely laminated mineral crusts at Carpenters Gap, an archaeological site in tropical Australia. Geoarchaeology: An International Journal 16:803-824.
88. Watchman, A., S. O'Connor and R. Jones 2005 Dating oxalate minerals 20-45 ka. Journal of Archaeological Science 32:369-374.
89. Weigand, P.C., G. Harbottle and E.V. Sayre 1977 Turquoise sources and source analysis: Mesoamerica and the southwestern USA. In T.K. Earle and J.E. Ericson (eds), Exchange Systems in Prehistory, pp. 15-34. New York: Academic Press.
90. Wells, T., G. Hancock and J. Fryer 2008 Weathering rates of sandstone in a semi-arid environment (Hunter Valley, Austialia). Environmental Geology 54:1047-1057.
91. Williams-Thorpe, O. 2008 The application of portable x-ray fluorescence analysis to archaeological lithic provenancing. In P.J. Potts and M. West (eds), Portable X-Ray Fluorescence Spectrometry: Capabilities for In Situ Analysis, pp. 174-205. Cambridge: Royal Society of Chemistry Publishing.
92. Young, A. 1987 Salts as an agent in the development of cavernous weathering. Geology 15:962-966.
93. Young, R.W. and A. Young 1988 Altogether barren, peculiarly romantic: The sandstone lands around Sydney. In D.C. Rich and R.W. Young (eds), Environment and Development in Australia, pp. 9-25. Sydney: Geographical Society of New South Wales.
94. Young, R.W. and A. Young 1992 Sandstone Landforms. Berlin: Springer-Verlag.