CUR 2002 Workshop Report
 
Undergraduate Research in Applied Geoarchaeology

Session I
Speakers: Bill Miller, Bob Shuster, Kathy Whatley
Recorder: Bill Miller
Attendance: 5

Discussion centered on undergraduate roles in geoarchaeology projects From the Middle East (Iron Age ceramics from Bethsaida, Israel and Tel Hisban, Jordan), the southeastern U.S. (Cherokee), the Queen Anne's Revenge (Blackbeard) wreck site off the North Carolina coast, and Mexico. 

Questions and resulting discussion focused on: 

(1) whether microscopic inclusion, textures, and composition were useful in distinguishing between different ages and provenance: the answer was affirmative for some projects but unanswered so far in others.

(2) use of mineral inclusions in sherds to determine whether the clay was modified or added to (e.g. calcite) for specific pottery use, such as cooking ware.

(3) the use of geochemistry to locate origins of ballast stones: has narrowed the search to a relatively small geographic region but have not located the exact bedrock yet.