Farid Rahemtulla

Bone and antler are important raw materials for tool manufacture in many cultures, past and present. The modification of osseous features which take place during artifact manufacture frequently make it difficult to identify either the bone element or the host animal, which can limit our understanding of the cultural, economic, and/or symbolic factors which influence raw material acquisition and use. While biomolecular approaches can provide taxonomic identifications of bone or antler artifacts, these methods are frequently destructive, raising concerns about invasive sampling of culturally-important artifacts or belongings. Collagen peptide mass fingerprinting (Zooarchaeology by Mass Spectrometry or ZooMS) can provide robust taxonomic identifications of bone and antler artifacts. While the ZooMS method commonly involves destructive subsampling, multiple minimally-invasive sampling techniques also exist. In this paper, we compare three previously proposed minimally-invasive sampling methods (forced bag, eraser, and polishing film) on an assemblage of 15 bone artifacts from the pre-contact site EjTa-4, a large midden complex located on Calvert Island, British Columbia, Canada. We compare the results of the minimally-invasive methods to 10 fragmentary remains sampled using the conventional destructive ZooMS method. We assess the reliability and effectiveness of these methods by comparing MALDI-TOF spectral quality, the number of diagnostic and high molecular weight peaks as well as the taxonomic resolution reached after identification. We find that coarse fiber-optic polishing films are the most effective of the minimally-invasive techniques compared in this study, and that the spectral quality produced by this minimally-invasive method was not significantly different from the conventional destructive method. Our results suggest that this minimally-invasive sampling technique for ZooMS can be successfully applied to culturally significant artifacts, providing comparable taxonomic identifications to the conventional, destructive ZooMS method.

In this paper, Unsettling Archaeology refers to improving how we as archaeologists work with Indigenous communities on their heritage. A fundamental part of this process involves how we train students, and the archaeology field school provides a perfect vehicle in which to explore new avenues. Since 2000, the University of Northern British Columbia has partnered with a number of Indigenous communities on the coast and in the interior of British Columbia, to deliver 13 field schools in various locations. A key pillar of the field school model is the integration and weaving of traditional knowledge taught by community members, and a science-based approach to field methods, taught by university staff. This paper describes the initial field school model and highlights problems and successes with implementation.

Red mineral pigment use is recognized as a fundamental component of a series of traits associated with human evolutionary development, social interaction, and behavioral complexity. iron-enriched mineral deposits have been collected and prepared as pigment for use in rock art, personal adornment, and mortuary practices for millennia, yet little is known about early developments in mineral processing techniques in North America. Microanalysis of rock art pigments from the North American Pacific northwest reveals a sophisticated use of iron oxide produced by the biomineralizing bacterium Leptothrix ochracea; a keystone species of chemolithotroph recognized in recent advances in the development of thermostable, colorfast biomaterial pigments. Here we show evidence for human engagement with this bacterium, including nanostructural and magnetic properties evident of thermal enhancement, indicating that controlled use of pyrotechnology was a key feature of how biogenic iron oxides were prepared into paint. our results demonstrate that hunter-gatherers in this area of study prepared pigments by harvesting aquatic microbial iron mats dominated by iron-oxidizing bacteria, which were subsequently heated in large open hearths at a controlled range of 750 °C to 850 °C. This technical gesture was performed to enhance color properties, and increase colorfastness and resistance to degradation. this skilled production of highly thermostable and long-lasting rock art paint represents a specialized technological innovation. our results contribute to a growing body of knowledge on historical-ecological resource use practices in the Pacific Northwest during the Late Holocene.