The Potential Contribution of Artefact Taphonomy to Snow Patch Research

• Examination, analysis and documentation during the conservation of artefacts recovered from snow patch contexts provide valuable insight into ways in which artefact study as part of the conservation process can contribute in a substantive way to wider cultural and archaeological interpretations and correlations of these and similar sites, including artefact technology, material culture, and human and material adaptation. One contribution that has received scant attention is that of artefact taphonomy. Several studies report that the nature of degradation/preservation of artefacts can provide insight into not only their burial environment, but also changes that en vironment may have experienced over time. A large number of wood projectile shafts have been recovered from receding snow-patch localities in Central Norway. A research programme is being initiated at NTNU Vitenskapsmuseum as part of the SPARC (Snow Patch Archaeology Research Cooperation) research project funded by the Research Council of Norway. This programme will investigate the extent to which artefact taphonomy can: provide insight into artefact deterioration within a snow patch environment; provide insight into the history of the post-depositional snow patch environment; and, underpin development of knowledge-based artefact recovery and conservation practices and policy. This will be undertaken through mapping the taphonomic patt erns of morphological and physico-chemical deterioration of a selection of recovered projectile shafts. The archaeological artefact corpus will be complemented by monitored snow-patch field testing of modern materials as proxy indicators to inform on early-stage taphonomic pathways. This contribution to the Third Frozen Pasts Symposium will present the SPARC artefact taphonomy work package and what it hopes to achieve.

Ämnesord

NATURVETENSKAP  -- Geovetenskap och miljövetenskap -- Klimatforskning (hsv//swe)

NATURAL SCIENCES  -- Earth and Related Environmental Sciences -- Climate Research (hsv//eng)

HUMANIORA  -- Historia och arkeologi (hsv//swe)

HUMANITIES  -- History and Archaeology (hsv//eng)

NATURVETENSKAP  -- Geovetenskap och miljövetenskap (hsv//swe)

NATURAL SCIENCES  -- Earth and Related Environmental Sciences (hsv//eng)

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