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PIXE analyses of Mwulu's Cave ochre material

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Case Type: 

ProposalDescription: 

Proposed non-destructive chemical analyses of 23 ochre pieces from Mwulu's Cave, Limpopo, South Africa. To carry out the stuy, samples will be temporarily exported to France to carry out PIXE analyses. Samples will then be brought back intact to South Africa.

Expanded_Motivation: 

Commonly found in prehistoric archaeological contexts and referred to as “ochre”, their use since the late Pleistocene has been proved to include both symbolic as well as technical purposes (Hodgskiss, 2020). Much attention has been given to demonstrate these uses and their inferences regarding the cognitive abilities and behaviors of past populations. Beyond its use, ochre also bears crucial information about past population mobility, their raw material procurement strategies, and their appropriation of their environment (Mauran, 2019, Dayet, 2021). Studies on prehistoric pigments have already demonstrated the efficiency of the non-destructive PIXE-PIGE techniques to investigate the provenience of archaeological pigments (Beck et al., 2012; Lebon et al., 2018). Mwulu’s Cave is located on the eastern escarpment of the Makapansberg Mountains (Limpopo Province, South Africa), close to the Makapan Valley, which hosts several well-known Plio-Pleistocene sites. Mwulu’s Cave was excavated originally in 1947 by P.V. Tobias (1949) and subsequently revisited by Paloma de la Peña and colleagues in 2017 (de la Peña et al., 2019). The new excavation project aimed to include ochre procurement analyses into a larger discussion about Middle Stone Age variability within different biomes of the northeastern part of south Africa. New geochronological data has confirmed that this site has an old Middle Stone Age chronology dated around 90ka (de la Peña et al., 2019). The two excavations have yielded a total of 150 colouring material pieces larger than 10 mm, with some pieces exhibiting clear use-wear traces. The colouring materials recovered are of diverse geological nature: shales, mudstones, siltsones, hematite and specularite (de la Peña et al., 2019). To investigate the provenance of the colouring material at the two sites, we will carry out a multi-analytical methodology following the one already developed at the rock art site of Leopard Cave (Namibia, Mauran, 2019). Field surveys allowed to sample geological colouring materials from the two regions. Macroscopic, petrographic, scanning electron microscopic observations and portable X-ray fluorescence analyses are currently carried out of the archaeological and geological assemblages to provide first provenance hypothesis. PIXE experiments will provide crucial elemental data to confirm the provenance of the colouring materials at both sites. Most of the tests will be performed at the University of the Witwatersrand (Johannesburg, South Africa). However, the necessary equipment for accurate non-invasive elemental analyses (proton-induced X-ray emission analyses) is only available at the Louvre Museum laboratory in Paris (NewAGLAE equipment). All methods are non-destructive and the pieces will not be damaged. Guilhem Mauran will travel with 23 archaeological ochre pieces recovered at Mwulu’s Cave from Johannesburg to Paris from December 2021 to February 2022 (departure 10 December 2021 from O. R. Tambo international airport to Paris airport) to perform the chemical analyses in Paris. References Beck, L., Salomon, H., Lahlil, S., Lebon, M., Odin, G. P., Coquinot, Y., & Pichon, L. (2012). Non-destructive provenance differentiation of prehistoric pigments by external PIXE. Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section B: Beam Interactions with Materials and Atoms, 273, 173-177. Dayet, L. (2021). Invasive and Non-Invasive Analyses of Ochre and Iron-Based Pigment Raw Materials: A Methodological Perspective. Minerals, 11(2), 210. de la Peña, P., Val, A., Stratford, D. J., Colino, F., Esteban, I., Fitchett, J. M., ... & Moll, R. (2019). Revisiting Mwulu’s Cave: new insights into the Middle Stone Age in the southern African savanna biome. Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences, 11(7), 3239-3266. Hodgskiss, T. (2020). Ochre use in the middle stone age. In Oxford research encyclopedia of anthropology. Lebon, M., Pichon, L., & Beck, L. (2018). Enhanced identification of trace element fingerprint of prehistoric pigments by PIXE mapping. Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section B: Beam Interactions with Materials and Atoms, 417, 91-95. Mauran, G. (2019). Apports méthodologiques à la caractérisation des matières colorantes: application à l'abri orné de Leopard Cave (Erongo, Namibie) (Doctoral dissertation, Museum national d'histoire naturelle-MNHN PARIS). Mauran, G., Caron, B., Detroit, F., Nankela, A., Bahain, J.J., Pleurdeau, D., & Lebon, M. (2021). Data pretreatment and multivariate analyses for ochre sourcing: Application to Leopard Cave (Erongo, Namibia). Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, 35, 102757. Tobias, P. V. (1949). The excavation of Mwulu's Cave, Potgietersrust district. The South African Archaeological Bulletin, 4(13), 2-13.

ApplicationDate: 

Thursday, October 28, 2021 - 14:46

CaseID: 

17430

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