Tracking the Chemical Footprints of Taltheilei Settlement Strategies: Multi–Element and Molecular Analyses of Soils from the Ikirahak Site in Southern Nunavut
This dissertation presents the results of chemical and physical soil surveys undertaken at a 2,000 year old Taltheilei hunter–gatherer site off the west coast of Hudson Bay in southern Nunavut. My goal is to develop archeological soil chemistry research in Canada. Research focuses on refining method...
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Graduate Studies
2015
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Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/11023/2592 https://doi.org/10.11575/PRISM/28496 |
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ftunivcalgary:oai:prism.ucalgary.ca:11023/2592 2023-08-27T04:08:10+02:00 Tracking the Chemical Footprints of Taltheilei Settlement Strategies: Multi–Element and Molecular Analyses of Soils from the Ikirahak Site in Southern Nunavut Butler, Donald Dawson, Peter 2015 application/pdf http://hdl.handle.net/11023/2592 https://doi.org/10.11575/PRISM/28496 eng eng Graduate Studies University of Calgary Calgary Butler, D. (2015). Tracking the Chemical Footprints of Taltheilei Settlement Strategies: Multi–Element and Molecular Analyses of Soils from the Ikirahak Site in Southern Nunavut (Unpublished doctoral thesis). University of Calgary, Calgary, AB. doi:10.11575/PRISM/28496 http://dx.doi.org/10.11575/PRISM/28496 http://hdl.handle.net/11023/2592 University of Calgary graduate students retain copyright ownership and moral rights for their thesis. You may use this material in any way that is permitted by the Copyright Act or through licensing that has been assigned to the document. For uses that are not allowable under copyright legislation or licensing, you are required to seek permission. Archaeology Geoarchaeology Soil Science Hunter Gatherers Arctic doctoral thesis 2015 ftunivcalgary https://doi.org/10.11575/PRISM/28496 2023-08-06T06:36:43Z This dissertation presents the results of chemical and physical soil surveys undertaken at a 2,000 year old Taltheilei hunter–gatherer site off the west coast of Hudson Bay in southern Nunavut. My goal is to develop archeological soil chemistry research in Canada. Research focuses on refining methods for determining whether northern soils can accept and preserve anthropogenic chemical residues, and for distinguishing natural from human chemical patterns. Linking the concepts of soilscapes and site structures, I also discuss how anthropogenic chemical archives are formed, and I highlight what these records tell us about hunter–gatherer site functions, residential mobility, and site seasonality. Archaeological site structure and soilscape analyses are used to define said variables at the Ikirahak study site. Results contribute to building understandings of the preservation of anthropogenic chemical records and to clarifying previously unrecognized Taltheilei lifeways, in turn better resolving diversities in their cultural identity. Over 100 soil and reference samples were analyzed. Methods included multi–element analyses using x–ray fluorescence and inductively coupled plasma – mass spectroscopy, mineral and bimolecular analyses using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, along with assessments of a suite of physical and chemical soil parameters such as porosity and cation exchange capacity. Statistical and spatial patterning were assessed using enrichment factor analysis, analysis of variance, principal components analysis, inverse distance weighted interpolation, and trend surface analysis. MgO, CaO, Cu, P2O5, Ba, K2O, MnO, and Fe2O3 were useful indicators of human influences on the Ikirahak soils. Calcite, carbonate hydroxylapatite, montgomeryite, and trans fats derived from human activities were preserved in the site soils. Crystallinity indices and carbonate/phosphate ratios for tested bone samples indicated high intensity burning. Soilscape analyses at Ikirahak provides unique insight into how Taltheilei ... Doctoral or Postdoctoral Thesis Arctic Hudson Bay Nunavut PRISM - University of Calgary Digital Repository Arctic Nunavut Hudson Bay Canada Hudson |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
PRISM - University of Calgary Digital Repository |
op_collection_id |
ftunivcalgary |
language |
English |
topic |
Archaeology Geoarchaeology Soil Science Hunter Gatherers Arctic |
spellingShingle |
Archaeology Geoarchaeology Soil Science Hunter Gatherers Arctic Butler, Donald Tracking the Chemical Footprints of Taltheilei Settlement Strategies: Multi–Element and Molecular Analyses of Soils from the Ikirahak Site in Southern Nunavut |
topic_facet |
Archaeology Geoarchaeology Soil Science Hunter Gatherers Arctic |
description |
This dissertation presents the results of chemical and physical soil surveys undertaken at a 2,000 year old Taltheilei hunter–gatherer site off the west coast of Hudson Bay in southern Nunavut. My goal is to develop archeological soil chemistry research in Canada. Research focuses on refining methods for determining whether northern soils can accept and preserve anthropogenic chemical residues, and for distinguishing natural from human chemical patterns. Linking the concepts of soilscapes and site structures, I also discuss how anthropogenic chemical archives are formed, and I highlight what these records tell us about hunter–gatherer site functions, residential mobility, and site seasonality. Archaeological site structure and soilscape analyses are used to define said variables at the Ikirahak study site. Results contribute to building understandings of the preservation of anthropogenic chemical records and to clarifying previously unrecognized Taltheilei lifeways, in turn better resolving diversities in their cultural identity. Over 100 soil and reference samples were analyzed. Methods included multi–element analyses using x–ray fluorescence and inductively coupled plasma – mass spectroscopy, mineral and bimolecular analyses using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, along with assessments of a suite of physical and chemical soil parameters such as porosity and cation exchange capacity. Statistical and spatial patterning were assessed using enrichment factor analysis, analysis of variance, principal components analysis, inverse distance weighted interpolation, and trend surface analysis. MgO, CaO, Cu, P2O5, Ba, K2O, MnO, and Fe2O3 were useful indicators of human influences on the Ikirahak soils. Calcite, carbonate hydroxylapatite, montgomeryite, and trans fats derived from human activities were preserved in the site soils. Crystallinity indices and carbonate/phosphate ratios for tested bone samples indicated high intensity burning. Soilscape analyses at Ikirahak provides unique insight into how Taltheilei ... |
author2 |
Dawson, Peter |
format |
Doctoral or Postdoctoral Thesis |
author |
Butler, Donald |
author_facet |
Butler, Donald |
author_sort |
Butler, Donald |
title |
Tracking the Chemical Footprints of Taltheilei Settlement Strategies: Multi–Element and Molecular Analyses of Soils from the Ikirahak Site in Southern Nunavut |
title_short |
Tracking the Chemical Footprints of Taltheilei Settlement Strategies: Multi–Element and Molecular Analyses of Soils from the Ikirahak Site in Southern Nunavut |
title_full |
Tracking the Chemical Footprints of Taltheilei Settlement Strategies: Multi–Element and Molecular Analyses of Soils from the Ikirahak Site in Southern Nunavut |
title_fullStr |
Tracking the Chemical Footprints of Taltheilei Settlement Strategies: Multi–Element and Molecular Analyses of Soils from the Ikirahak Site in Southern Nunavut |
title_full_unstemmed |
Tracking the Chemical Footprints of Taltheilei Settlement Strategies: Multi–Element and Molecular Analyses of Soils from the Ikirahak Site in Southern Nunavut |
title_sort |
tracking the chemical footprints of taltheilei settlement strategies: multi–element and molecular analyses of soils from the ikirahak site in southern nunavut |
publisher |
Graduate Studies |
publishDate |
2015 |
url |
http://hdl.handle.net/11023/2592 https://doi.org/10.11575/PRISM/28496 |
geographic |
Arctic Nunavut Hudson Bay Canada Hudson |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Nunavut Hudson Bay Canada Hudson |
genre |
Arctic Hudson Bay Nunavut |
genre_facet |
Arctic Hudson Bay Nunavut |
op_relation |
Butler, D. (2015). Tracking the Chemical Footprints of Taltheilei Settlement Strategies: Multi–Element and Molecular Analyses of Soils from the Ikirahak Site in Southern Nunavut (Unpublished doctoral thesis). University of Calgary, Calgary, AB. doi:10.11575/PRISM/28496 http://dx.doi.org/10.11575/PRISM/28496 http://hdl.handle.net/11023/2592 |
op_rights |
University of Calgary graduate students retain copyright ownership and moral rights for their thesis. You may use this material in any way that is permitted by the Copyright Act or through licensing that has been assigned to the document. For uses that are not allowable under copyright legislation or licensing, you are required to seek permission. |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.11575/PRISM/28496 |
_version_ |
1775348865905459200 |