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Plaster Characterization at the PPNB Site of Yiftahel (Israel) Including the Use of 14C: Implications for Plaster Production, Preservation, and Dating

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 July 2016

Kristin M Poduska ,
Lior Regev ,
Francesco Berna ,
Eugenia Mintz ,
Ianir Milevski ,
Hamudi Khalaily ,
Steve Weiner  and
Elisabetta Boaretto
Kristin M Poduska*
Affiliation:
Department of Physics and Physical Oceanography, Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. John's A1B 3X7, Canada Department of Structural Biology, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot 76100, Israel
Lior Regev
Affiliation:
Department of Structural Biology, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot 76100, Israel
Francesco Berna
Affiliation:
Department of Archaeology, Boston University, 675 Commonwealth Ave, Boston, Massachusetts 02215, USA
Eugenia Mintz
Affiliation:
Radiocarbon Dating and Cosmogenic Isotopes Laboratory, Kimmel Center for Archaeological Science, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot 76100, Israel
Ianir Milevski
Affiliation:
Israel Antiquities Authority, PO Box 586, Jerusalem 91104, Israel
Hamudi Khalaily
Affiliation:
Israel Antiquities Authority, PO Box 586, Jerusalem 91104, Israel
Steve Weiner
Affiliation:
Department of Structural Biology, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot 76100, Israel
Elisabetta Boaretto
Affiliation:
Radiocarbon Dating and Cosmogenic Isotopes Laboratory, Kimmel Center for Archaeological Science, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot 76100, Israel
*
Corresponding author. Email: kris@mun.ca
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Abstract

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The Pre-Pottery Neolithic B (PPNB) site of Yiftahel, Israel, contains abundant plaster floors. We surveyed the states of preservation of the plasters using an infrared spectroscopic assay that characterizes the extent of disorder of the atoms in the calcite crystal lattice. We identified the 3 best-preserved plaster samples that had disorder signatures most similar to modern plaster. We then studied the surface layers, fine-grained matrices, and large aggregates of these samples using micromorphology, Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) microscopy, stable carbon and radiocarbon concentrations. Even though some of the plaster components have a geogenic appearance in micromorphology slides and in FTIR spectra, the 14C analyses show that all components were exposed to high temperatures and as a result were equilibrated with the 14C content of the atmosphere ∼10,000 yr ago. This implies that the plasters at Yiftahel were produced entirely from heat-altered calcite. We also show that these plasters have undergone significant diagenesis. The plaster component with the most disordered atomic signature, and hence the most similar in this respect to modern plaster, did indeed produce a 14C date close to the expected age.

Type
Articles
Information
Radiocarbon , Volume 54 , Issue 3-4 , 2012 , pp. 887 - 896
Copyright
Copyright © 2012 by the Arizona Board of Regents on behalf of the University of Arizona 

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