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All the Small Things: The Refinement of Formaniniferal Analysis to Determine Site Formation Processes in Archaeological Sediments

Rosendahl, Daniel and Ulm, Sean (2005). All the Small Things: The Refinement of Formaniniferal Analysis to Determine Site Formation Processes in Archaeological Sediments. In The Archaeology of Trade and Exchange, AAA/AIMA Annual Conference, 27-30 November, 2005, (1-1), Fremantle, Western Australia.

 
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Author(s) Rosendahl, Daniel
Ulm, Sean
Title All the Small Things: The Refinement of Formaniniferal Analysis to Determine Site Formation Processes in Archaeological Sediments
Conference name The Archaeology of Trade and Exchange, AAA/AIMA Annual Conference
Conference Item Type Poster
Conference location Fremantle, Western Australia
Conference dates 27-30 November, 2005
Publication date 2005
Start page 1
End page 1
Language eng
Subject 430207 Archaeological Science
430200 Archaeology and Prehistory
430201 Archaeology of Hunter-Gatherer Societies (incl. Pleistocene Archaeology)
Abstract/Summary This research assessed the efficacy of foraminiferal analysis to distinguish natural from cultural marine shell deposits using the Mort Creek Site Complex, central Queensland, as a case study. Foraminifera are single cell protozoa that are ubiquitous in all marine environments. Although foraminiferal analysis is widely employed in the natural sciences (Murray 1991; Sen Gupta 1999), particularly in palaeoenvironmental studies (Cann et al. 2000), there have only been limited attempts to use this form of analysis in archaeological applications. Marine shell deposits are the dominant coastal archaeological site type in Australia requiring the development of robust methods to differentiate site formation processes for the advancement of research in coastal archaeology. One solution lies in the determination of the density and taxa of foraminifera found in cultural and non-cultural layers of archaeological sites. Although foraminifera are not exclusive to marine deposited sediments, natural deposits created or redeposited by ocean currents or storm surges would be expected to exhibit an abundance of forminifera whereas sites formed by cultural processes will contain very few if any foraminifera.
Keyword(s) foraminifera
chenier
shell midden
site formation processes
archaeology
southeast Queensland
Indigenous
Aboriginal
Mort Creek Site Complex
taphonomy
 
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Created: Fri, 17 Feb 2006, 10:00:00 EST by Daniel Rosendahl on behalf of Library Corporate Services. Detailed History