Journal
JOURNAL OF ARCHAEOLOGICAL SCIENCE
Volume 40, Issue 2, Pages 883-893Publisher
ACADEMIC PRESS LTD- ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTD
DOI: 10.1016/j.jas.2012.07.021
Keywords
Ethnoarchaeometry; Archaeometry; Oil; Oil mills; Organic residues; Spot tests; Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry
Funding
- Spanish Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovacion, Subdireccion General de Proyectos de Investigacion [HAR200908290/HIST]
- FEDER
- DIUE of the Generalitat de Catalunya
- ICREA Funding Source: Custom
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Oil production is an important aspect of ancient Mediterranean economy; therefore, archaeological studies on oil-producing installations using archaeometry and in particular the chemical analysis of absorbed residues is valuable in identifying the substances actually produced and to understand the spatial distribution of the activities carried out at oil mills. Modern contexts may provide a good reference for interpreting the archaeological chemical traces. This study examines the chemical traces in three abandoned oil mills in the Mediterranean: Polveraia (Tuscany, Italy), Martina Franca (Puglia, Italy) and Binibassi (Mallorca, Balearic Islands). To identify the residues released by the production of oil and absorbed by the floors, samples were taken from the floors of these installations and analysed using spot tests aimed at identifying the presence of fatty acids and phosphates. Some of the samples were analysed also with gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. The results of the analyses were plotted in the Geographic Information System (GIS) platform and interpolated with Inverse Distance Weighting (IDW) to determine the spatial distribution of the residues. Overall, the results show a large presence of fats in the analysed floors in all of the installations. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
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