Article (Scientific journals)
Solutrean and Magdalenian ferruginous rocks heat-treatment: accidental and/or deliberate action?
Salomon, Hélène; Vignaud, Colette; Lahlil, Sophia et al.
2015In Journal of Archaeological Science, 55, p. 100-112
Peer Reviewed verified by ORBi
 

Files


Full Text
salomon2015.pdf
Publisher postprint (3.73 MB)
Download

All documents in ORBi are protected by a user license.

Send to



Details



Keywords :
Goethite; Hematite; Heat-treatment; Paleolithic; Solutrean; Magdalenian; SEM-FEG; TEM-FEG; XRD; Combe Saunière; Les Maîtreaux; Blanchard La Garenne
Abstract :
[en] Heating of prehistoric coloring materials can induce radical changes in color indicative of structural matter transformation. For instance, the structure of the yellow iron oxide-rich mineral, goethite, changes into the red iron oxide-rich mineral, hematite, when it is heated to around 250-300°C. For a long time, heating has been thought to be the reason for the high frequencies of red rocks used in camp sites and the red pigments in rock art paintings. However, records of heat-treatment of coloring materials are usually not well documented; the contextual information is not clear enough to confirm intentional heating. Two Solutrean camp sites (the flint workshop Les Maîtreaux and the hunting site Combe Saunière I) and one middle Magdalenian cave with rock art (Grotte Blanchard, La Garenne) allow us to study the heating process of ferruginous rocks. All three sites, which have been excavated relatively recently, have well-defined archaeological records and strong associations between the ferruginous rocks and other artifacts. With the use of X-ray diffraction and electron µ-diffraction for identifying structural modification and SEM-FEG and TEM-FEG for detecting dehydration nano-pores, we have strong evidence for intentional heat-treatment of yellow goethite-rich materials in two archaeological contexts and one site for unintentional heating, where rocks were only partially transformed. Intentional heating to obtain red hematite from primary goethite would have required ingenious methods of temperature control in fireplace settings and purpose-built ground ovens.
Disciplines :
Archaeology
Author, co-author :
Salomon, Hélène ;  Université de Liège - ULiège > Département des sciences historiques > Archéologie préhistorique
Vignaud, Colette
Lahlil, Sophia
Menguy, Nicolas
Language :
English
Title :
Solutrean and Magdalenian ferruginous rocks heat-treatment: accidental and/or deliberate action?
Publication date :
2015
Journal title :
Journal of Archaeological Science
ISSN :
0305-4403
eISSN :
1095-9238
Publisher :
Academic Press, London, United Kingdom
Volume :
55
Pages :
100-112
Peer reviewed :
Peer Reviewed verified by ORBi
Available on ORBi :
since 05 January 2015

Statistics


Number of views
161 (10 by ULiège)
Number of downloads
281 (2 by ULiège)

Scopus citations®
 
45
Scopus citations®
without self-citations
44
OpenCitations
 
35

Bibliography


Similar publications



Contact ORBi