The development of C14 dating in Taiwan first batch of...

The development of C14 dating in Taiwan

1964，first batch of samples from Taiwan archaeological sites were C14-dated by Yale U.1964，first paper on the significance of C14-dating on Taiwan archaeological studies1964，first C14-dating lab was established in Dept. of Physics, NTUin the mid of 1970s, NTU C14 lab stop operating1987，C14-dating lab set up in Dept. of Geology, NTU

Development of TL dating in Taiwan

1970s，Dept. of Earth Science, Cheng-gong University set up the first TL dating device for geological material.

Later, National Palace Museum in Taipei set up another device with the help of staff of Cheng-gong U.

1993，Dept. of Geology, NTU set up a TL dating lab for geological materials and serving for potsherd dating from archaeological site too.

Other absolute dating methods

ESR datingFission track datingK-Ar datingU-series datingAr-Ar dating

Mainly developed and used for geological dating purposes

Provenance studies of pottery1966, potsherds from Erluanbi

site were studied by Lin. 1986, potsherds from Peng-hu

Islands sites were analyzed by geologist Chen Chenghong

1990/1, first two papers dealing with the analysis of potsherds recovered from E. and N. Taiwan. (with polarizing microscope, XRD, ICP-ES)

After 1992, archaeometry lab of IHP, Academia Sinicaanalyzes potsherds as routine work

Provenance of jade artifacts 1996, Raman spectrometry analysis on nephrite artifact

excavated from Beinan site (Tan and Lien, 1996)1996, Beinan nephrite objects were analyzed for the

mineralogical, chemical and isotopic composition2000, Hong studies the material of adzes found in

Taiwan2001, Yu et al. analyze O-D isotopic composition of

nephrite objects.2002, Liu and Liu adopt Ar-Ar dating method to

correlate the geological age of the genesis of the nephrite objects and nephrite deposit.

2006, Joshi (geologist) and Hong (archaeologist) work close together to analyze jade artifacts found around South China Sea region

Sourcing trade wares found in Taiwan

1989, some porcelain collected from Peng-hu Islands were analyzed chemically for tracing the kiln

1992, some porcelain collected from Peng-hu Islands were analyzed by Tsinghua U. with INAA.

2006-, An about-to-be proposed project for scientific studies of trade wares.

Iron smelting technology

Pre-1965, meteorite theory1965, Chen believe that the

slag is the waste or the reduced middle production of a 2-step iron smelting process

1965, Lin proposed that the slag was the un-finished iron of smelting process

2000, I analyzed the slag as my Ph D. dissertation

Slag from SSH site

GPR survey for site prospecting 1994, Yinpu, Fanziyuan, Shanzijiao sites, central

Taiwan, done by geophysicist incorporated with archaeologists from National Museum of Natural Science (NMNS)

After 1995, GPR survey was adopted in many archaeological site by archaeologists from NMNS

1995, at Beinan site by National Museum of Prehistory.1995, at Kinmen sites by geophysicist and Chen

Chung-yu, Academia Sinica2000, on a Holand fortification in S. Taiwan by civil

engineer from Cheng-gong University. 2001, on Zeelandia Holand fortification in S. Taiwan

by civil engineer from Cheng-gong University.

Other methods for site prospecting

1994, geomagentic survey applied on archaeological site in N. Taiwan.

1995, GPS and sonar for underwater shipwreck

Palaeo-environmental reconstruction:palynological and stable isotopic studies

1964, Trukada studied the core samples and reconstructed palaeo-environment of Sun-Moon Lake (first study)

1973, R. Stamps incorporated with staff from Dept. of Botany, NTU to study the palynology of Puli site, central Taiwan.

1976, Tsang (archaeologist) and Huang (botanist) published pollen data of 4 archaeological sites, central Taiwan

1990, Liu (Quaternary geologist) and Chen (archaeologist) published pollen data of Qubing site, central Taiwan.

1991, Liu published pollen data of Zishanyan site, N. Taiwan1993, Wang and Tsai published the isotopic studies on the shells from Yuanshan

shellmound.1995, Yang analyzes pollen remains from Dazhuwei site.2001, Yang analyzes pollen remains from Dazhuwei site.

Palynological studies of deposit from archaeological site are currently commonly conducted.

Palaeo-dietary studies: stable isotopic studies

1986(1992), Tsang presents the first C13 and N15 data for palaeo-dietary analysis

1992, Chen publishes review article on palaeo-dietary studies.

1994-, Li constantly incorporated with geochemists to analyzes C13 and N15 values of sea shells to reconstruct ancient subsistence and seasonality of archaeological sites.

2006, Lin et al. studies δC13‰ and δO18‰ value of Nanking site, Penghu Islands and demonstrated that the bivalves were collected in yearround basis

Biomolecular archaeology

1. DNA studies of Oryza sativaecotypes: japonica, indica, javanica (?)

2. DNA studies of excavated human skeleton

The study of remains of rice grains excavated from TNSIPA, S. Taiwan.

Characteristics of the archaeometricstudies in Taiwan

1. Experts from earth sciences play a major role in archaeometric studies in Taiwan.

2. Most of the archaeometric studies became appendix of archaeological report and may not be used in the interpretation of the archaeological remains.

3. Most of archaeological project of large scale incorporate archaeometric works.

4. Many archaeometric studies are done as thesis or dissertation basis but rarely as the main subject for the studies.

Archaeological institutions in Taiwan

1. Institute of History & Philology, Academia Sinica2. Department of Anthropology, NTU3. National Museum of Prehistory4. National Museum of Natural Science5. Archaeological Research Center, Research Center

for Humanity and Social Science Studies, Academia Sinica

About 30 professional archaeologists in Taiwan

Facility of IHP, Academia Sinica1. XRD2. Polarizing microscope3. cutting-polishing machine4. Stereo microscope5. X-ray radiography6. Micro-hardness tester

Infrared absorption spectrometry

Facility available in Academia Sinica campus

Accelerator (Institute of Physics)XPS (I. of Physics)EPMA (I. of Earth Science)SEM-EDX (I. of Earth Science)TEM (I. of Chemistry)Thermal analysis equipments (I. of Chemistry)NMR (I. of Chemistry)And many others

Prospecting of archaemetric studies in Taiwan

1. Better to have a professional institution responsible for the archaeometric studies.

2. Better to have programs for University to train young archaeometrists.

3. Need close cooperation of both archaeologists and scientists to work on specific subjects and train the next generation

Archaeologists call for help---

Archaeologists need to know:

What is the material of the artifact?How specific artifact was fabricated?Where the materials as well as artifacts come from?What is the date of the archaeological data?

And every aspects of the past society

Archaeologists call for help---characteristics of the materials

• Remains of ancient human are various in materials including stone, ceramic, glass, metal, and organic remains.

Archaeologists need to know not only what the materials are, but also the characteristics of the materials.

Archaeologists call for help—the information more than materials

• It is very helpful for archaeologists to know not only the characteristics of material remains but also the possible grouping of the objects

Applications of PIXE analysis for archaeological materials in Taiwan

1. By Tsinghua U.:-potsherds-bronze helmet dated to Shang dynasty

2. By Institute of Physics, Academia Sinica:bronze objects dated to Shang danasty

3. Ongoing project:bronze, glass, ceramics….

PIXE analysis of bronze helmet dated to Shang dynasty

Thanks for listening.