Hostname: page-component-77c89778f8-rkxrd Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-23T05:23:34.987Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Nature of Charcoal Excavated at Archaeological Sites

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

S. F. Cook
S. F. Cook*
Affiliation:
University of California, Berkeley, California
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Samples of charcoal recovered from excavated sites were treated with strong acid, followed by strong base. This process removes most of the inorganic carbonates and organic compounds, leaving highly condensed or elementary carbon. The fixed carbon content of the specimens from four sites varied widely and indicated different sources of organic matter. Each charcoal, therefore, has a characteristic chemical composition.

Type
Facts and Comments
Information
American Antiquity , Volume 29 , Issue 4 , April 1964 , pp. 514 - 517
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for American Archaeology 1964

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Arnold, C. W. B. and Page, H. J. 1930 Studies on the Carbon and Nitrogen Cycles in the Soil. II. The Extraction of the Organic Matter of the Soil with Alkali. Journal of Agricultural Science, Vol. 20, Part 3, pp. 460–77. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge and London.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Black, D. 1931 Evidences of the Use of Fire by Sinanthropus. Bulletin of the Geological Society of China, Vol. 11, No. 2, pp. 107–08. Peiping, China.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bremner, J. M. 1949 Studies on Soil Organic Matter: The Extraction of Organic Carbon and Nitrogen from Soil. Journal of Agricultural Science, Vol. 39, Part 3, pp. 280–2. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge and London.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bremner, J. M. 1954 A Review of Recent Work on Soil Organic Matter. Journal of Soil Science, Vol. 5, No. 2, pp. 214-32. Clarendon Press, Oxford.Google Scholar
Jackson, M. L. 1958 Soil Chemical Analysis. Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey.Google Scholar
Moore, W. E. and Beglinger, E. 1961 A Method of Charcoal Analysis. Forest Products Journal, Vol. 11, No. 1, PP. 17–19. Madison.Google Scholar
Norman, A. G. and Bartholomew, W. V. 1943 Chemistry of Soil Organic Matter: Distribution of Uronic Carbon in some Soil Profiles. Soil Science, Vol. 56, No. 2, pp. 143–50. Baltimore.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Oakley, K. P. 1954 Evidence of Fire in South African Cave Deposits. Nature, Vol. 174, No. 4423, p. 261. MacMillan & Co., London.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Piper, C. S. 1944 Soil and Plant Analysis. Interscience Publishers, New York.Google Scholar
Puri, B. R., Nath, T., and Sharma, L. R. 1958 Interaction of Soils with Charcoal. Soil Science, Vol. 86, No. 1, pp. 18–23. Baltimore.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Robinson, G. W. and McLean, W. 1930 Note on the Occurrence of Elementary Carbon in Soils. Journal of Agricultural Science, Vol. 20, Part 3, pp. 345–56. Cambridge and London.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stevenson, F. J. 1960 Chemical Nature of the Nitrogen in the Fulvic Fraction of Soil Organic Matter. Soil Science Society of America, Proceedings, Vol. 24, No. 6, pp. 472–7. Madison.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Waksman, S. A. 1936 Humus: Origin, Chemical Composition, and Importance in Nature. Williams & Wilkins, Baltimore.Google Scholar
Zeuner, F. E. 1956 The Radiocarbon Age of Jericho. Antiquity, Vol. 30, No. 120, pp. 195–7. Ashmore Green, Newbury, England.Google Scholar
Zeuner, F. E. 1960 Advances in Chronological Research. In The Application of Quantitative Methods in Archaeology, pp. 325-56. R. F. Heizer and S. F. Cook, Viking Fund Publications in Anthropology, No. 28. Quadrangle Books, Chicago.Google Scholar