Faylona Mgpg, Lazareth Claire E., Sémah Anne-Marie, Caquineau Sandrine, Boucher Hugues, Ronquillo W. P. (2011). Preliminary study on the preservation of giant clam (Tridacnidae) shells from the Balobok Rockshelter Archaeological site, South Philippines. Geoarchaeology : an International Journal, 26 (6), p. 888-901. ISSN 0883-6353.
Titre du document
Preliminary study on the preservation of giant clam (Tridacnidae) shells from the Balobok Rockshelter Archaeological site, South Philippines
Faylona Mgpg, Lazareth Claire E., Sémah Anne-Marie, Caquineau Sandrine, Boucher Hugues, Ronquillo W. P.
Source
Geoarchaeology : an International Journal, 2011,
26 (6), p. 888-901 ISSN 0883-6353
Tridacnidae shells, a valuable archive of past environments, are common in the Balobok Rockshelter archaeological site on Sanga-Sanga Island in the south Philippines. This site was occupied during the mid-Holocene (ca. 5000-8800 C-14 yr B.P.), a period of Neolithic cultural expansion in the Philippines. This paper focuses on the preservation of two shell specimens, Hippopus hippopus and Tridacna maxima, unearthed from two mid-Holocene layers within the rockshelter. The shells' mineralogy and microstructure (prismatic and crossed-lamellar) were studied using micro-Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy to determine if the samples were suitable as paleoenvironmental records. Both shells are still aragonitic but aragonite crystals of both microstructure types are partly dissolved. This dissolution, characteristic of meteoric water alteration, precludes their utility in paleoenvironmental geochemical studies. Nevertheless, these shells are abundant in archaeological sites in the region and may be better preserved in other depositional contexts; more studies on Philippine Tridacnidae shell diagenesis are needed.
Plan de classement
Géologie et formations superficielles [064]
;
Sociétés, développement culturel [112]
