Raman spectroscopy for the mineral identification of precolumbian lapidary products in Basse-Terre (Guadeloupe, French West Indies)

(1)

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Raman spectroscopy for the mineral identification of

precolumbian lapidary products in Basse-Terre

(Guadeloupe, French West Indies)

Alain Queffelec, Ludovic Bellot-Gurlet, Céline Paris, Christian Stouvenot,

Pierrick Fouéré

To cite this version:

Alain Queffelec, Ludovic Bellot-Gurlet, Céline Paris, Christian Stouvenot, Pierrick Fouéré. Raman spectroscopy for the mineral identification of precolumbian lapidary products in Basse-Terre (Guade-loupe, French West Indies). 25è Réunion des Sciences de la Terre, Oct 2016, Caen, France. 2016. �hal-01540452�

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Raman spectroscopy for the mineral identification of precolumbian

lapidary products in Basse-Terre (Guadeloupe, French West Indies)

Alain QUEFFELEC

1*

, Ludovic BELLOT-GURLET

2 , Céline PARIS

2 , Christian STOUVENOT

3,4

, Pierrick FOUERE

5,6

1) UMR 5199 PACEA, Univ Bordeaux-CNRS-MCC ; 2) UMR 8233 MONARIS, Sorbonne Univ-UPMC-Univ Paris 6-CNRS ; 3) DAC Guadeloupe, MCC ; 4) UMR 8096 Archam, Univ Panthéon Sorbonne-CNRS-MCC ; 5) INRAP ; 6) UMR 5608 TRACES, Univ Toulouse 2-CNRS-MCC.

* Corresponding author : alain.queffelec@u-bordeaux.fr

200 400 600 800 1000 1200 1400 200 400 600 800 1000 1200 1400

Antigorite

Clinochlore

C

200 400 600 800 1000 1200 1400

0 3cm

15 31, 40 32 54 51 38, 94, 131 20 50 21 18 39 41 36, 45, 49 14, 104

figurative

figuratives

22

cylindrical

barrel

cylinder

disc

_disc

"drop"

"grain of rice"

discoid

sub-spherical

conic

25, 134 16 16 37 46

?

23 (carnelian)

?

30 44 34 27 17 26, 136 28 97 123

absent

?

absent

?

absent

?

absent

?

discoid

Quartz

Turquoise

Calcite

drilled

finished

beads and

pendants

blanks

raw

material,

flakes

19 42

Serpentine

Fuchsite

Amethyst

151 152 564 367 20 400 600 800 1000 1200 1400

village ?

cordon de galets littoral

beach rock

_{beach rock}

dépotoir 2

dépotoir 1

palaeosol

(superficial reworking and

weathering of the midden)

littoral pebblebank

midden 1

aeolian or marine sand

midden

Colonial leveling

Interpretative stratigraphic section representing precolonial period

(modified after Bertran in Romon 2006)

*

Archaeological layers

Many archaeological sites have yielded mineral beads and

pendants in the Lesser Antilles during the past decades. These special

artifacts have been the basis of numerous hypothesis regarding

networks and even sociopolitical organization. Nervertheless, it

remains actual that, as Roobol & Lee (1976) already pointed out,

precise greenstone attribution «could provide an estimate of

inter-island trade or migration within the Greater Antilles» and it does stand

for Lesser Antilles as well. The preventive archaeological excavations

of «Gare Maritime» in Guadeloupe (Paulet-Locard and Chancerel,

2005, Romon, 2006) brought to light numerous lapidary artifacts

discovered in the midden deposits of this coastal Early Ceramic Age site.

Guadeloupe

Puerto-Rico

Martinique

Antigua

Montserrat

Grenada

O C E A N

A

T

L

A

N

T

I C

Lesser Antilles

Greater Antilles

0 500 Km

Vieques

C

A

R

I B B

E A N S E A

Serpentine

Amethyste

Turquoise

Fuchsite

Calcite

Quartz

Diversité

et proportions

17, 19, 26, 2

_{7, 30, 3}

4, 36, 3

8, 42

, 45, 4

9, 94

_{, 13}

1, 1

36, L

_ot1

870 -a, L

ot1

870 -b

23 Lot

1870-d

Lot

1870-e

Ca

rne

lia

_n

Feld

spa

_r

Min

erals naturally

ab

se

nt

fr

o

m

G

ua

de

lou

pe

Huec

oid

Salado

id

Troum

assoi

d

Suaz

oid

C

ay

_o

?

- 500

₂₀₀

₉₀₀

1200

1400

1635

1789

1848

- 3400

PRECERAMIC AGE OR MESOINDIAN

CERAMIC AGE OR NEOINDIAN

HISTORIC PERIOD

Gare Maritime

✓

Large diversity of minerals

✓

Exotic minerals dominant

✓

High input from Raman spectroscopy to greenstones determination

✓

Variety of importation stages and local production

Serpentine

Nephrite

014

016

017

018

023

026

037

046

051

054

104

152

027

030

033

034

035

036

038

042

044

045

049 ₀₅₀

097

094

131

136

020

028

134

015

032

039

021

043

0 5 cm

019

040

022

031

025

123 lot1870a

lot1870b

lot1870d

lot1870e

Fuchsite

Turquoise

→ It remains difficult to source these materials due

to lack of referentials and gitologic knowledge of the

Caribbean region

→ Comparison with other sites shows differences

in proportions and a need for greenstone precise

attribution by non-invasive means

→ Techniques involved in drilling such quartz beads

remain unknown in this archaeological context missing

metal and very hard minerals

Chronological framework for Lesser Antilles

N° 37

Muscovite

lot 1870e

Actinolite

N° 136

Antigorite

Clinochlore

N° 46

Turquoise

Raman intensity

Photo : M.-A. Paulet-Locard

View of the excavation and the sieving involved in the beads collection

0 POINTE-A-PITRE BASSE-TERRE BASSE-TERRE GRANDE-TERRE 0 10 Km

h

v

UMR 5199

Paulet-Locard and Chancerel (2005). Basse-Terre, Gare Maritime, Diagnostic archéologique, Rapport d’opération,

SRA Guadeloupe.

Romon (2006). Fouille préventive de la Gare Maritime de Basse-Terre (Guadeloupe). Basse-Terre, Guadeloupe

Roobol, M. J., & Lee, J. W. (1976). Petrography and source of some Arawak artifacts from Jamaica. In Proceedings

of the 6th congress of the IACA. Guadeloupe.