Archaeological investigations of Indian Key Historic State Park in the Florida Keys have uncovered a wide range of historical artifacts from throughout the nineteenth century that reveal how the site was reused and reoccupied through time. This thesis focuses on the glass component recovered from a house cistern complex (Feature F) and a warehouse (Features A and C) during the 1998 to 2002 field seasons. Glass artifacts range from a variety of bottle glass including alcohol bottles and proprietary medicines, to cut glass such as tumblers and decanters, to window glass. Feature F's analysis has shown that it maintained a primarily domestic nature despite having been reused by different groups at different times. Glass recovered from Feature F was primarily alcohol bottles, but large numbers of food bottles, medicines, and window glass was also found. The warehouse was used commercially and appears to have been continuously reused. The most abundant item recovered from the warehouse was window glass; however large quantities of alcohol bottle fragments were also recovered. Also included in the glass analysis is a study of window glass dating techniques using glass thickness. By using a formula originally developed by Randall Moir (1982), and following an example set by Grant L. Day (2001), I was able to illustrate a process for dating nineteenth century window glass that is fairly accurate for determining periods of transition, addition, and reconstruction to buildings occupied over long time periods. Comparison of the glass from these two features using window glass dating formulas and other comparative evaluations as well as dating and functional analysis is revealing useful information about each of these structures individually, as well as about activity on the island as a whole.

Title from PDF of title page. / Document formatted into pages; contains 72 pages. / Thesis (M.A.)--University of South Florida, 2003. / Includes bibliographical references. / Text (Electronic thesis) in PDF format. / ABSTRACT: Archaeological investigations of Indian Key Historic State Park in the Florida Keys have uncovered a wide range of historical artifacts from throughout the nineteenth century that reveal how the site was reused and reoccupied through time. This thesis focuses on the glass component recovered from a house cistern complex (Feature F) and a warehouse (Features A and C) during the 1998 to 2002 field seasons. Glass artifacts range from a variety of bottle glass including alcohol bottles and proprietary medicines, to cut glass such as tumblers and decanters, to window glass. Feature F's analysis has shown that it maintained a primarily domestic nature despite having been reused by different groups at different times. Glass recovered from Feature F was primarily alcohol bottles, but large numbers of food bottles, medicines, and window glass was also found. The warehouse was used commercially and appears to have been continuously reused. / ABSTRACT: The most abundant item recovered from the warehouse was window glass; however large quantities of alcohol bottle fragments were also recovered. Also included in the glass analysis is a study of window glass dating techniques using glass thickness. By using a formula originally developed by Randall Moir (1982), and following an example set by Grant L. Day (2001), I was able to illustrate a process for dating nineteenth century window glass that is fairly accurate for determining periods of transition, addition, and reconstruction to buildings occupied over long time periods. Comparison of the glass from these two features using window glass dating formulas and other comparative evaluations as well as dating and functional analysis is revealing useful information about each of these structures individually, as well as about activity on the island as a whole. / System requirements: World Wide Web browser and PDF reader. / Mode of access: World Wide Web.

A multi-scale high-resolution geophysical and geological study was conducted in the Sevier Desert, central Utah, found within the Colorado Plateau-Basin and Range Transition Zone. The region is marked by with Quaternary volcanics and faulting as young as 660 yr B.P., with many fault scarps thought to have the potential for 7+ magnitude earthquakes. Three locations within the Sevier Desert which represent three different tectonic expressions of possible faulting at the surface were selected. These include a location found within surface sedimentation, a location with surface sedimentation and sub-surface basalts and a location with basalts, at the surface with very limited sedimentation. A suite of geophysical data were obtained including the use of P-wave, SH-wave, ground-penetrating radar (GPR). Auger holes, microprobe glass analysis, and mapping information were also completed in order to constrain and gain a more complete understanding of the sub-surface structure. These data were used to determine if there are sub-surface expressions of the possible surface scarps and if all the faults within the fault zone have the same structural style. The possible surface fault expressions were found to be connected to sub-surface fault expressions but with differing results within both sediments and basalts. Our data show that a multi-scale approach is needed to obtain a complete view of tectonic activity. The area faulting in the Sevier Desert penetrates at depth involving multiple complex styles that include some faulting that cuts recent lava flows and some that do not. The evidence also indicates that in at least some area faulting was episodic and others may be single events having implications on level of activity and hazard.

Glass beads comprise the most frequently found evidence of trade between southern Africa and the greater Indian Oceanbetween the 7th and 16th centuries AD.  In this thesis beads recovered from southern African archaeological sites are organized into series, based on morphology and chemical composition determined by LA-ICP-MS analysis.  The results are used to interpret the trade patterns and partners that linked eastern Africa to the rest of the Indian Ocean world, as well as interconnections between southern Africa andEast Africa.   Comprehensive reports on bead assemblages from several archaeological sites are presented, including: Mapungubwe, K2 and Schroda in the Shashe-Limpopo Basin; Chibuene in southern Mozambique; Hlamba Mlonga in eastern Zimbabwe; Sibudu Cave in KwaZulu-Natal, Kaole Ruins in Tanzania and Mahilaka in northwest Madagascar.  The conclusions reached show that trade relationships and socio-political development in the south were different from those on the East Coast and that changes in bead series in the south demonstrate it was fully integrated into the cycles of the Eurasian and African world-system.

Coals, from mines in the Highveld coalfield, as well as gasification ash samples were characterised, in order to understand the mineralogical and chemical properties of the individual components in the gasification feedstocks. X-ray diffraction of low temperature oxygen-plasma ash indicates that the coals contain significant proportions of kaolinite, quartz and a fluxing elements-bearing mineral (dolomite), plus minor concentrations of illite and other fluxing elements-bearing minerals namely calcite, pyrite and siderite. Of the feed coal, the -75+53 mm size fraction has a high pyrite, and to a lesser extent a high calcite and dolomite content. However, the small proportion of iron-bearing phases (from the reaction between kaolinite and pyrite) in samples taken from the gasifier implies that pyrite contributes minimally to sintering or slagging in this case. Calcite is mainly present in the >1.8 g/cm3 density fraction of the feed coal, whereas dolomite is mainly present in the 1.5-1.8 g/cm3 density fraction, as inclusions or fine cleats in the coal matrix. Electron microprobe analyses of coals from the six different South African mines confirmed that some Ca, Mg, Al, Si, Na, K, Ti and Fe are present in the organic matrix in the coal samples tested in this study, but the amounts of these are small compared with the fluxing elements in minerals. XRD and microprobe analyses indicate that the ash clinker samples taken from the gasifiers contain a number of crystalline high temperature phases, including anorthite, mullite, cristobalite, quartz and diopside. FactSage confirmed that anorthite and mullite are equilibrium phases at elevated temperatures in the ash clinkers and heated rock fragments. Limited reaction takes place between the included coal minerals and the extraneous rock fragments. / Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2008. / Materials Science and Metallurgical Engineering / unrestricted