This thesis presents a material-centered characterization of 120 geologic samples
from four fine-grained basalt quarries on the Samoan Island of Tutuila. Previous
unsuccessful attempts at definitive Tutuilan quarry differentiation have utilized x-ray
fluorescence (XRF). In this study, clear differentiation of each analyzed quarry was
achieved using instrumental neutron activation analysis (INAA). Biplots of canonical
discriminant function scores for the INAA data illustrate clear separation based on the
variation in chemical composition between each quarry. The samples analyzed not only
define quarry separation, but also provide the "core group" for a preliminary baseline
necessary for future artifact-centered provenance studies. Inclusion of these "core group"
samples in the baseline was confirmed by stepwise discriminant analysis. These findings
suggest the ability to determine quarry of origin on the island of Tutuila, which can
elucidate the importance of individual Tutuilan quarries in the export and exchange of
fine-grained basalts.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:tamu.edu/oai:repository.tamu.edu:1969.1/4932 |
| Date | 25 April 2007 |
| Creators | Johnson, Phillip Ray, II |
| Contributors | Peral, Frederic B. |
| Publisher | Texas A&M University |
| Source Sets | Texas A and M University |
| Language | en_US |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Book, Thesis, Electronic Thesis, text |
| Format | 2271406 bytes, electronic, application/pdf, born digital |
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