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Visible near-infrared spectroscopy as an aid for archaeological interpretation

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Abstract

We present a pilot study using visible near-infrared spectroscopy (vis-NIRS) to investigate ancient geochemical activity signals from an excavation of the Viking-Age Ribe Emporia, Denmark. Our aim is to study whether vis-NIRS is applicable to archaeological soil analysis and if it can provide additional insight into the use of space inside houses. Using 1059 bulk soil samples sampled in a 0.25 cm grid, we test if vis-NIRS is useful for predicting magnetic susceptibility and anthropogenic elements such as Ca, Cu, P and Sr. Furthermore, we test both portable X-ray fluorescence (pXRF), magnetic susceptibility and bulk chemistry (by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry, ICP-MS) as reference data for training the vis-NIRS models. Predictions were performed using a partial least squares (PLS) regression with a non-linear iterative partial least squares (NIPALS) algorithm, and the best cross-validation predictions for each element based on both portable pXRF and ICP-MS as well as predictions for magnetic susceptibility were analysed spatially using ordinary kriging. The spatial analysis showed reduced precision for all elements and magnetic susceptibility compared to reference maps. Additionally, the spectral predictions had difficulties in predicting the entire elemental and magnetic susceptibility range and especially struggled with the prediction of hotspot areas. Elemental predictions based on the two different reference datasets, collected with pXRF and ICP-MS, performed equally well. The more cost-efficient approach was pXRF for calibration data. Further development is needed for the application of vis-NIRS to be fully implemented together with geochemical tools as a regular part of archaeological soil analysis on site.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the entire excavation team working on the Northern Emporium excavation project and the students who assisted with laboratory work. We would also like to thank Maria Knadel for the great guidance and help with vis-NIRS data handling and PLS regressions. Finally, thank you to Ryan Parish and one anonymous reviewer who provided helpful comments and suggestions for this paper.

Funding

The excavation and the Northern Emporium Project were funded by a Semper Ardens grant from the Carlsberg Foundation. This work was supported by the Danish National Research Foundation under the grant DNRF119 - Centre of Excellence for Urban Network Evolutions (UrbNet).

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  1. Department of Geoscience, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark

    Pernille L. K. Trant & Søren M. Kristiansen

  2. Centre for Urban Network Evolutions, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark

    Pernille L. K. Trant, Søren M. Kristiansen & Søren M. Sindbæk

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Trant, P.L.K., Kristiansen, S.M. & Sindbæk, S.M. Visible near-infrared spectroscopy as an aid for archaeological interpretation. Archaeol Anthropol Sci 12, 280 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12520-020-01239-3

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