Introduction
Ash plays a significant role in archaeology both as a building block of stratigraphic accumulation and as an alkaline source in taphonomic pathways. It is found all over the world and can be of considerable value in understanding cultural activity. Ash is a major component of many cave stratigraphies (e.g., Brochier 1983; Berna et al. 2012; Shahack-Gross and Ayalon 2012), where leaching is minimal and occupation or animal stabling has occurred regularly throughout history. Ash also occurs at open-air sites under arid climatic regimes (Cremaschi and Trombino 1999), in pit fills where the shape and bulk of the deposit discourage dissolution, and in layers where the surrounding sediments are sufficiently alkaline (e.g., Canti 2007).
Definition
The word “ash” covers the remains of any burnt material and appears commonly in nineteenth- and early twentieth-century chemical analysis meaning “the component that cannot be oxidized.” In practical parlance, however, it refers to the...
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Further Readings
Franceschi, V.R., and P. Nakata. 2005. Calcium oxalate in plants: Formation and function. Annual Review of Plant Biology 56: 41–71.
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Canti, M. (2020). Ash: Geoarchaeology. In: Smith, C. (eds) Encyclopedia of Global Archaeology. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-30018-0_865
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