Combining chemical and lead isotope analyses with 3-D geometric–morphometric shape analysis: A methodological case study of socketed bronze arrowheads from the southern Levant

Naama Yahalom-Mack; Gadi Herzlinger; Alexander Bogdanovsky; Ofir Tirosh; Yosef Garfinkel; Sean Dugaw; Oded Lipschits; Yigal Erel

doi:10.1016/j.jas.2020.105147

Combining chemical and lead isotope analyses with 3-D geometric–morphometric shape analysis: A methodological case study of socketed bronze arrowheads from the southern Levant

Naama Yahalom-Mack^*, Gadi Herzlinger, Alexander Bogdanovsky, Ofir Tirosh, Yosef Garfinkel, Sean Dugaw, Oded Lipschits, Yigal Erel

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

4 Scopus citations

Abstract

In this study, the shape of socketed bronze arrowheads is analysed and expressed as a series of mathematical trends which are then compared to chemical and lead isotope composition, as well as to the categorization of traditional non-computerized typology. It is shown that while traditional typology has statistical validation, additional important information can be gleaned from 3-D geometric morphometric shape analysis (3DGM), particularly when combined with material analyses. For example, arrowheads that are traditionally categorized as a single type demonstrate minute shape differences that correlate with the sites where they were found. This micro-variability, detected only through 3DGM, has potential cultural, chronological and regional implications. Most importantly, this pilot study shows that chemical and isotopic composition is correlated to a specific shape trend, revealed through computerized analysis, rather than to the traditional typological classification. This opens up new vistas for a more advanced analysis of archaeological finds.

Original language	American English
Article number	105147
Journal	Journal of Archaeological Science
Volume	118
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jas.2020.105147
State	Published - Jun 2020

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
We would like to thank Leore Grosman and Ortal Harush from the Computational Archaeology Laboratory at the Institute of Archaeology, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, for producing the 3D scans. We would also like to thank Igor Kreimerman, Debi Sandhaus and Alla Rabinovich who provided data regarding the material from Khirbet Qeiyafa, and Leora Freund for providing contextual data for the arrowheads from Azekah and Ramat Raḥel. Aurelia Masson-Berghoff from the British Museum kindly discussed the material from Naukratis. Svetlana Matskevich prepared the illustrations. The work was made possible with the kind assistance of the Lady Davis Fellowship Trust.

Publisher Copyright:
© 2020

Keywords

Chemistry
Geometric morphometric shape analysis
LIA
Socketed bronze arrowheads
Statistics
Typology

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10.1016/j.jas.2020.105147

Cite this

Yahalom-Mack, N., Herzlinger, G., Bogdanovsky, A., Tirosh, O., Garfinkel, Y., Dugaw, S., Lipschits, O., & Erel, Y. (2020). Combining chemical and lead isotope analyses with 3-D geometric–morphometric shape analysis: A methodological case study of socketed bronze arrowheads from the southern Levant. Journal of Archaeological Science, 118, Article 105147. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jas.2020.105147

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title = "Combining chemical and lead isotope analyses with 3-D geometric–morphometric shape analysis: A methodological case study of socketed bronze arrowheads from the southern Levant",

abstract = "In this study, the shape of socketed bronze arrowheads is analysed and expressed as a series of mathematical trends which are then compared to chemical and lead isotope composition, as well as to the categorization of traditional non-computerized typology. It is shown that while traditional typology has statistical validation, additional important information can be gleaned from 3-D geometric morphometric shape analysis (3DGM), particularly when combined with material analyses. For example, arrowheads that are traditionally categorized as a single type demonstrate minute shape differences that correlate with the sites where they were found. This micro-variability, detected only through 3DGM, has potential cultural, chronological and regional implications. Most importantly, this pilot study shows that chemical and isotopic composition is correlated to a specific shape trend, revealed through computerized analysis, rather than to the traditional typological classification. This opens up new vistas for a more advanced analysis of archaeological finds.",

keywords = "Chemistry, Geometric morphometric shape analysis, LIA, Socketed bronze arrowheads, Statistics, Typology",

author = "Naama Yahalom-Mack and Gadi Herzlinger and Alexander Bogdanovsky and Ofir Tirosh and Yosef Garfinkel and Sean Dugaw and Oded Lipschits and Yigal Erel",

note = "Funding Information: We would like to thank Leore Grosman and Ortal Harush from the Computational Archaeology Laboratory at the Institute of Archaeology, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, for producing the 3D scans. We would also like to thank Igor Kreimerman, Debi Sandhaus and Alla Rabinovich who provided data regarding the material from Khirbet Qeiyafa, and Leora Freund for providing contextual data for the arrowheads from Azekah and Ramat Raḥel. Aurelia Masson-Berghoff from the British Museum kindly discussed the material from Naukratis. Svetlana Matskevich prepared the illustrations. The work was made possible with the kind assistance of the Lady Davis Fellowship Trust. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2020",

year = "2020",

month = jun,

doi = "10.1016/j.jas.2020.105147",

language = "American English",

volume = "118",

journal = "Journal of Archaeological Science",

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Yahalom-Mack, N , Herzlinger, G, Bogdanovsky, A, Tirosh, O, Garfinkel, Y, Dugaw, S, Lipschits, O & Erel, Y 2020, 'Combining chemical and lead isotope analyses with 3-D geometric–morphometric shape analysis: A methodological case study of socketed bronze arrowheads from the southern Levant', Journal of Archaeological Science, vol. 118, 105147. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jas.2020.105147

Combining chemical and lead isotope analyses with 3-D geometric–morphometric shape analysis: A methodological case study of socketed bronze arrowheads from the southern Levant. / Yahalom-Mack, Naama ; Herzlinger, Gadi; Bogdanovsky, Alexander et al.
In: Journal of Archaeological Science, Vol. 118, 105147, 06.2020.

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

TY - JOUR

T1 - Combining chemical and lead isotope analyses with 3-D geometric–morphometric shape analysis

T2 - A methodological case study of socketed bronze arrowheads from the southern Levant

AU - Yahalom-Mack, Naama

AU - Herzlinger, Gadi

AU - Bogdanovsky, Alexander

AU - Tirosh, Ofir

AU - Garfinkel, Yosef

AU - Dugaw, Sean

AU - Lipschits, Oded

AU - Erel, Yigal

N1 - Funding Information: We would like to thank Leore Grosman and Ortal Harush from the Computational Archaeology Laboratory at the Institute of Archaeology, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, for producing the 3D scans. We would also like to thank Igor Kreimerman, Debi Sandhaus and Alla Rabinovich who provided data regarding the material from Khirbet Qeiyafa, and Leora Freund for providing contextual data for the arrowheads from Azekah and Ramat Raḥel. Aurelia Masson-Berghoff from the British Museum kindly discussed the material from Naukratis. Svetlana Matskevich prepared the illustrations. The work was made possible with the kind assistance of the Lady Davis Fellowship Trust. Publisher Copyright: © 2020

PY - 2020/6

Y1 - 2020/6

N2 - In this study, the shape of socketed bronze arrowheads is analysed and expressed as a series of mathematical trends which are then compared to chemical and lead isotope composition, as well as to the categorization of traditional non-computerized typology. It is shown that while traditional typology has statistical validation, additional important information can be gleaned from 3-D geometric morphometric shape analysis (3DGM), particularly when combined with material analyses. For example, arrowheads that are traditionally categorized as a single type demonstrate minute shape differences that correlate with the sites where they were found. This micro-variability, detected only through 3DGM, has potential cultural, chronological and regional implications. Most importantly, this pilot study shows that chemical and isotopic composition is correlated to a specific shape trend, revealed through computerized analysis, rather than to the traditional typological classification. This opens up new vistas for a more advanced analysis of archaeological finds.

AB - In this study, the shape of socketed bronze arrowheads is analysed and expressed as a series of mathematical trends which are then compared to chemical and lead isotope composition, as well as to the categorization of traditional non-computerized typology. It is shown that while traditional typology has statistical validation, additional important information can be gleaned from 3-D geometric morphometric shape analysis (3DGM), particularly when combined with material analyses. For example, arrowheads that are traditionally categorized as a single type demonstrate minute shape differences that correlate with the sites where they were found. This micro-variability, detected only through 3DGM, has potential cultural, chronological and regional implications. Most importantly, this pilot study shows that chemical and isotopic composition is correlated to a specific shape trend, revealed through computerized analysis, rather than to the traditional typological classification. This opens up new vistas for a more advanced analysis of archaeological finds.

KW - Chemistry

KW - Geometric morphometric shape analysis

KW - LIA

KW - Socketed bronze arrowheads

KW - Statistics

KW - Typology

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DO - 10.1016/j.jas.2020.105147

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:85083831664

SN - 0305-4403

VL - 118

JO - Journal of Archaeological Science

JF - Journal of Archaeological Science

M1 - 105147

ER -

Combining chemical and lead isotope analyses with 3-D geometric–morphometric shape analysis: A methodological case study of socketed bronze arrowheads from the southern Levant

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Keywords

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