archaeological resin samples with modern resins using the technique of
ascending paper chromatography (Abbot and Andrews, 1965; Smith and
Feinberg, 1972; Birch and Dahl, 1974; Reynolds and Bowden, 1980;
Bowden and Reynolds, 1982; Broderick 1979, B. Mann, pers. comm., 1988)
Modern archaeological resin samples were soaked in n-butyl
alcohol for two days and the resulting resin alcohol solution filtered to
remove pieces of undissolved resin and plant matter. The resin alcohol
solutions were spotted onto origin points along a line two cm above the
edge of a piece of Whatman No. 1 filter paper with a ten ml micro-pipette.
The paper was dried and placed in an equilibrated chromatography tank
containing a solvent of 4.5 parts
1%acetic acid in water and 3.0 parts
methanol. The chromatogram was allowed to run for one hour before
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being rem oved, d ried an d placed in an a irtig h t vessel co n tain in g iodine cry stals. The iodine v ap o u r reacted w ith the spots of resin ren d e rin g th em visible as brow n spots a fte r about te n m in u tes. The spots could be d ifferen tiated , u n d e r n a tu ra l a n d u ltra v io le t light, by th e d istan ce th ey h a d trav e lle d from th e origin. The p a tte rn of spots produced by the
m o d em sam p les w ere com pared w ith those of th e archaeological sam ples to allow te n ta tiv e id en tificatio n of some archaeological resin s to species level (F igure 10).
T he m o d ern referen ce sam p les included re sin s from g rass tre e
(Xanthorrhoea) species collected from G undaroo in so u th e rn NSW,
Goonoowigall on th e n o rth w e s t slopes of NSW, th e B u d aw an g R ange in so u th e a s t NSW , a n d C u rraro n g on th e NSW south coast. Spinifex
(Triodia sp.) re s in from th e K im berley Region of WA, sugarw ood
(Myoporum platycarpum ), re s in from th e B otanic G ard en s, C a n b erra,
cypress p in e (Callitris sp.) resin , k u rra jo n g (Brachychiton populneus)
re s in an d Acacia sp. gum from G ra m a n in n o rth w e st NSW w ere also u se d .
Six p resu m ed re sin s from a rte fa c ts excavated from GB4 w ere an aly sed chro m ato g rap h ically . O f th ese only two w ere positively
id en tified as re s in s, one of w hich closely resem bles Xanthorrhoea resin. The species of th e o th e r sam ple re m a in s unidentified, as it did n o t m atch any of th e reference sam ples. F u r th e r d etails of th e re s u lts of th e
c h ro m ato g rap h ic an aly sis are d iscu ssed below (p.98).
R esu lts of th e resid u e an aly sis
R esidues w ere found on a wide ran g e of a rte fa c t types, how ever, the v a rie ty of resid u es found w as quite sm all. The sim ila rity of resid u es across a wide ran g e of a rte fa c t ty p es ap p ea rs to in d icate th a t a rte fa c t shape is of m in o r im p o rtan ce for m an y stone tool use ta s k s an d th a t a su itab le edge is th e m ajo r fu n ctio n al req u ire m e n t. A lthough th e re are fo u rteen d ifferen t a rte fa c t types w ith resid u es from GB1 an d GB4 , th ese im p lem en ts have b een u tilise d in only five or six m odes, th a t is c u ttin g or
slicing, scrap in g , d rillin g , chopping, g rin d in g an d b arb in g . Twelve m ajor resid u e types w ere found d u rin g th e an aly sis, how ever th ese can be classified in to th re e b ro ad groups: p la n t resid u es, an im al resid u es an d p ig m en t resid u es. P la n t resid u es, w hich w ere by fa r th e m ost n u m ero u s,
107
included: p la n t re s in s (black, yellow/brown, red/brow n an d red v arieties), p la n t tis su e a n d fibres, an d sta rc h g rain s. A nim al resid u es in clu d ed blood a n d an im al tissu e . P ig m en t resid u es included red, yellow an d w h ite p ig m e n ts of n a tu r a l origin.
P la n t re s id u e s
P la n t re s id u e s found d u rin g th e an aly sis in clu d ed p la n t resin s, sm all p la n t p a rtic le s an d fibres. M ost of th e resin s contain sta rc h g rain s an d sm all p la n t pieces, th e presence of w hich w ere u sed as a n in d ic ato r of th e p la n t origin of th e resins. F u lla g a r (1986:176) also found th a t p la n t re sin s on tool su rfaces often co n tain sta rc h g rain s an d p la n t pieces.
F o u r d ifferen t form s of re sin w ere found on G ra m a n stone a rte fac ts. T he v a rie ty of resin types observed on different, an d occasionally th e sam e w orking edges in d icates th a t a ran g e of p la n t species w orked. H ow ever it is possible th a t the different resin s did n o t derive from d ifferen t p la n t species. M any species of p la n ts produce phy sically d ifferen t resin s, gum s or kinos, an d yet o th er p la n ts such as
Xanthorrhoea australis produce both yellow an d red resin s from
d ifferen t p a rts of th e sam e p la n t (Birch an d D ahl, 1974:336).
All four resin s are physically sim ilar in as far as th ey all have a g lassy p o lish ed ap p earan ce, are b rittle , an d have stro n g ad h esio n to
a rte fa c t surfaces. H ow ever sim ila rities end th ere, as h ig h m ag n ificatio n in sp ectio n of th e s ta rc h g rain s w ith in th e resin s, an d p a p e r
c h ro m a to g ra p h y of re s in sam p les h a s show n.
T he m o st obvious difference, beside th a t of colour, lies in the n u m b e r of sta rc h g rain s. T he p u re red resin contains considerably la rg e r n u m b e rs of s ta rc h g ra in s th a n th e o th er th re e form s an d also co n tain s little or no o th er p la n t m a te ria l such as fibres. In some cases th e re d re s in co n tain ed so m an y sta rc h g rain s th a t th e re ap p eared to be m ore s ta rc h th a n re s in p resen t. The sta rc h g rain s in th e red re s in w ere all of a re d or red /o ran g e colour w h ereas o th er resin s co n tain ed s ta rc h g ra in s of v a rio u s colours.
A n o th er m ajor fe a tu re of th e red resin w as th e sm all size of th e sta rc h g ra in s w hich have d iam ete rs of 0.8 - 1.6 pm (Table 55) The yellow /brow n, red/brow n a n d b lack resin s ap p ea re d to co n tain roughly
108 eq u al a m o u n ts of s ta rc h an d o th er p la n t m ateria l, how ever th e red/brow n
re s in c o n tain ed a sig n ifican t n u m b e r of la rg sta rch g rain s an d also h a d a w ide ra n g e of s ta rc h g ra in sizes (0.8 to 6 pm diam eter). The yellow /brow n re s in s ta rc h g ra in s h a d a sim ila r av erag e size to those of th e red resin s, how ever th e n u m b e r of g ra in s w as lower.
Too few exam ples of th e black resin were found to enable
calcu latio n of av erag e g ra in sizes, how ever th e sta rc h g rain s in th e black re s in a p p e a re d to be sim ila r in size to those found in th e red/brow n resin .
T hese physical differences w ere p a rtia lly te ste d by
c h ro m a to g ra p h ic s e p a ra tio n of some resin s. Six re s in sam ples were te s te d u sin g ascen d in g p a p er chro m ato g rap h y . The sam ples te s te d w ere collected from th e follow ing a rte fac ts.
GB.4.66 l(c)I 113 silcrete use frac tu re d flake; yellow /brow n re s in from u tilised edge.
GB.4.66 l(a)II 47 ja s p e r use fractu red flake; red/brow n re s in from u tilised edge.
GB.4.67 l(f)II.2 737 silcrete use fractu red flake; black h aftin g r e s in .
GB.4.66 l(a)II 84 chalcedony asy m m etric point; red h a ftin g r e s in .
GB.4.66 l(a)I 83 q u a rtz flake; red/brow n h a ftin g resin. GB.4.67 l(e )III.l 1679 silcrete use frac tu re d flake; red/brow n
re s in from u tilise d edge.
U n fo rtu n a te ly only two of th ese resin s w ere tra n s p o rte d along th e p a p er by th e solvent. T he o th er four failed e ith e r because th ey w ere not sufficiently dissolved in th e alcohol before being spotted on to th e p aper, or because th e y w ere n o t resin s. S olubility in organic solvents such as
alcohol a n d in so lu b ility in w a te r is one ch arac teristic by w hich resin s can be d istin g u is h e d from gum s, so th e in so lu b ility of th ese sam ples in alcohol w as a f u rth e r in d icatio n th a t th ey w ere not resin s (Dickson, 1978:114; F u llag a r, 1986:176). In a t le a st one case it a p p ears th a t th e sam ple definitely co n tain ed no re sin (GB.4.67 1(f) II.2 737). A lthough M cBryde (1984:241) id en tified h a ftin g m ed ia on th is artefact, th e sam ple collected a n d te s te d ch ro m ato g rap h ically a p p ea re d to be m ain ly c o n stitu ted from