Field Methods for the Analysis of Mud Brick Architecture

ABSTRACT

Recent research into mud brick architecture have established that the simple mud brick is a potential source of cultural information and can provide information about chronology, technology, identity, labor, resources, and environmental conditions. Some analytical techniques for the analysis of sun-dried mud bricks are dependent on the exportation of archaeological samples to foreign laboratories. Some countries severely restrict (or prohibit) the export or removal of archaeological materials making it essential to conduct analysis while in the field. This paper demonstrates the successful use of in-field procedures using a range of portable equipment to quantify basic mud brick characteristics, including particle size distribution through wet sieving, RGB color, magnetic susceptibility, and acid digestion to quantify calcium carbonate. Field and laboratory methods were compared on a single data set, specifically the assemblage from the Neolithic Anatolian site of Çatalhöyük. The results confirmed the accuracy of these methods and provide effective field techniques for mud brick analysis. This article provides an overview of recent research highlighting the importance of mud brick studies and provides procedures for in-field analysis of materials.

KEYWORDS:

• Mud bricks
• field methods
• calcimeter
• RGB color
• particle size analysis

Acknowledgements

I sincerely thank the School of Social Science at the University of Queensland for the purchase of the Bartington MS3 magnetic susceptibility meter and institutional support. Thanks also to the field directors for invitations to join their research excavations where these methods were piloted: Laurel Bestock (Abydos, Egypt), Tim Harrison (Tell Tayinat, Turkey), and Sharon Steadman (Çadir Höyük, Turkey). This paper was written while a research fellow at Research Center for Anatolian Civilizations at Koç University, where I am grateful to my writing partner Lee Beaudoen. Thanks are owed to Marek Barański, Seppi Lehner, and anonymous reviewers for their comments and suggestions.

Notes on contributor

Serena Love (Ph.D. 2011, Stanford University) is a honorary research fellow in the School of Social Science at the University of Queensland, Australia. Serena is a geoarchaeologist interested in prehistoric societies, monumental and domestic architecture, and archaeological theory.