Quartz Archaeology Project

The Quartz Archaeology Project is creating open-access datasets for quartz occurrences in a variety of archaeological and natural contexts to improve our understanding of the significance of quartz in the deep and recent past. This project will investigate the physical characteristics of quartz pieces at natural outcrops, archaeological sites, and locations of more recent industrial activities. It will also involve the creation of experimental assemblages of quartz fractured using different methods, such as knapping, mechanical crushing, and handheld tools. Analysis and comparison of the attributes of fractured quartz from natural, archaeological and experimental assemblages will generate information about the ‘signature’ of quartz pieces from these different contexts. The resulting datasets, excluding those derived from Aboriginal places, will be made freely available online. This will facilitate development of integrated and collaborative approaches to the identification and characterisation of quartz artefacts in archaeology and cultural heritage management. The citation for this project (including datasets) is Spry, C., E. Foley, R. Kurpiel, J. Turnbull and P. Penzo-Kajewski 2020 Quartz Archaeology Project. http://doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/N8CWR, Open Science Framework, Accessed 22 July 2020. For more information about this project, please see: Spry, C., R. Kurpiel, E. Foley and P. Penzo-Kajewski 2021 Revisiting the “Quartz Problem” in Lithic Studies: A Review and New, Open-access, Experimental Dataset. Lithic Technology. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/01977261.2021.1981655 Spry, C., R. Kurpiel, E. Foley, J. Turnbull and P. Penzo-Kajewski 2021 Disentangling activity traces on Australian goldfields: an experimental study of quartz assemblages derived from knapping and gold prospecting. Australian Archaeology. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/03122417.2021.1885109. Spry, C., E. Foley, R. Kurpiel and J. Turnbull 2019 Identifying quartz artefacts in archaeology and cultural heritage management: issues, approaches and a new open-access project. In Spry et al. (eds), Excavations, Surveys and Heritage Management in Victoria, pp. 77-83. Melbourne: La Trobe University: http://arrow.latrobe.edu.au:8080/vital/access/manager/Repository/latrobe:43467.