Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM): Applications in Archaeology

Abstract

In excavation, Scandinavian archaeologists have been influenced by both the German approach, which divides a deposit into horizontal and vertical slices (" schnitt "), and the British, which gives primacy to the stratification. How-ever, it was the pioneering work of Gudmund Hatt and C.J. Becker in the 1930s and 1940s that led to the development of large-scale open area excavations. These were applied in particular to prehistoric and medieval settlements where sur-vival may be little more than postholes and ribbons of small stones left by turf and timber buildings. These techniques were taken up in Britain and spread widely in Europe. On site pioneering meth-odologies by Scandinavian archaeologists include the excavation of huge preserved timber ships and their contents from mounds at Gokstad and Oseberg (see Gansum 2004), the recovery and analysis of bog bodies (Asingh & Lynnerup 2007), and the lifting of an entire burial chamber at Medelpad, Sweden, in 1952. Modern pioneers have been contributing in particular to the devel-opment of methods of electronic remote mapping.