Chemical Differentiation between Immersed and Dry Wood Samples in Nunavik (Northern Quebec, Canada): Preliminary Results

Abstract

The primary aim of this study was to differentiate immersed wood samples from dry wood samples based on chemical analysis. The method has been developed to be applied to wood found in archaeological sites to distinguish between driftwood and wood that was cut in the forest tundra and then transported to the sites. The results of our research show that Na concentrations in the immersed samples were much higher than in the dry samples for coniferous and deciduous wood samples. Principal components analysis (PCA) based on the element concentrations normalized to the total cation concentrations show that the data from the immersed wood samples and the dry wood samples clustered into two separate groups.