Abstract
MUCH of our knowledge of prehistoric peoples of North America comes from the study of their utilisation of imperishable lithic (geological) resources. In some cases geochemical differences in the origin of a particular lithic material have resulted in trace element differences which can be used to characterise the geological source of this material1. Both geochemical and archaeological studies indicate that the rare earth element (lanthanide) distributions in soapstone (steatite) can be used to characterise this commonly used lithic material2–4. The rare earth elements (REE) in artefacts from Labrador and Newfoundland, measured by instrumental neutron activation analysis and reported here, suggest that the same soapstone sources have been used by Indians, Eskimos, and Norse at various times over the past 4,000 yr.
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ALLEN, R., ALLEN, K., HOLLAND, C. et al. Utilisation of soapstone in Labrador by Indians, Eskimos and Norse. Nature 271, 237–239 (1978). https://doi.org/10.1038/271237a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/271237a0
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