Jean-François Moreau

Non-destructive analysis of European cobalt blue glass trade beads

Chemical analyses were made of royal blue glass trade beads from two early 17th century, archaeological sites in southern Ontario, Canada and from a glass beadmaking house in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. The results confirm that these beads were all mixed alkali — lime — silica glasses, coloured with Co and with opaque varients opacified with Sn. The groupings by chemistry tend to segregate by bead shapes, so that oval beads group together and circular shaped beads group together. Although the 2 Canadian sites are about 190 km apart, they produced 2 different sets of oval beads of similar chemistry, possibly helping confirm the contemporaneity of the people at both sites. An As/Co atomic ratio of about two may fit with the possible source of Co as a cobalt-arsenide ore (of common name smaltite) from the Hartz Mountains of eastern Germany, a source not far from either Amsterdam or Venice, both well known glass beadmaking centres of the period.

Ecological Theory and Cultural Evolution in the Valley of Oaxaca [and Comments and Reply]

A number of researchers have recently challenged the usefulness of cultural ecology for explaining pre-Hispanic ultural evolution in the Valley of Oaxaca. We address those criticisms and attempt to show how a rather traditional ecological model is at least consonant with the data. Our aim is not so much to demonstrate the greater explanatory power of our model in comparison with the arguments of the researchers of the Valley of Oaxaca projects as to show that the published data do not permit he rejection of either.

On the Transition from Tin-Rich to Antimony-Rich European White Soda-Glass Trade Beads for the Senecas of Northeastern North America

It has been shown that several modifications occurred, over the span of the 17th to 19th centuries, in the agents used to opacify European-made white soda-glass beads that were transmitted as trade goods to northeastern North America. Tin was used at the beginning of the 17th century, followed by Sb later in the century, and then by As during the 18th and 19th centuries. In an attempt to define more closely the transition from Sn-rich to Sb-rich white beads, we analyzed 198 white glass beads from a number of archaeological sites in western New York State. Chemical analysis shows that the arrival of Sb-white soda-glass trade beads began in this region during the period from approximately A.D. 1625–1640, and that they had completely replaced Sn-white beads by A.D. 1675. Specific bead chemistries link a number of the archaeological sites.

Chemical Analysis of 17th‐century Red Glass Trade Beads from Northeastern North America and Amsterdam

Seventeenth-century opaque red (redwood) glass trade beads of different shapes and sizes were made of mixed alkali (mainly soda)-lime glasses and were coloured with Cu, presumably as cuprous oxide or as finely dispersed elemental Cu. During the early 17th century, beads of all shapes were opacified with Sn; cored beads, with uncoloured cores and hence lower Cu levels, also tended to have slightly lower Sn contents than uncored beads. By the mid-17th century, cored tubular beads were being opacified with a combination of Sn and Sb, a technological change similar to that observed in white glass trade beads, while uncored redwood beads appear not to have been opacified with either Sn or Sb. Bead chemistries are sufficiently different to allow them to be sorted into subgroups, which may then be tracked in various archaeological sites and regions.

Traditions and Cultural Transformations: European Copper-Based Kettles and Jesuit Rings from 17th Century Amerindian Sites

The basic question posed by the establishment of the initial interaction between Amerindian populations and Europeans in America is that of understanding the importance of the transformation of the traditional cultural fabric of the former by the spread of cultural traits originating from the latter. Copper alloy kettles, as well as, so-called “Jesuit” rings discovered in archaeological sites of Northeastern North America (southern Ontario, central Quebec) dating from the 17th century permit us to suggest that the contribution of new material goods is inscribed more in a process of integration to existing tradition, rather than to a process of radical modification of the latter.

Copper-Based Kettles from Brador: A Contribution to the Study of Eastern Settlements of New France on the Northern Shore of the Estuary of the Saint-Lawrence (Quebec, Canada)

Four centuries ago, in 1608, Samuel de Champlain founded Quebec City. In the next several decades, two other major towns, Montreal, then Trois-Rivieres, were established west of Quebec City in the lowland valley of the Saint-Lawrence. Meantime, east of Quebec, small hamlets dotted the northern as well as the southern shore of the estuary of the Saint-Lawrence, as a result of lands ceded to people who distinguished themselves in the settling of New France. Such is the case for a soldier, Augustin Le Gardeur de Courtemanche (scholarly biography elaborated by Corley 1969), who in 1704 settled on land at Brador (Fig. 1). Archaeological investigations of his buildings were led respectively in 1968–1969 and 1982 (see Niellon 1996). Among the artefacts collected were fragments of copper-based kettles of which 74 samples were retrieved for instrumental neutron activation analyses (INAA) in 1997 (see Table 2).

The Dating of a Sixteenth Century Settlement in the Vicinity of Quebec City (Canada) by Means of Elemental Analysis of Glass Beads Through Thermal and Fast Neutron Activation Analyses

In 2008, Quebec City celebrated the fourth centennial of its foundation by Samuel de Champlain in 1608. Quebec represented the first attempt at permanent settlement in this area to succeed, and gave way to New France.