Services
ARCHAEOLOGY
HISTORIC PRESERVATION
HISTORY
ETHNOGRAPHY
A Full Range of Services & Technologies
ASM’S services include cultural resource studies; historic building survey and evaluations; Native American consultation; preparation of research designs and historic contexts; site mitigation (data recovery and monitoring); construction monitoring; design, preparation and maintenance of GIS databases; as well as a division for historic water rights and policy analysis. We are recognized as a leader in the field of cultural resources management for the quality of our compliance-oriented research and for our innovative solutions to complex environmental resource issues.
ASM Affiliates offers sophisticated cultural resource recording technologies that integrate photographic documentation with GPS and GIS technology. The instrumentation that ASM employs includes the Ricoh 500SE-3 Digital camera with integrated WiFi and Bluetooth capabilities and an attached GPS and Compass Module. Photographs taken with this camera are imbedded with GPS geospatial information as well as magnetic bearings indicating the direction of view. The camera can be used as a standalone unit or integrated with one of our handheld Trimble units with submeter in the field accuracy allowing for precise and accurate spatial data for photographs.
Our TruPulse Laser Range Finder can also be linked to the Ricoh camera or Trimble Unit to provide for quick and efficient spatial information in large areas that may otherwise require walking long distances to retrieve single GPS points. The Range Finder can also assist in obtaining accurate offset measurements for features that are in areas that receive poor satellite coverage such as in rockshelters or particular parts of architectural structures. ASM employs GPS Photo-Link software and ArcGIS software to present information collected with our sophisticated field instruments. GPS Photo-Link allows us to provide our clients with several platforms for viewing field data including an interactive Google Earth platform and web based deliverable that offers detailed information for each photograph including aerial location photos and links to various maps and websites. Photographic documentation can also be integrated into ArcGIS. Shapefiles with associated metadata for field photos can be generated and made available for the client’s use.
Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR)
ASM has also innovated the use of Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) to locate and identify the horizontal & vertical extend of buried features or components of an archaeological sites. ASM uses on-the-ground observations (from surface and excavation work) and sometimes historic documentation to help determine the location and extent for GPR surveys. Once the area is identified and a grid established for examination, a GPR technician traverses the examination area using a Geophysical Survey Systems SIR-3000 (Subsurface Interface Radar) unit with a 400-MHz shielded antenna. Resulting data can then be processed in the field and used to guide subsequent excavation work.
Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) animation
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Protein Residue Analysis
Tony Quach, an ASM archaeologist, sampling archaeological materials for protein residues, that may have been embedded within the culturally modified rock structures.
Protein Residue Analysis is used to detect & identify residues of specific plant and animal proteins, which can survive sometimes up to 2000 years. This procedure can identify the presence of prehistoric, historic, or even modern proteins chains.
The principle of the technique involves the reaction between antibodies and targeted antigens. Antigens of residual protein chains that may have become embedded within the rock structure are removed from an artifact or soil sample by using a pre-prepared chemical treatment composed of Tris hydrochloride (a buffer), sodium chloride, and Triton X-100 (a detergent) solution. Once the liquid solution is applied by pipette, the liquefied sample material is then sent off and analyzed at a lab that can perform crossover immunological electrophoresis (CIEP) analysis.
Crossover immunological electrophoresis is a technique based on the antigen-to-antibody reaction that can form a characteristic precipitate. Antigens that are preserved archaeologically may maintain structural cohesiveness in their protein molecule chain that can then be recognized by prepared antibodies.
X-Ray Florescence Analysis
James Daniels, an ASM senior archaeologist, employs the Bruker AXS Tracer.
ASM is also using an analytical technique that is incorporated into many research designs. The technique is Energy dispersive X-ray florescence (EDXRF or simply XRF). X-ray fluorescence relies on the interaction of primary X-rays from an X-ray tube or radioactive source with a sample. The interaction generates a range of secondary X-rays having energies characteristic of the elements in the sample (Henderson 2000:15). The primary X-rays hit the surface of the sample and create inner-shell (K, L, M) vacancies in the atoms of the surface layers. These vacancies generate secondary X-rays of energy specific to the element from which they were emitted (Pollard et al. 2007:101). The secondary X-rays hit a detector, which converts the pulses of the X-ray energies into electrical pulses corresponding to the different energies associated with the atomic weight of the elements. The user can optimize the instrument for various types of analyses.
ASM employs the Bruker AXS Tracer. This a laboratory quality portable XRF instrument with the precision of bulkier non-portable XRF instruments.
The instrument can be optimized for various types of analyses by the user. Calibrations can be created for specific sample types to obtain weight percent or ppms of elemental concentrations or the raw spectra. Net counts may be used for comparative analytical purposes between samples.
Potential uses for the XRF include:
- Sourcing of materials including ceramics, glass, and lithic material
- Comparative analysis between artifacts
- Elemental analysis of unknown artifact material
- Soil analysis of prepped soil samples for determining areas of food production, processing, and disposal
- Elemental analysis of bone and teeth to determine migration of individuals from other regions
- Elemental mapping of milling features
- Analysis of historic artifacts including metal objects, ceramics, glass, etc. for comparative and sourcing purposes
- Shell elemental analysis
- Elemental mapping of excavated living floors to determine areas of food processing