ORGANIC RESIDUE (FTIR) ANALYSIS OF CERAMICS FROM SITE 41CP220, CAMP COUNTY, TEXAS

Site 41CP220, located in Camp County, Texas, is a multicomponent site with occupations spanning Paleoindian through Historic periods. This study focuses on organic residue analysis of 20 ceramic sherds recovered primarily from Late Caddo (Titus Phase) contexts. Samples were collected from locations both inside a house and from various outside locations. Samples were examined for organic residues using Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR). This analysis provides information concerning the compounds that were extracted from the sherds. Its strength lies in its ability to detect the presence of compounds representing processing bones, cooking meat and fish (as a general category rather than identifying the specific type of animal), and preparing medicines, rather than duplicating information that is more readily obtained through pollen, phytolith, and/or starch analysis. Information concerning foods that might have been cooked in the vessels or medicines that might have been prepared is derived from matches with the PaleoResearch (PRI) reference library of cooked and processed plants. Environmental signals are identified through matches with the PRI reference library of raw plants.