STANSTED AIRPORT, ESSEX: EXPERIMENTAL PROCESSING OF SAMPLES OF DEPOSIT CONSISTING OF RE-WORKED CHALKY BOULDER CLAY.
Author(s): P Murphy
Samples from sites on clayey Till are difficult to dis-aggregate. Acceptable rates of retrieval for carbonised plant remains are particularly hard to achieve whereprocessing of many bulk samples in the field is necess-ary, for in these circumstances toxic or corrosive chemical reagents are too expensive and hazardous to beused. Experimental processing of samples from Stanstedshows that pre-soaking in Calgon solution, followed by manual flotation in the field and a second treatment ofany undisaggregated residue with reagents such as H2O2 in the laboratory before re-floating is the best method. 100% retrieval probably cannot be obtained, however,since the vigorous methods needed for disaggregation arelikely to destroy a proportion of the macrofossilspresent.
- Report Number:
- 146/1987
- Series:
- AML Reports (New Series)
- Pages:
- 7
- Keywords:
- Grain, Carbonised Methological Research Plant Remains Soil/Sediment
