Spectral Analysis of Painted Artifacts from Layer VII, Ushki V Site (Kamchatka Peninsula)
The article presents some results of the collection personal ornamentations study from the cultural layer VII of the multi-layered site Ushki V. The complex is the oldest in the structure of the archaeological site Ushki V and dates are 13-12 th. cal. years. 17 samples with traces of painting were detected, revealed by microscopic analysis and SEM-EDX study. The samples analyzed by the SEM-EDX method were divided into two groups according to spectra compositions: group 1 - a samples from the culture layer and the hematite; group 2 - products with traces of painting on the surface. A high percentage of iron samples of group 1 (up to 82 %) is due to natural factors (iron-rich loam and sand, hematite). Artificial compounds were probably used for coloring objects, where the iron representation is significantly lower (3-13 %), but the content of other chemical elements and their compounds is high. High and almost constant indicators of arsenic, chlorine, magnesium, calcium, aluminum-silicates in the composition of paint’s samples suggest a complex, artificial composition. Arsenic is widely distributed in wildlife and is contained in a number of marine mollusks, some species of fish and their caviar, a number of plants, the blood of people and animals; sulfates, phosphates, chlorides are contained in human urine. Based on the spectral composition of paints and ethnographic materials, an assumption is made about the nature of additives that are probably of organic origin.