Also check out my studies on obsidian sources in Hokkaido!

If you are interested in my work on Sarmatian gold, click here.

If you are interested in my work on Sarmatian glass, click here.

Mark  Hall's

Research Page

E-mail: hall@nbz.or.jp

Geochemical Studies of Inner Asian and Northeast Asian Pottery

Chemical analysis of pottery from northern Mongolia, Siberia, and the Russian Far East is also being done to examine trade and exchange in Northeast Asia. Like the Jomon project, energy dispersive x-ray fluorescence (EDXRF) and inductively-coupled plasma mass-spectrometry is used to determine the minor and trace chemistry of the pottery. A variety of multivariate statistical methods are used to search for groups in the chemical data.  Afterwards, the relationship between site location, pottery style and chemical group is examined. 

Publications:

Hall, Mark E., William Honeychurch, Joshua Wright, Zagd Batsaikhan, and Luvsanvandan Bilegt (1999).“Chemical Analyses of Prehistoric Mongolian Pottery.” Arctic Anthropology 36, 133-150.

Hall, Mark E., Olga L. Moreva, Alexander N. Popov, and Yaroslav Kuzmin (1999).  "Chemical Analyses of Pottery from the Boisman 2 Site, Primorye (Russian Far East)".   Northeast Asian Studies 4, 247-262.

Hall, Mark E. and Sergei Minyaev (2002).  "Intra-Regional Contact in the Xiong-nu Confederacy: The Evidence from Chemical Analyses of the Pottery." Central Asiatic Journal 46, 233-250.

Hall, Mark, Ushiro Maeda, and Mark Hudson (2002).  "Pottery Production on Rishiri Island, Japan: Perspectives from X-Ray Fluorescence Studies."   Archaeometry 44, 213-228.  (Click here to read the article.  Adobe pdf format.)  

Hall, Mark E. and Sergei Minyaev (2002) "Chemical Analyses of Xiong-Nu Pottery." Journal of Archaeological Science 29, 135-144. (Read the article here, courtesy of Academic Press.)

Geochemical Studies of Jomon Pottery

As has been demonstrated on pottery from elsewhere in the Old World, chemical analyses can provide a range of information not available from typological studies alone.  Major, minor and trace element studies can be used to discern “imported” versus locally made pottery; provide insights into the types of clays and tempers used to manufacture the pottery; and can be used in helping to develop typologies.  While Japanese archaeology has a rich tradition of typological and chronological studies of Jomon pottery ; but, unlike North American or European archaeology, there is a paucity of chemical analyses of Jomon pottery. 

        For this project, energy dispersive x-ray fluorescence (EDXRF) and inductively-coupled plasma mass-spectrometry is used to determine the minor and trace chemistry of Jomon pottery from the Kanto and Tohoku regions of Japan.   A variety of multivariate statistical methods are used to search for groups in the chemical data.  Afterwards, the relationship between site location, pottery style and chemical group is examined.

Publications:

Habu, Junko and Mark Hall (1999).  Jomon Pottery Production in Central Japan.   Asian Perspectives 38, 124-145.  

Habu, Junko and Mark Hall (2001).  Jomon Pottery Production at Honmura-cho and Isarago Sites: Insights from Geochemistry.  Anthropological Science 109, 141-166.

Hall, Mark (2001).  Pottery Styles during the Early Jomon Period: Geochemical Perspectives on the Moroiso and Ukishima Styles.  Archaeometry 43, 55-76. (Click here to read the article.  Adobe pdf format.)

Hall, Mark (2001).  Classification Maximum-Likelihood Clustering: An Example Using Compositional Data from Kasori E Pottery.  Bulletin of the Niigata Prefectural Museum of History 2, 7-22.

Habu, Junko, Mark E. Hall, and Masayuki Ogasawara (2003) "Pottery Production and Circulation at the Sannai Maruyama Site, Northern Japan: Chemical Evidence from Early and Middle Jomon Pottery.” Senri Ethnological Studies 63, pp. 199-220.

Inner Asian Chronology Project

There are currently two facets to this project.  The first involves reviewing the existing corpus of radiocarbon dates for various cultural groups that resided on the Inner Asian/Eurasian steppes. When many of the original dates were published, the radiocarbon calibration curve had not yet been determined, nor was the statistical nature of the dates fully appreciated.  The result has been that many authors reject or ignore the radiocarbon dates.   Instead, dating has largely been based on cross-dating with Achaemenid, Assyrian, Chinese, Greek and Roman artifacts and art styles.  While this may work for the cultures residing near the Black Sea, it is problematic for the cultures such as the Altai Scythians or Tagar culture that contain few dateable imports.  As was noted long ago by Deetz and Dethlefsen, chronologies based on stylistic similarities are plagued by uncertainties on where the styles originated and how fast they spread and how long they stayed in use.

    The second facet, done in collaboration with scholars from the Institute of History, Mongolian Academy of Science, Institute of History of Material Culture, Russian Academy of Sciences-St. Petersburg, and the University of Michigan, involves radiocarbon dating organic materials from recent excavations in Mongolia and Siberia.  AMS dates are being run at the AMS C14 dating facility at the University of Tokyo; while conventional dates are being run at Beta Analytic. 

Publications:

Hall, Mark (1997).  "Towards an Absolute Chronology for the Iron Age of Inner Asia." Antiquity 71, 863-874.

Hall, Mark (1999).  "The Absolute Chronology of the Tagar Culture.” Eurasian Studies Yearbook 71, 5-18.

Hall, Mark E., Zagd Batsaikhan, and William Honeychurch (1999).  "Radiocarbon Dates from Northern Mongolia."  Radiocarbon 41, 103-110.

Hall, Mark E., et. al (2003 forthcoming).  "Radiocarbon Dates from Sites in the Egiin Gol Valley, Mongolia."  East and West 53.