Preliminary evidence of prehistoric human activity by chemical analysis of sediments from Lapa Grande de Taquaraçu archaeological site using INAA

Abstract

This paper analyzes the concentrations of Ce, Co, Cr, Cs, Eu, Fe, Hf, K, La, Lu, Nd, Rb, Sc, Sm, Ta, Tb, Th, U, Yb and Zn determined from sixty sediment samples obtained from the Lapa Grande de Taquaraçu archaeological site using instrumental neutron activation analysis, INAA. The archaeological site is located inside a limestone rockshelter in the municipality of Jaboticatubas, about 60 km from Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais State, Brazil. The dataset was explored by means of cluster analysis, principal component analysis and discriminant analysis. The study showed three different compositional groups that represent sediments from fluvial, colluvial and anthropogenic origins. The crystalline phases of each group were studied using X-ray diffraction, XRD.