@misc{10481/71339,
year = {2021},
month = {9},
url = {http://hdl.handle.net/10481/71339},
abstract = {Dense and strong, hydrothermal-metasomatic jadeitite and jadeite-omphacite rocks were used as tools and
adornments throughout the wider Caribbean since initial inhabitation. Regionally, rich sources of jadeitite and
jadeite-omphacite jade are known only in Guatemala (north and south of the Motagua Fault Zone), eastern Cuba
and the northern Dominican Republic, establishing that humans transported jadeitic material over vast distances.
This study validates that geochemical fingerprinting is a viable provenance method for Caribbean pre-colonial
jadeitic lithologies. An assemblage of 101 source rocks has been characterised for trace element and combined
Sr-Nd-Pb isotope compositions. Four statistical approaches (Principal Component Analysis, t-Distributed
Stochastic Neighbour Embedding, Decision Tree, and Multiclass Regression) were assessed, employing sourcedistinct
trace element ratios. A multiclass regression technique based on trace element ratios of immobile
high field strength, light to medium rare earth and fluid-mobile, large-ion-lithophile elements is shown to be
most effective in discriminating the four source regions.
Ninety-one % of the Guatemalan samples can be discriminated from the Dominican and Cuban sources using
La/Th, Zr/Hf and Y/Th ratios. Jadeitic rocks cropping out in the Dominican Republic can be distinguished from
Cuban jades employing Er/Yb, Nb/Ta and Ba/Rb ratios with 71% certainty. Furthermore, the two Guatemala
sources, north and south of the Motagua Fault Zone, can be discriminated by using (among others) Zr/Hf, Ta/Th,
La/Sm and Dy/Y ratios with an 89% success rate. This raises the possibility of determining, in detail, former
trading and mobility networks between different islands and the Meso- and Central American mainland within
the Greater Caribbean.
The provenance technique was applied to 19 pre-colonial jade celts excavated from the Late Ceramic Age
Playa Grande archaeological site in the northern Dominican Republic. Three artefacts are discriminated as
derived from the Guatemalan source, indicating that, despite a source of jade within 25 km, material was traded from Guatemala. The presence of Guatemalan jade in the Playa Grande lithic assemblage provides further evidence
of large scale (>3000 km), regional trading and indigenous knowledge transfer networks.},
organization = {European Research Council (ERC)	319209},
organization = {European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme	654208},
publisher = {Elsevier},
keywords = {Jade},
keywords = {Circum-Caribbean},
keywords = {Source discrimination},
keywords = {Geochemical characterisation},
keywords = {Statistical approaches},
keywords = {Provenance studies},
keywords = {Indigenous mobility networks},
title = {Trace-elemental and multi-isotopic (Sr-Nd-Pb) discrimination of jade in the circum-Caribbean: Implications for pre-colonial inter-island exchange networks},
doi = {10.1016/j.jas.2021.105466},
author = {Knaf, A. C. S. and Cárdenas Párraga, Juan and García Casco, Antonio},
}