fsLA-ICP-MS Analysis of Siliceous Stone Arrowheads at Shimao Site

Provenance studies of the siliceous stone arrowheads at Shimao site are crucial to further investigations concerning prehistoric resource management strategies and intercultural exchange. There have been no attempts to geochemically characterize the origin of siliceous stone arrowheads in prehistoric times using the femtosecond laser ablation-inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (fsLA-ICP-MS) technique that can detect trace elements of quartz more accurately and precisely than traditional nanosecond LA-ICP-MS can. In this study, 16 pieces of siliceous stone arrowheads at Shimao site and 7 pieces of quartzose raw materials collected near the site were studied using the fsLA-ICP-MS at the Guangzhou Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences. The test results show that the sources of arrowheads used by Shimao habitants are both local and foreign, but more detailed information needs further study combined with other methods.