a golden egg challenge
Aug. 3rd, 2018 03:48 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kareinaInspired by frualeydis's post about her challenge, I have finally made the time to post the below suggestion to the Golden Egg Web page:
I propose the following as a Golden Egg Challenge:
Make and cook with a soapstone pot and then use it for science.
I am somewhat late in getting around to posting this, I have been thinking of this on and off since January, and begun real steps towards this goal in May. Is it still allowed to be a Golden Egg challenge anyway?
I begun researching Viking Age cooking vessels in soapstone in January, as part of my 2nd PhD project, which seeks to determine the source quarries for various archaeological soapstone objects based on the composition of the objects.
The first thing I noticed when I started researching this topic was the contrast between the fact that most Viking Age families were cooking with soapstone, and most Viking Age reenactors I have met aren’t, and I thought it would be cool to give it a try.
Then I wondered if cooking with soapstone would cause any changes in the composition of the stone (either due to the repeated heating and cooling, or due to the food, or some combination thereof) that might complicate my goal to figure out where the stone was quarried? This also inspired me to try it: Make a pot, measure its composition, cook with it for a year or two, measure its composition again. Has it changed? If so, is there a pattern to the change?
Therefore I have started the first steps towards this goal:
* reading about Viking Age Soapstone Vessels (see below)
* reading about Viking Age food stuff
* searching the Swedish Historical Museum’s database for soapstone objects
* travel to the Nidaros Cathedral Restoration workshop to learn the basis of soapstone and obtain a piece to make a pot
* started carving (see profile photo)
It will take time (realistically months, given how little time I have available for the carving) to make the pot. Once it is done I need to learn to cook with it (the woman who taught me says that once one gets water to a boil in her pot one can take it off the fire and it will keep boiling for 10 minutes more).
What more do I need to do for the “Golden Egg” part of this project? Is this even an appropriate sort of project for this group?
Partial reading list for Soapstone artifacts and the composition thereof:
Allen, R.O., and Pennell, S.E., 1978, Rare Earth Element Distribution Patterns to Characterize Soapstone Artifacts, in Archaeological Chemistry—II, AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY, Advances in Chemistry 171, v. 171, p. 230–257, doi: 10.1021/ba-1978-0171.ch014.
Torsten DuRietz (1935) Peridotites, Serpentines, and Soapstones of Northern Sweden, with special reference to some occurences in Northern Jämtland, Geologiska Föreningen I Stockholm Förhandlingar, 57:2, 133-260, DOI: 10.1080/11035893509445975
Erwin, J.C., 2001, A prehistoric soapstone quarry in Fleur de Lys, Newfoundland: PhD Thesis, University of Calgary.
Forster 2005, The Soapstone trade in the North Atlantic: Preliminary research of Viking and Norse period soapstone imports in Iceland In: Current Issues in Nordic Archaeology: Proceedings of the 21st Conference of Nordic Archaeologist 6-9 September 2001, Akureyri Iceland Ed: Garðar Guðmundsson • 2005 Publisher: Society of Icelandic Archaeologists. ISBN: 9789979609445
Forster, A., Jones, R., 2017. From Homeland to Home; Using Soapstone to Map Migration and Settlement in the North Atlantic, In: Hansen, G., Storemyr, P. (Eds.), Soapstone in the North. Quarries, Products and People 7000 BC - AD 1700. University of Bergen, pp. 225-248.
Forster, A. K. and Turner, V. E. (Eds.). Kleber: Shetland's Oldest Industry. Shetland Soapstone Since Prehistory. Lerwick: Shetland Amenity Trust, 133 pages ISBN-10: 0954324692
Hansen et al 2017, Soapstone in the North. Quarries, Products and People 7000 BC - AD 1700. University of Bergen.
Hubbard, M.J., 2006, Soapstone vessels in the Ohio River Valley and determining their source of origin using visible/near-infrared reflectance spectrometry [PhD Thesis]: Kent State University.
Rogers, M., Allen, R., Nagle, C., and Fitzhugh, W., 1983, The Utilization of Rare Earth Element Concentrations for the Characterization of Soapstone Quarries: Archaeometry, v. 25, p. 186–195, doi: 10.1111/j.1475-4754.1983.tb00675.x.
Stavsøien 2012, Fra fast fjell til gryte: Å arbeide med kleberstein, - hva skjuler seg i prosessen? (From solid rock to cooking pot: Working with soapstone, - what is hiding in the process?). Bachelor's thesis, BACHELOROPPGAVE BYG819T
Prosjektnr. 13-2012 Eva Stavsøien.
Val G. Steele, Report on the analysis of residues from steatite and ceramic vessels from the site of Belmont, Shetland
Turnbaugh, W., Turnbaugh, S., and Keifer, T., 1984, Characterization of selected soapstone sources in southern New England (Chapter 12) - Prehistoric Quarries and Lithic Production, in Prehistoric Quarries and Lithic Production (New Directions in Archaeology), Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. doi:10.1017/CBO9780511753244.013, p. 129–138.
Edward W. Wells III, Sarah C. Sherwood, and Kandace D. Hollenbach. Soapstone Vessel Chronology and Function in the Southern Appalachians of Eastern Tennessee: The Apple Barn Site (40bt90) Assemblage. Southeastern Archaeology 33:153–167
Wikki, H.B., 1953. Composition and origin of soapstone: , Bulletin de la Commission Geologique de Finland. Geologinen Tutkimuslaitos, p. 57.
Food Additives and Contaminants Volume 19, Issue 2, 2002, Pages 134-143 Soapstone (steatite) cookware as a source of minerals(Article) Quintaes, K.D., Amaya-Farfan, J., Morgano, M.A., Mantovani, D.M.B.
frualeydis's post about her challenge, I have finally made the time to post the below suggestion to the Golden Egg Web page:I propose the following as a Golden Egg Challenge:
Make and cook with a soapstone pot and then use it for science.
I am somewhat late in getting around to posting this, I have been thinking of this on and off since January, and begun real steps towards this goal in May. Is it still allowed to be a Golden Egg challenge anyway?
I begun researching Viking Age cooking vessels in soapstone in January, as part of my 2nd PhD project, which seeks to determine the source quarries for various archaeological soapstone objects based on the composition of the objects.
The first thing I noticed when I started researching this topic was the contrast between the fact that most Viking Age families were cooking with soapstone, and most Viking Age reenactors I have met aren’t, and I thought it would be cool to give it a try.
Then I wondered if cooking with soapstone would cause any changes in the composition of the stone (either due to the repeated heating and cooling, or due to the food, or some combination thereof) that might complicate my goal to figure out where the stone was quarried? This also inspired me to try it: Make a pot, measure its composition, cook with it for a year or two, measure its composition again. Has it changed? If so, is there a pattern to the change?
Therefore I have started the first steps towards this goal:
* reading about Viking Age Soapstone Vessels (see below)
* reading about Viking Age food stuff
* searching the Swedish Historical Museum’s database for soapstone objects
* travel to the Nidaros Cathedral Restoration workshop to learn the basis of soapstone and obtain a piece to make a pot
* started carving (see profile photo)
It will take time (realistically months, given how little time I have available for the carving) to make the pot. Once it is done I need to learn to cook with it (the woman who taught me says that once one gets water to a boil in her pot one can take it off the fire and it will keep boiling for 10 minutes more).
What more do I need to do for the “Golden Egg” part of this project? Is this even an appropriate sort of project for this group?
Partial reading list for Soapstone artifacts and the composition thereof:
Allen, R.O., and Pennell, S.E., 1978, Rare Earth Element Distribution Patterns to Characterize Soapstone Artifacts, in Archaeological Chemistry—II, AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY, Advances in Chemistry 171, v. 171, p. 230–257, doi: 10.1021/ba-1978-0171.ch014.
Torsten DuRietz (1935) Peridotites, Serpentines, and Soapstones of Northern Sweden, with special reference to some occurences in Northern Jämtland, Geologiska Föreningen I Stockholm Förhandlingar, 57:2, 133-260, DOI: 10.1080/11035893509445975
Erwin, J.C., 2001, A prehistoric soapstone quarry in Fleur de Lys, Newfoundland: PhD Thesis, University of Calgary.
Forster 2005, The Soapstone trade in the North Atlantic: Preliminary research of Viking and Norse period soapstone imports in Iceland In: Current Issues in Nordic Archaeology: Proceedings of the 21st Conference of Nordic Archaeologist 6-9 September 2001, Akureyri Iceland Ed: Garðar Guðmundsson • 2005 Publisher: Society of Icelandic Archaeologists. ISBN: 9789979609445
Forster, A., Jones, R., 2017. From Homeland to Home; Using Soapstone to Map Migration and Settlement in the North Atlantic, In: Hansen, G., Storemyr, P. (Eds.), Soapstone in the North. Quarries, Products and People 7000 BC - AD 1700. University of Bergen, pp. 225-248.
Forster, A. K. and Turner, V. E. (Eds.). Kleber: Shetland's Oldest Industry. Shetland Soapstone Since Prehistory. Lerwick: Shetland Amenity Trust, 133 pages ISBN-10: 0954324692
Hansen et al 2017, Soapstone in the North. Quarries, Products and People 7000 BC - AD 1700. University of Bergen.
Hubbard, M.J., 2006, Soapstone vessels in the Ohio River Valley and determining their source of origin using visible/near-infrared reflectance spectrometry [PhD Thesis]: Kent State University.
Rogers, M., Allen, R., Nagle, C., and Fitzhugh, W., 1983, The Utilization of Rare Earth Element Concentrations for the Characterization of Soapstone Quarries: Archaeometry, v. 25, p. 186–195, doi: 10.1111/j.1475-4754.1983.tb00675.x.
Stavsøien 2012, Fra fast fjell til gryte: Å arbeide med kleberstein, - hva skjuler seg i prosessen? (From solid rock to cooking pot: Working with soapstone, - what is hiding in the process?). Bachelor's thesis, BACHELOROPPGAVE BYG819T
Prosjektnr. 13-2012 Eva Stavsøien.
Val G. Steele, Report on the analysis of residues from steatite and ceramic vessels from the site of Belmont, Shetland
Turnbaugh, W., Turnbaugh, S., and Keifer, T., 1984, Characterization of selected soapstone sources in southern New England (Chapter 12) - Prehistoric Quarries and Lithic Production, in Prehistoric Quarries and Lithic Production (New Directions in Archaeology), Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. doi:10.1017/CBO9780511753244.013, p. 129–138.
Edward W. Wells III, Sarah C. Sherwood, and Kandace D. Hollenbach. Soapstone Vessel Chronology and Function in the Southern Appalachians of Eastern Tennessee: The Apple Barn Site (40bt90) Assemblage. Southeastern Archaeology 33:153–167
Wikki, H.B., 1953. Composition and origin of soapstone: , Bulletin de la Commission Geologique de Finland. Geologinen Tutkimuslaitos, p. 57.
Food Additives and Contaminants Volume 19, Issue 2, 2002, Pages 134-143 Soapstone (steatite) cookware as a source of minerals(Article) Quintaes, K.D., Amaya-Farfan, J., Morgano, M.A., Mantovani, D.M.B.