EVALUATION OF THE FLOTE-TECH MACHINE-ASSISTED FLOTATION SYSTEM

Recently, the Flore-Tech machine-assisted flotation system was introdu ced as a new technique for processing soil samples in arid environment s and areas with limited or no access to water resources. This system uses water recirculation in a closed loop between a water reservoir an d a flotation tank, aided by diffused air, to extract archaeological b otanical remains from soil samples. The paper presents two experiments conducted to assess macroremain recovery rate, flotation rate, and th e potential for cross-contamination between soil samples. In addition, Flote-Tech recovery and flotation rates are compared with rates achie ved using IDOT manual and SMAP machine-assisted systems. The first set of experiments using the original 1-mm screen in the flotation box re ceived high ratings for large, medium and small seeds, but rated poorl y for very small seeds. After installing a .5-mm screen, a higher perc entage of small and very small seeds was recovered. Flotation rates fo r the customized Flote-Tech system ranked high, matching flotation rat es for SMAP systems and out-performing manual IDOT systems by a factor of four to eight. In addition, a distinct advantage of the Flote-Tech system over other machine-assisted and manual systems is the eliminat ion of cross-contamination between samples.