Geoarchaeology:AnInternationalJournal,Vol.17,No.3,305–313(2002)  2002WileyPeriodicals,Inc. ● DOI:10.1002/gea.10014 ShortContribution:ANewMethodof Analyzing and Documenting Micromorphological Thin Sections Using Flatbed Scanners: Applications in Geoarchaeological Studies Trina L. Arpin, 1 Carolina Mallol, 2 and Paul Goldberg 1 1 Department of Archaeology, Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts 02215 2 Department of Anthropology, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138 Muchoftheinformationinmicromorphologicalthinsectionsexistsatthemesoscopiclevel. Theuseofflatbedscannerscanimproveanalysisatthislevelandaidinpreservationofthe information.Thisarticledescribesscanninginbothplaneandcross-polarizedlightanddis- cussesthehardwareandsoftwarerequired.  2002WileyPeriodicals,Inc. INTRODUCTION In recent years, digital photography has been widely used in archaeology as a rapid,low-costmethodofdocumentingarchaeologicalmaterials(Rick,1999).One of the instruments for creating digital photographs is the flatbed scanner. This devicecanbeusedtocreatehigh-resolutionimagesofphotographsandsmallar- tifacts;henceitisapowerfultoolforrecordingandarchivingarchaeologicaldata (HoukandMoses,1998).Inthispaper,wereporttheproceduresdevelopedinthe Micromorphology Laboratory at Boston University to analyze and document thin sectionsusingdigitalimagesproducedwithaflatbedscanner. Visualizationofmicromorphologicalimagesistypicallydonewithprintsortrans- parencies, although in the best-equipped laboratories dedicated digital cameras (e.g.,DiagnosticInstrumentsSpot  orLeafSystems  )areusedtocaptureamicro- scopicimage.Receivinglessattention,however,arevisualrepresentationsofthe mesoscopicaspectsofthinsections(i.e.,depictionsofthegrossfeaturessuchas beddingandinternalorganization)atverylowmagnifications(1).Thislevelof analysisisparticularlyvaluableforstudyingthinsectionsofsamplesfromarchae- ological features, such as hearths or occupation surfaces, where the critical information is at the mesoscopic, not microscopic, level (Figure 1). In other words, the visible scale of the feature being studied is close to that of the thin section.