Ian,
Most (all?) XRF analyses in New Mexico have been of ceramics, confirming what you've found so far. But since you can't have too many references for your thesis, I've included a list of examples so you can make that point to your committee.

Olinger, Bart
1987  Pottery Studies Using X-Ray Florescence [sic], Part 1, An Introduction, Nambe Pueblo as an Example. Pottery Southwest 14(1):1-2.

1987  Pottery Studies Using X-Ray Fluorescence, Part 2, Evidence for Prehistoric Reoccupation of the Pajarito Plateau. Pottery Southwest 14(2):2-5.

1988  Pottery Studies Using X-Ray Fluorenscence, Part 3: The Historic Pottery of the Northern Tewa. Pottery Southwest 15(4):1-6.

Woosley, Anne I., and Bart Olinger
1990  Ethnicity and the Production of Micaceous Ware in the Taos Valley. In Clues to the Past: Papers in Honor of William M. Sundt, edited by M. S. Duran and D. T. Kirkpatrick, pp. 351-373. The Archaeological Society of New Mexico, No. 16. Albuquerque.

Bower, N. W., and D. H. Snow
1984  A Comparative Study of Early Historic "Tewa" Pottery. In Rio Grande Rift: Northern New Mexico, pp. 291-295. New Mexico Geological Society Conference Guidebook, 35th Field Conference. Socorro.

See also:

Omoniyi, Isinkaye M., Shitta M. B. Ouldare, and Oderinde M. Oluwaseyi
2103  Determination of Radionuclides and Elemental Composition of Clay Soils by Gamma- and X-Ray Spectrometry. SpringerPlus 2:74. http://www.springerplus.com/content/2/1/74

Nodarou, E., C. Frederick, and A. Hein
2008  Another (Mud)Brick in the Wall: Scientific Analysis of Bronze Age Earthen Construction Materials from East Crete. Journal of Archaeological Science 35:2997-3015.

Padilla, R., P. Van Espen, and P. P. Godo Torres
2006  The Suitability of XRF Analysis for Compositional Classification of Archaeological Ceramic Fabric: A Comparison with a Previous NAA Study. Analytica Chimica Acta 558:283-289.

Love, Serena
2012  The Geoarchaeology of Mudbricks in Architecture: A Methodological Study from Catalhoyuk, Turkey. Geoarchaeology: An International Journal 27:140-156. (not XRF but soil analysis)

Walsam, William, Bobby Deaton, and Michael Adler
2007   Analysis of Adobe Wall Composition at the Chavez-Hummingbird Site, New Mexico, by Diffuse Reflectance Spectrometry. Geoarchaeology: An International Journal 22(8):825-844. (also not XRF but includes soils and sediments around the site)


Jeff

Jeffrey L. Boyer, RPA
Supervisory Archaeologist/Project Director
Office of Archaeological Studies, Museum of New Mexico

  *   The Center for New Mexico Archaeology
  *   PO Box 2087
  *   Santa Fe, New Mexico 87504
  *   tel: 505.476.4426
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"There comes a time in every rightly-constructed boy's life when he has a raging desire to go somewhere and dig for hidden treasure."  -- Mark Twain, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer


________________________________________
From: HISTORICAL ARCHAEOLOGY [[log in to unmask]] on behalf of Ian Springer [[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Tuesday, February 25, 2014 1:28 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: XRF in Soil Analysis

I am working on geochemical analysis of soils as part of my MA thesis at the University of Nevada, Reno, and I’m trying to find information on what has been done using XRF on soils, specifically in historical archaeology in the United States. I’ve searched as many relevant journals as I can find, but all of the published articles using XRF in the U.S. focus on artifacts, such as ceramics or spent rifle shells. I have found examples of the use of XRF on soils in Europe, but if it has been used in the U.S., it appears that nothing has been published in the literature that I have access to. Has anyone written about this as part of a CRM report, or perhaps a regional journal?
Here is a listing of what I have found so far:

Duran, A., et al.
2011 Analytical Study of Roman and Arabic Wall Paintings in the Patio De Banderas of Reales Alcazares' Palace Using Non-Destructive XRD/XRF and Complementary Techniques. Journal of Archaeological Science 38:2366-2377.

Gilbert, Allan S., Garman Harbottle, and Daniel deNoyelles
1993 A Ceramic Chemistry Archive for New Netherland/New York. Historical Archaeology 27(3):17-56.

Hein, Don, Gary Hill, and Ross H. Ramsay
2004 Raw or Pre-Fired: Kiln Construction at Sawankhalok, North Central Thailand, as a Guide to Ceramic History. International Journal of Historical Archaeology 8(4):247-266.

Milek, Karen B., and Howell M. Roberts
2013 Integrated Geoarchaeological Methods for the Determination of Site Activity Areas: A Study of a Viking Age House in Reykjavik, Iceland. Journal of Archaeological Science 40(4):1845-1865.

Neff, Hector, Barbara Voorhies, and Federico Paredes Umana
2012 Handheld XRF for Art and Archaeology. Volume 3. Leuven: Leuven University Press.

Owen, J. V., and Denise Hansen
1996 Compositional Constraints on the Identification of Eighteenth-Century Porcelain Sherds from Fort Beausejour, New Brunswick, and Grassy Island, Nova Scotia, Canada. Historical Archaeology 30(4):88-100.

Pearl, Frederic B., and Sandy Loiseau-Vonruff
2007 Father Julian Vidal and the Social transformation of a Small Polynesian Village (1787-1930): Historical Archaeology at Massacre Bay, American Samoa. International Journal of Historical Archaeology 11(1):32-59.

Shackel, Paul A., and Michael Roller
2012 The Gilded Age Wasn't So Gilded in the Anthracite Region of Pennsylvania. International Journal of Historical Archaeology 16(4):761-775.

Thomas, William J., et al.
1992 An X-Ray Fluorescence-Pattern Recognition Analysis of Pottery from an Early Historic Hispanic Settlement near Santa Fe, New Mexico. Historical Archaeology 26(2):24-36.

Any further suggestions would be appreciated,
Ian Springer