Archaeological ceramic study

Mossbauer spectroscopy is an analytical technique that, in archaeological ceramic studies, provides information on the condition and characteristics of the compounds of iron in pottery. Using the technique makes it possible to determine the relative amounts of the different (ferrous and ferric) ions of iron and hence to ascertain the firing conditions of the pottery at the time it was made. The technique involves irradiating a sample of pottery with gamma rays and then assessing the amount of radiation absorbed by the nuclei of the ions of iron within the pottery (Feathers et al. 1998 Bearat and Pradell 1997). 

Archaeological Ceramic Study Possibilities with a Thermal Gradient Furnace... 

The focus of most archaeological ceramic studies has been on provenance or technology. There is also a growing body of specific evidence on how the pottery was used. Chapter 21 by Beck, Smart, and Ossenkop describe the organic tars used to line ancient Mediterranean amphoras. Chapter 21 includes a description of how the residues from amphora contents can be analyzed. As in most cases where unknown organic materials are encountered, the most powerful analytical technique is gas chromatography with mass spectrometric detection (GC-MS). This technique is expensive for the analysis of large numbers of samples. 

Trace-element analysis, using emission spectroscopy (107) and, especially, activation analysis (108) has been appHed in provenance studies on archaeological ceramics with revolutionary results. The attribution of a certain geographic origin for the clay of an object excavated elsewhere has a direct implication on past trade and exchange relationships. 

An additional problem in the study of archaeological ceramics is the possibility of post-depositional chemical alteration of the fabric. 

AAS has been widely used in Europe to study archaeological ceramics and metals, ranging from Chinese celadons (Pollard and Hatcher 1986) to Roman terra sigillata (Mirti et al. 1990), and from Renin bronzes (Willett and Sayre 2000) and Islamic brasses (Al-Saad 2000) to Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Age copper alloys from ancient Israel (Shalev 1995). ICP-AES, using solution sampling, can potentially provide data on a wider range of elements... 

The most intense NAA study of archaeological ceramics has been focused on the Bronze Age Mycenaean and Minoan pottery of Greece and Crete, and related areas around the eastern Mediterranean (Mommsen et al. 2002). This work began in Berkeley, California, in the 1960s with the work of Perlman and Asaro (1969), who went on to analyze 878 shards of pottery. The results were never fully published according to Asaro and Perlman (1973, 213), the question of provenience of the vast quantities of Mycenaean wares has... 

Appoloni, C. R., Quinones, F. R. E., Aragao, P. H. A., et al. (2001). EDXRF study of Tupi-Guarani archaeological ceramics. Radiation Physics and Chemistry 61 711-712. 

Hein, A., Tsolakidou, A., Iliopoulos, I., et al. (2002). Standardisation of elemental analytical techniques applied to provenance studies of archaeological ceramics an inter laboratory calibration study. Analyst 127 542-553. 

There exist of the order of 50,000 analyses of archaeological ceramics, most all of which were obtained by neutron activation analysis. The recent development of inductively-coupled plasma emission (ICP) methods, which are frequently multielement, relatively inexpensive and generally of quite acceptible sensitivity, precision and accuracy, promises that in the future that method will also make a significant contribution to archaeological analytical study. 

Harbottle G (1982) Provenience Studies Using Neutron Activation Analysis The Role of Standardization, in Archaeological Ceramics, (eds. Olin JS, Franklin AK) p. 6, Washington, Smithsonian Institution... 

More recently, peptide sequencing methods have been introduced for the study of protein remains in archaeological ceramics [146]. An analytical procedure... 

The broad range of elements to which ICP-MS is sensitive is another advantage for archaeology-based studies. Some important elements found in metal alloys, glass colorants, ceramic paints, and/or glazes cannot be measured by INAA (i.e., Pb) or require nonstandard analytical procedures (i.e., Cu, Ag, Sn) due to nuclear properties or matrix effects. ICP-MS also permits isotope ratio characterization (albeit with limitations, as discussed below), which can be as or more useful than elemental abundances in provenance investigations of... 

In many applications of LA-ICP-MS, an internal standard concentration is unknown and cannot be assumed. Ceramic studies, for instance, sometimes call for characterization of individual components within a heterogeneous matrix [40]. As another example, several pigment colors on a single polychrome sherd may be targeted [48]. While an electron microprobe or micro-XRF could be used to obtain point-specific analysis of the individual components, the extra sample preparation and analysis would dramatically increases total analysis time, and the necessary ancillary instrumentation may not always be available. Gratuze [49,50] proposed a way around the problem of unknown internal standard concentrations that applies to silicate materials and has been widely adapted in archaeological LA-ICP-MS studies. 

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