Pottery neutron activation analysis

Neutron activation analysis (NAA) is a technique for the qualitative and/or quantitative determination of atoms possessing certain types of nuclei. Bombarding a sample with neutrons transforms some stable isotopes into radioactive isotopes measuring the energy and/or intensity of the gamma rays emitted from the radioactive isotopes created as a result of the irradiation reveals information on the nature of the elements in the sample. NAA Is widely used to characterize such archaeological materials as pottery, obsidian, chert, basalt, and limestone (Keisch 2003). 

Several thousand shards were analyzed in a wide-ranging study intended to evaluate the accuracy obtainable when using neutron activation analysis to establish the provenance of pottery. After determining the relative... 

Emeleus, V.M. (1958). The technique of neutron activation analysis as applied to trace element determination in pottery and coins. Archaeometry 1 6-15. 

Perlman, I. and Asaro, F. (1969). Pottery analysis by neutron activation analysis. Archaeometry 11 21-52. 

Asaro, F. and Perlman, I. (1973). Provenience studies of Mycenean pottery employing neutron activation analysis. In Acts of the International Archaeological Symposium The Myceneans in the Eastern Mediterranean , Nicosia 27th March-2nd April 1972, Cyprus, Nicosia, Department of Antiquities, pp. 213-224. 

Evans, J. (1989). Neutron activation analysis and Romano-British pottery studies. In Scientific Analysis in Archaeology, ed. Henderson, J., Monograph No. 19, Oxford, Oxford University Committee for Archaeology, pp. 136-162. 

Mommsen, H., Bier, T., and Hein, A. (2002). A complete chemical grouping of the Berkeley neutron activation analysis data on Mycenaean pottery. Journal of Archaeological Science 29 613-637. 

Neutron activation analysis (NAA), based on the interaction of the object material with fast neutrons, has been used in the identification and determination of the content of elements present in pigments, coins and alloys, stone, glass, and pottery [26]. Multi-elemental analysis (about 20 elements) can be performed on small samples off less than 5 mg, with sensitivities in the ppm range. The requirement of a nuclear reactor, the handling of radioactive materials, and the time-consuming procedures required for preparing the samples are the main drawbacks of this technique. 

To assess the provenance of majolica pottery found in the Canary Islands, a sample of 55 sherds was obtained from two sites on Gran Canaria Island La Cueva Pintada (G ldar) and El Antiguo Convento de San Francisco (Las Palmas de Gran Canaria). The pottery was studied by X-ray fluorescence, instrumental neutron activation analysis, and X-ray diffraction. The results show one group that matches a reference group from Seville, an assessment that supports the historical record. However, the data also reveal samples whose provenance corresponds to other production centers on the Iberian Peninsula, such as Manises, Barcelona, and, possibly, an unknown Portuguese center. Moreover, it is possible that Italian and Dutch pottery have been identified thereby providing a complexity factor to the historical accounts. 

Instrumental neutron activation analysis was conducted at the University of Missouri Research Reactor (MURR). Samples of approximately 50-100 mg were subjected to long and short irradiations using the same methodology used on pottery and other materials with appropriate reference standards (23). The analysis provided abundances of 33 elements for 72 samples. 

Mesopotamian glazed ceramics, 430-433,435/, 437-440 obsidian sourcing, 278,279-281 See also Neutron activation analysis Intermountain Region, North America, historic pottery, 447-459 Iran, Neolithic, bitumen traces in ceramic vessels, 137-151 Iran, Neolithic sites Ali Kosh, 138, 139/... 

In addition to the archaeological material, majolica sherds were obtained from two modern factories in Puebla La Trinidad and Santa Maria. Both of these potteries use a clay body blended from a mixture of equal amounts of a black volcanic clay and a white marl obtained from the immediate area around Puebla (4), Samples from these sherds were analyzed by neutron activation analysis and the data used to represent a Puebla composition. 

On the basis of the compositions obtained by neutron activation analysis two distinctive groups of pottery have been identified from the majolica sherds excavated from Spanish sites in the New World. The principal sites yielding majolica sherds analyzed in this project include Isabela, La Vega Vieja, Juandolio, and Convento de San Francisco in the Dominican Republic Nueva Cadiz in Venezuela and excavations in Mexico City at the Metropolitan Cathedral and for the Mexico City Metro transportation system. Concentrations of NazO, KzO, BaO, MnO, FezOs, RbzO, CszO, LazOs,... 

We have been able to distinguish two distinctive groups of pottery among the majolica sherds excavated from Spanish sites in the New World. These distinctions are based on the examination and analysis of the paste portions of the sherds and have involved the combined use of neutron activation analysis, x-ray diflFraction analysis, and petrographic examination. Preliminary investigations of the relationships of each of these two groups of sherds to sherds of known origin have also been undertaken. There is evidence to support a Spanish source for the sherds from sites in the Dominican Republic and Venezuela and a Mexican source for the sherds excavated in Mexico City. 

Neutron activation analysis (NAA) is an eminently suitable technique for obtaining the chemical profile of ancient pottery and artifacts made from other earthy materials. This technique can be used to determine where these articles originated. An NAA system that has proved to be adequate for this task is discussed. A brief review is also given of the way archaeologists have decided matters of provenance and the uses to which they put their knowledge. Finally, two examples of archaeological problems are given in which the new horizons opened by the laboratory work are stressed. 

Mainfort, R.C., Jr., Cogswell, J.W., O Brien, M.J., Neff, H. Glascock, M.D. 1997. Neutron-activation analysis of pottery from Pinson Mounds and nearby sites in western Tennessee Local production vs. long-distance importation. Midcontinent Journal of Archaeology 22 43-68. 

In the Andes Mountains, more than 500 years ago, a young girl was sacrificed to appease the gods. As was the custom of the ancient Incas, pottery and other artifacts were buried with her. Neutron activation analysis performed on pottery such as the vessel in Figure 1 allowed archaeologists to determine the origin of the soil from which the pottery was made. 

Figure 1 Neutron activation analysis allowed comparison of soil and pottery to determine where this Incan vessel was made.

Glascock,M.D.,Neff,H.,Vaughn,K.J.(2004) Instrumental neutron activation analysis and multivariate statistics for pottery provenance. Hyperfine Interactions, 754(1-4), 95-105. 

Perlman, I. and Asaro, F., Pottery Analysis by Neutron Activation, in Science and Archaeology. R. H. Brill, ed., MIT Press, Cambridge, Mass., Archaeometry 11, 21-52 (1969). 

Neutron activation and petrographic analysis of late medieval Spanish pottery from the major Spanish production centers of Seville, Granada, Patema-Manises, Barcelona, and Talavera-Puente allowed progress to be made in uniquely characterizing these production centers (5-7). Efforts to identify different Mexican majolica productions petrographically have been unsuccessful, and an attempt at chemical characterization by directly coupled plasma-optical emission spectroscopy was later determined to have been flawed by problems encountered with the dissolution of the ceramic samples... 

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