Provenance determinations

FIGURE 22 Obsidian in the eastern Mediterranean Sea area. Studying the relative concentration of trace elements in obsidian makes it possible to identify the obsidian and to determine its provenance. Determining the relative amounts of barium and zirconium in ancient obsidian tools and in samples from different sources of the natural glass, for example, made it possible to identify the provenance of obsidian used in eastern Mediterranean Sea area sites (Renfrew and Dixon 1976). 

Mommsen, H. (2001), Provenance determination of pottery by trace element analysis Problems, solutions and applications, /. Radioanal. Nucl. Chem. 247(3), 657-662. 

Neff, H. (2000), Neutron activation analysis for provenance determination in archaeology, in Ciliberto, E. and G. Spoto (eds.), Modern Methods in Art and Archaeology, Chemical Analysis Series, Vol. 155, Wiley, New York, pp. 81-134. 

Kilikoglou, V., Bassiakos, Y., Doonan, R.C. and Stratis, J. (1997). NAA and ICP analysis of obsidian from Central Europe and the Aegean source characterisation and provenance determination. Journal of Radioanalytical and Nuclear Chemistry 216 87-93. 

P. Horn, L. Holzl, W. Todt, D. Matthies, Isotope abundance ratios of Sr in wine provenance determination, in a tree-root activity study, and of Pb in a pollution study on tree-rings, Isotopes Environ. Health Studies, 34 (1998), 31-42. 

Nineteen archaeological pre-Columbian textile specimens from the collections of the American Museum of Natural History and the Metropolitan Museum of Art were examined. The textiles (Huari/Tiahuanaco, lea, Paracas-Caver-nas, and Paracas-Necropolis) are described. Elemental analyses for archaeological textile and modern wool samples (C, H, N, S, and ash) are reported. Elemental analyses for samples treated with distilled H20 and CClk are compared with analyses of modern wool samples similarly treated. An unambiguous direct correlation between loss of sulfur and embrittlement could not be made. The possibilities of dating and provenance determination by technical means are discussed. 

This study has demonstrated that precise chemical analysis is a powerful tool for the characterization and provenance determination of Middle Eastern obsidian. Thirteen to 15 chemically distinctive groups were distinguishable in geological source samples collected from eight source... 

The basic premise in provenance determination is that each clay source can be distinguished by its chemical composition. The approach is often referred to as fingerprinting. There is no a priori reason to favor any particular elements for measurement, but there is good reason to measure a cross section of the periodic table. Clay contains all elements found in nature, but relatively few elements account for more than 99% of the mass. Therefore, the analytical method should be sensitive to many elements that are present only in the parts-per-million range. 

The work reported here was undertaken in an attempt to make the provenance determination of ETS found in Israel (4). The objective was more ambitious than just learning where various pieces of pottery came from, and included the possibility of reclassifying ETS in such a way that archaeologists would know what they were dealing with without having their pottery analyzed. 

Earlier it was stated that provenance determination is inherently more complex for pottery than for obsidian. In general, pottery itself rather than clay is used as source material to establish the composition of pottery that was made locally. 

Provenance Determination of Fine Orange Maya Ceramic Figurines by Flame Atomic Absorption Spectrometry... 

The choice of Fine Orange ceramics for one of the initial studies on the development of our analytical method is significant. In addition to the archaeological importance of this ceramic type, it was one of the two ceramic types analyzed by Sayre in his pioneer work on the provenance studies (26), which were the practical breakthrough for provenance determination through chemical analyses. 

Torres, L.M., A.W. Aire, and B. Sandoval. 1984. Provenance determination of fine orange Maya... 

Hertz N (1992) Provenance determination of Neolithic to Classical Mediterranean marbles by stable isotopes. Archaeometry 34 185-194. 

Pb isotopes in vitreous materials show promise but are likely to be of restricted application. Pb isotopes for determining provenance in bone and teeth have also been studied however, despite quite a lot of work, the outcome has been comparatively disappointing in terms of human provenance determination, although the increasing level of Pb in the environment over time has been well demonstrated. 

Pingitore, N.E., Leach, J., Villalobos, I, Peterson, I, Hill, D. (1997) Provenance determination from ICP-MS elemental and isotopic compositions of El Paso area ceramics. In Materials Issues in Art and Archaeology V, Materials Research Society Symposium Proceedings, edited by Vandiver, P.B., Druzik, J.R., Merkel, J.F., Stewart, J. Pittsburgh, PA Materials Research Society, pp. 59-70. 

Investigation of compositional diversity among Fijian ceramics Study of climate change and population history in the Pacific Lowlands of Southern Mesoamerica Provenance determination of oriental porcelain... 

Bartle, E.K., Watling, R.J. (2001) Provenance determination of oriental porcelain using laser ablation-indnctively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS). Journal of Forensic Science, 52, 341-348. 

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