The Provenance of Archaeological Ceramics Roman Finewares

Nens Moulins Yzeure Les- v,uu,2 G /Gueugnon Bains i Touion-sur-Aider I 

Methodologically, inevitably some questions must always be considered. Do the control sherds adequately represent the output of all of the relevant vessels from all of the relevant kiln sites There is always potentially the problem of kiln X - an unknown (or at least, uncharacterized) kiln which is producing wares similar to those under consideration, but not included either because it has not been identified archaeologically, or because it was not known to produce the type of ware under question. This problem should be at least considered since a geochemical knowledge of the type of clay deposits being exploited may restrict the geographical extent of the possible clay sources. The question of the representativeness of the samples is more difficult. Most kiln 

Ahrens, L.H. (1954). The lognormal distribution of the elements 1 (A fundamental law of geochemistry and its subsidiary). Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 5 49-75. 

Luckenbach, A.H. and Holland, C.G. (1975). The application of instrumental neutron activation analysis to a study of prehistoric steatite artifacts and source material. Archaeometry 17 69-83. 

Argyropoulos, V. (1992). Chemical Studies of the Roman Samian Pottery Industry of Central Gaul. Unpublished PhD Thesis, Department of Archaeological Sciences, University of Bradford. 

---