Identifying Clay Sources of Prehistoric Pottery Using Atomic Spectroscopy

摘要

Atomic spectroscopy is applied to the compositional analysis of sherds from pottery produced by the Hohokam about 1150 A.D. near modern day Tucson, Arizona. Analysis of National Institute of Standards and Technology standard reference materials is used to develop the necessary digestion procedures and to demonstrate that atomic absorbance and inductively coupled plasma emission spectroscopies offer a good substitute for neutron activation analysis in the compositional analysis of ceramic artifacts. Accuracy and precision of the determination of major and minor elements are evaluated. Analysis of 16 possible clay sources and 30 sherds suggests that the pottery sherds were from locally produced pottery.