New Archaeometric Characteristics for Ancient Pottery Identification

• Main Authors: Ion Sandu, Vasile Cotiuga, Andrei Victor Sandu, Adelina Camelia Ciocan, Gabriel Ion Olteanu, Viorica Vasilache
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Alexandru Ioan Cuza University of Iasi 2010-06-01
• Series: International Journal of Conservation Science
• Subjects: Neolithic and Chalcolithic pottery; archaeometric characteristics; SEM-EDX; microFTIR; authentication
• Online Access: http://www.ijcs.uaic.ro/pub/IJCS-10-08-Sandu.pdf

The paper presents new achaeometric characteristics determined through electron microscopy scanning coupled with energy dispersive X-Ray Spectroscopy and microFTIR. We studied, by comparing average chemical composition and Si/Al and Ca/Mg ratio, a number of 47 genuine antique pottery items (Liniar Pottery, Pre-Cucuteni and Cucuteni culture pottery) and 20 new items made of clay extracted from the neighbourhood of the archaeological sites, with properties and chemical contents similar to those used by antique potters, but considered fakes. Those characteristics were used to differentiate between a fake and an original artifact, to establish authenticity attributes in the patrimonial revaluation and to select the pottery fragments during coherent structural reintegration and restoration processes.