Ancient potters, paintings and craft specialization in northwestern argentine region: new data through Raman characterization of pre- and postfiring ceramic paintings on Aguada Portezuelo Ceramics from Middle Period (Catamarca, Argentina)

Abstract

Raman micro-spectroscopy (RMS) is nowadays a very well established analytical technique for the pigment identification in archaeological pottery which allows the study of art and museum objects through a totally non-destructive approach. Data on the chemical nature of the different pigments used by the ancient potters to decorate ceramic vessels can be obtained directly throughout the application of this analytical technique. In this paper, we explore the technological choices done by potters in the past to select, process and apply different natural pigments to decorate the Aguada Portezuelo vessels. The technological process itself is approached through the analytical results obtained from the study of pre- and postfiring paintings in Aguada Portezuelo archaeological ceramics, Middle Period (ca. AD 600–AD 900), Northwestern Argentine region. With the aim to explore the origin of the pigments (inorganic versus organic) used in the past by the potters, several paintings of red, black and brown colours were analyzed by Raman microspectroscopy. Additionally, the chemical nature of the white coloured prefiring slip characteristic of most of this ceramic type was studied, and we explored the molecular structure of the black plumbed coloured internal surfaces of these ceramic bowls.