Chemical characterization of ancient pottery from the south-west Amazonia using Instrumental Neutron Activation Analysis

Patricia Ramos Carvalho

doi:10.15392/bjrs.v7i2a.619

Abstract

The analyzes carried out in this work aims to contribute to the discussion about the ceramic objects founded in Monte Castelo’s sambaqui located at south-west Amazonia. The first study accomplished by Miller in 1980 suggests that this archaeological site is inserted in the oldest contexts of production of ceramics in the Amazon. Until today, there aren't any physical and chemical analysis studies in this ceramics and this kind of studies may help archaeological studies performed at the sambaqui. With this purpose, this work presents a preliminary study of chemical characterization of eighty-four ceramic samples using instrumental neutron activation analysis (INAA) by means of the determination of Na, K, La, Sm, Yb, Lu, U, Sc, Cr, Fe, Co, Zn, Rb, Cs, Ce, Eu, Hf and Th. With the purpose to study the similarity/dissimilarity between the samples, cluster and discriminant analysis were used. The results showed the existence of three different chemical groups whose dating ranging 3000 b.P. to 1500 b.P. that are in agreement with the archaeological studies made by Miller and suggest Bacabal’s phase as the oldest ceramist culture in the Southwest of the Amazon.

Highlights

One of the main objectives in Archaeology is the study of objects or vestiges from a remote society with the aim of understanding its history, establishing cultural identities or reconstructing economic and political aspects [1]
The only South American ceramic complex that is older than Bacabal is the Valdivia phase on the coast of Ecuador, which has more than 50 dating from several sites ranging from 5,600 to 4,300 a.P. [31, 32]. This preliminary experience support the hypothesis that the Bacabal’s phase is one of the oldest ceramic technologies of the continent and the Monte Castelo archaeological site has the oldest contexts of production of ceramics in the Southwest Amazon
Three different compositional groups can be assigned to Monte Castelo archaeological site

Summary

Introduction

One of the main objectives in Archaeology is the study of objects or vestiges from a remote society with the aim of understanding its history, establishing cultural identities or reconstructing economic and political aspects [1]. The study of ceramics in terms of macroscopic characteristics was central to the archaeological interpretation of a site, region or period, ceramics can be examined in terms of mineral and chemical composition, variations in production and firing methods, and stratigraphic and regional distribution. These information along with the knowledge used in the practices of village potters, can sometimes be useful in better understanding the social, economic, and political aspects of past cultures. A very small sample mass is used in the analysis, which is extremely convenient in the case of archaeological material [8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15]

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Conclusion