Abstract
ABSTRACT A series of pottery samples from the Iranian site Tol-e Kamin, ranging from pre-historical period to the New Elamite, were analyzed in order to study the geochemical variability of the pottery assemblage. A total amount of 168 measurements were obtained using a portable XRF device and were statistically handled. The results could successfully distinguish the geochemical composition of potteries from the chalcolithic to the New Elamite periods in the Kur River Basin. A major shift in the use of different clay sources could be detected since the Proto Elamite period and afterward, in which the carbonated and marl content clays represented by Ca, Ba and Sr shifted to clay sources with a tendency to non-carbonate silty clay Al, Ti, and Fe from a different geological background. The results stress the importance of further provenance studies to address issues of trade and exchange possibilities in southwestern Iran.
Highlights
Recent studies have reasonably discussed the potential of chemical analysis of archaeological pottery as an important material culture in deriving of socio-cultural information of ancient societies (Arnold 1999; Hughes 1981; Noll and Heimann 2016; Rice 2015; Shepard 1957)
Pottery samples from several archaeological periods collected at the site of Tol-e Kamin are studied, in order to provide a better understanding of the diachronic dynamics of geochemical change in ceramics from the Kur River Basin
In the research reported here, we investigated how variable are the pottery assemblages from different archaeological periods at Tol-e Kamin in the KRB
Summary
Recent studies have reasonably discussed the potential of chemical analysis of archaeological pottery as an important material culture in deriving of socio-cultural information of ancient societies (Arnold 1999; Hughes 1981; Noll and Heimann 2016; Rice 2015; Shepard 1957). In an archaeological site with intensive settlement phases like Tol-e Kamin, a chemical analysis of the pottery assemblage can deliver insights toward preference, choice and change of composition through time. It was intended to conduct a pilot study in order to evaluate if the variability between different temporal clusters is significant enough that could be detected by portable XRF. It was intended to define to what extent archaeological periods overlapped with geochemical clusters for further classification studies. Pottery samples from several archaeological periods collected at the site of Tol-e Kamin are studied, in order to provide a better understanding of the diachronic dynamics of geochemical change in ceramics from the Kur River Basin (hereafter KRB). The results are critical for a further classification of the regional pottery and provenance studies in the future
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