Abstract
In this study a multi-technique analysis was performed on the decorated surfaces of four ancient pottery fragments dated back XIX century A.D. withdrawn from the archaeological site of the medieval Agsu town, in Azerbaijan. During the last decade, the site underwent to an extensively archaeometric investigation by means of different non-destructive, or micro-destructive, techniques. In this work we focused our attention on the characterization of the pigmenting agents and glazes at different spatial scales from elemental to microscopic domain by using portable and not-portable equipments. In particular, the elemental and molecular compositions were successfully determined by X-ray fluorescence (XRF) and Raman spectroscopy, respectively. On one side, data deriving from portable instrument were compared with those previously obtained from not-portable approach, in view of futurein situinvestigations. On the other side, the overall obtained results appear crucial for the reconstruction of the production technology used by craftsman of the past.
Highlights
Characterization of pottery fragments withdrawn from archaeological excavations represents still a challenging task in archaeometry [1, 2]
In this study a multi-technique analysis was performed on the decorated surfaces of four ancient pottery fragments dated back XIX century A.D. withdrawn from the archaeological site of the medieval Agsu town, in Azerbaijan
In this work we focused our attention on the characterization of the pigmenting agents and glazes at different spatial scales from elemental to microscopic domain by using portable and not-portable equipments
Summary
Characterization of pottery fragments withdrawn from archaeological excavations represents still a challenging task in archaeometry [1, 2]. Knowledge of chemical/physical properties of potteries represents a fundamental prerequisite in order to get information about artistic and technological development of a specific population, associated to a particular historical/geographical context [3,4,5] As widely reported, their characterization is hopefully based on the use of non-invasive or, at least, micro-destructive multitechnique approaches, in order to preserve the integrity of the artefact [6,7,8,9]. We decided to adopt this non-invasive methodological approach in order to compare data obtained with portable instrumentation with those collected in previous elemental characterizations through not-portable benchtop spectrometers and/or available at Large Facilities This could prove the reliability of the reported data, and of the followed approach, in view of future studies that will be performed in situ on unmovable archaeological objects. The molecular composition of pigments and, for the first time, of the glazes was attempted by a non-invasive approach complementary to SR-FTIR, i.e. by using Raman spectroscopy, and exploring wavenumber ranges well below the mid infrared (MIR) region
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