Modern Era pottery from the archaeological site at the Ethnographic Museum of Zamora (north-western Spain): An archaeometric analysis

Abstract

Zamora, located in the north-west of the Iberian Peninsula, is a city of long-lasting pottery tradition. Besides, its local post-medieval pottery keeps a strong tie with late medieval Castilian ceramic tradition. In recent archaeological interventions, a large quantity of ceramics was unearthed in different archaeological sites of the city. Among them, the archaeological excavations performed below the current Ethnographic Museum of Castilla y León were of special relevance to shed more light on the Zamoran local productions. In this work, an archaeometric characterization has been carried out in 11 tin–lead glazed ceramics (decorated in green, black and blue) dated back to the 16th–18th centuries by means of a multi-analytical approach. Thus, chemical and mineralogical analyses by Inductively Coupled Plasma-Mass Spectrometry (ICP-MS) and X-Ray Powder Diffraction (XRPD) analytical techniques have been applied. In addition, the microstructure, glaze and pigment characterization of the glaze coatings have also been studied by Scanning Electron Microscopy-Energy Dispersive Spectrometry (SEM-EDS) and Raman microscopy. Additionally, 59 samples were subjected to Hierarchical Cluster Analysis and Principal Components Analysis to assess the belonging of the shards under study to any of the workshops of Zamora. The results matched with the Z-3 reference group linked to the local pottery production of Zamora, specifically to the Olivares workshop.