M. Járó - L. Költő szerk.: Archaeometrical research in Hungary (Budapest, 1988)
Analysis - BALLA Márta, BÉRCZI János, KEÖMLEY Gábor, ROSNER Gyula, GABLER Dénes: Provenance studies of ceramics by neutron actiwtion analysis
BALLÁ Márta*, BERCII Já n~o~s\* KEÖMLEY Gábor*, ROSNER Gyula**, GABLER Dénes*** PROVENANCE STUDIES OF CERAMICS BY NEUTRON ACTIVATION ANALYSIS Abstract - A neutron activation analytical procedure was developed ensuring analytically precise with sufficient items of information for the provenance studies of ceramics. For data processing - starting from the "raw" analytical data the authors made mathematical statistical programs considering various archaeological problems as an initial base and answering them as concretely as possible. They attempted to help in solving specific archaeological problems by applying the developed methods. In their opinion the neutron activation analytical and statistical computing method developed by them is suitable for provenance studies of ceramics; it is able to provide adequate results and it has encouraged the authors to extend examinations to archaeological pottery of different types, too. Introduction Archaeological research pays special attention to the examinations of ceramics. There are detailed studies about the typification, the comparative analysis of ceramics, the exact description of figures and ornaments, the determination of the origin of finds. Archaeologists have already made demands to control and complete the grouping of ceramics according to their typology, figure and ornaments; categorization is based on manufacturing centres using scientific investigation methods. Most information on the provenance of ceramics can be obtained by physical and chemical analysis of their material. One aim of material tests is to analyse the composition of the solid phase mineralogically , petrographically, using microscopic, X—ray diffraction and thermal methods. Analyses of this kind could give useful information on the manufacturing technology of ceramics, the preparation of raw material, the temperature of baking, etc. On the other hand, accordirig to our opinion, the chemical analyses of ceramics and sometimes raw materials can give more information about the provenance. The classical methods based on measuring main components have been replaced by new instrumental methods giving specific information about additional components. Among these neutron activation analysis is playing a more and more important role. We have surveyed the significant bibliography [1—6] of the topic and gained experience in laboratories dealing with the same investigations. After having studied the same topic in the Nuclear Training Reactor of the Technical University of Budapest for 2 years with preliminary results, systematic research work has been started together with archaeological institutes based on the sponsorship of the Ministry of Culture. In the first phase of the research work our aim was to develop methods for neutron activation analysis and computerized data handling. These methods can be used by Hungarian archaeologists dealing with ceramics. The next period was concentrated on trying to help solve concrete archaeological problems using the methods mentioned above [9]. "Nuclear Training Reactor of the Technical University of Budapest H-l 111 Budapest. Műegyetem rkp. 9. *"Béri Balogh Ádám" Country Museum H-7101 Szekszárd, P.O.B. 44 * Archaeological Institute of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences H-1014 Budapest, Uri u. 49.
