Non-destructive geochemical analysis of Neolithic pottery using pXRF: A starting point for more comprehensive research directions

Abstract

As the application of non-destructible pXRF analysis has become increasingly popular in archaeology, the range of materials analyzed by researchers has become more diverse. In recent years, pXRF has been applied increasingly to archaeological ceramics as a tool to classify ceramics based on their geochemical composition in order to analyze technological choices in ceramic production which may be used to infer differences in production and disposal location as well as aspects of exchange. Experimental analyses of Neolithic pottery from the Central Region of Korea suggests that the majority of pottery excavated from settlement sites were likely produced from clay materials acquired nearby the sites. Pottery excavated from Central-west coast shell middens (Oido shell middens) show greater variation in geochemical composition than settlement sites, which may suggest that they were produced using a wider range of materials originating in different parts of the region. However, experimental analysis also highlight the limits of using pXRF, namely its inability to identify the geographical provenance of heterogeneous materials. It is proposed that pXRF can be used to approach some research questions that are strongly based in archaeological data. Furthermore, it is suggested that pXRF may be used as a method that is complementary to other archaeological science approaches, but greater effort must be made to collect a wider range of samples directly from archaeological sites.