Spectroscopic and thermal analysis of Neolithic pottery of Kashmir Valley, India, using XRD, FT-IR, and SEM-EDX analysis

This study aims to identify the chemical composition, estimate firing temperature, and to study provenance of the Neolithic pottery and distribution of settlement pattern in Kashmir Valley, India. The study investigates powdered Neolithic pottery (3000 to 1000 BCE) through the combined study of XRD, FT-IR and SEM-EDX, focusing on the firing condition, temperature, and mineralogical composition during its production. The study analyses to understand the strength and stability of Neolithic pottery samples from the four archaeological sites, situated in one each in North and Central Kashmir and two in the South of the Valley. It estimates a low (400 °C) and high firing temperatures (900 °C) in oxidizing and reducing conditions, and observed fast quenching and ill firing in one specimen. The analysis suggests that Neolithic potters in Kashmir Valley were experimenting and evolving in pottery making skills. It is also established that the provenance of pottery making in the Neolithic period was near the settlements. The distribution of the Neolithic pottery points towards the fact that the settlement pattern did not undergo any major changes and remained on the top of Karewa beds across the whole valley of Kashmir.