Search

• An artificial neural network for archaeometric studies has been created to facilitate provenance attribution of archaeological ceramics. • The ANN has been trained by clays mixings mathematically constructed based on a reference chemical database of Sicilian sediments. • Test has been performed by querying the ANN with compositional data of pottery found in archaeological sites. Up to 88% correct attribution has been verified. • Merits of NN have been highlighted, comparing the extent of successfully provisional attribution with results achievable by using classical multivariate statistical method. An artificial neural network (ANN) for archaeometric studies was created to facilitate provenance attribution of archaeological ceramics. A multilayer perceptron model (MLP) was applied to construct the network, including only one hidden layer. Moreover, correction parameters based on historical and archaeological evidences were applied to Bayesian probability factor. The ANN was trained by using clays mixings mathematically constructed based on a reference chemical database of Sicilian sediments. The clay mixing takes in consideration compositional variability within the same geological site and the extent of the ceramic manufacture processes. Test was performed by querying the ANN with compositional data of ceramics found in archaeological sites coherent with clays sampling areas. Up to 88% correct attribution was verified, with good correspondence between geological and archaeological contexts. Finally, merits of ANN were highlighted by comparing the extent of successfully provisional attribution with classical statistical methods (PCA and LDA). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

From the 9th to the 11th century, Sicily has been part of the Islamic oecumene, the dār al-Islām. Up until now, very few studies have been carried out on the centres of pottery production of this period, and most of them concern the Emiral capital of the isle, Palermo. The archaeometric data obtained with chemical and minero-petrographic analyses on Islamic pottery found in Paternò - a town situated in the southwestern slope of Mt. Etna - has provided a certain number of issues of very important matter. The selection of the samples has been made among the archaeological finds coming from the excavation near the church of Cristo al Monte, on the hilltop, which represented the inner part of the medieval madīna. The mineralogical and chemical characterization of the ceramic body has been attained using optical microscopy on thin sections and X-ray fluorescence respectively, in order to define the probable provenance of each sample. Further information of technological matter has been provided using X-Ray diffraction on powdered samples, which furnishes mineralogical data useful to hypothesise the firing temperatures: the main task attained on this issue was the focus on the self-slipped ware with salted water, one of the main technological class in Islamic Sicily. Finally, energy dispersive X-Ray fluorescence was adopted for a preliminary investigation of pigments used to decorate the lead glazed pottery. The issues related to both the local and imported pots - the latter represented almost completely by Palermo's products - provided some important historical and archaeological information about the means of Sicilian pottery production during this important period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We report on a non-destructive study of Sicilian ceramic fragments of cultural heritage interest, classified as 'proto-majolica' pottery and dating back to the twelfth to thirteen centuries AD. The analytical approach used is based on the employment of two totally non-invasive spectroscopic techniques: X-ray fluorescence (XRF), using a portable energy-dispersive XRF analyser, and X-ray absorption spectroscopy, using synchrotron radiation as a probe (SR-XAS). XRF measurements allowed us to collect elemental and spatially resolved information on major and minor constituents of the decorated coating of archaeological pottery fragments, so providing preliminary results on the main components characterizing the surface. In particular, we assigned to Fe and Mn the role of key elements of the colouring agent. With the aim of obtaining more detailed information, we performed SR-XAS measurements at the Fe and Mn K-edges at the Italian BM08 beamline at the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (Grenoble, France). The experimental data were analysed by applying principal component analysis and least-squares fitting to the near-edge part of the spectra (X-ray absorption near-edge structure) to determine the samples' speciation. From the overall results, umber, a class of brownish pigments characterized by a mixture of hydrated iron and manganese oxides, has been ascribed as a pigmenting agent. [Figure not available: see fulltext.] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This work is focused on the petro-archeometric characterization of the fine pottery production of the archaeological site of Gela (Sicily). Thirty-five samples coming from three Archaic and Hellenistic kilns and five coming from an Hellenistic house, were investigated by means of optical microscopy, XRD and XRF analysis. With the exception of some ceramics which are undoubtedly imported, all the samples have similar petrographic features, but on the basis of chemical composition, we can distinguish two different groups. The presence of two local productions is confirmed by the comparison with locally outcropping sediments and with archaic and modern bricks of sure Geloan production. This result is particularly significant for the definition of reference groups of this wealthy polis that played an important trading role in the Mediterranean area. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This work focuses on petro-chemical characterisation of the volcanic inclusions often found within the fabric of many ceramic remains from various archaeological sites in eastern Sicily. Petrographic observations and EMP analyses revealed that volcanic glass is strongly influenced by chemical modifications during the firing process, whereas clinopyroxenes keep their original composition unaltered thus constituting an effective tool for provenance attributions. Multivariate statistical analysis of the latter can in fact unambiguously discriminate between different productive areas by comparisons with pyroxenes from volcanics belonging to distinct magmatic provinces. The method proposed here was tested on ceramic remains of different ages and typologies found in southern Italy. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This paper is focused on a spectroscopic study of some pottery shards from an archaeological site in Syracuse (Sicily, Southern Italy), dating back to the Hellenistic–Roman period. Structural characterization was performed at different scales of observation, i.e. from macroscopic to mesoscopic. The main goal was to point out the potentiality of the small angle neutron scattering (SANS) technique as a non-invasive analytical tool in archaeometry, also in conjunction with other, more usual, methodologies. Correlation of experimental data, i.e. macroscopic typology and texture, obtained from petrographic analysis, and radius of gyration and fractal dimension of the interfaces of the mesoscopic aggregates obtained using SANS, together with mineralogical X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analysis, allowed hypotheses to be made on the production technology of the investigated samples. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]