PIGMENT IDENTIFICATION IN GREEK POTTERY BY RAMAN MICROSPECTROSCOPY*

Raman microspectroscopy (RMS) is now established as a key technique for the identification of pigments of archaeological pottery that permits the in situ study of art objects by a non‐destructive procedure. The information obtained represents a great aid to restoration and conservation techniques. In this work, the chemical nature of the red, black and white pigments of five samples of Greek pottery from the end of the fifth century and the first half of the fourth century bc , exhumed from the Iberian necropolis of Cabezo Lucero (Guardamar del Segura, Alicante, Spain), has been identified. The black and the red pigments are found to be magnetite (Fe₃O₄) and hematite (α‐Fe₂O₃), respectively. The white pigment is found, for the first time, to be composed of alumina (α‐Al₂O₃ and γ‐Al₂O₃) probably yielded by the thermal decomposition of Greek bauxite.     

Technology Transfer at the Periphery of the Mycenaean World: The Cases of Mycenaean Pottery Found in Central Macedonia (Greece) and the Plain of Sybaris (Italy)*

The study of technology transfer in pottery production to the periphery of the Mycenaean world has been addressed by considering two different areas, southern Italy and central Macedonia. Technological features such as ceramic paste, decoration and firing have been determined for different ceramic groups established according to provenance criteria. The studies of technology and provenance have been performed following an archaeometric approach, using neutron activation analysis, petrographic analysis, X‐ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy. The results have revealed the existence of two different models. On the one hand, southern Italy seems to exhibit a more organized pottery production, which follows a Mycenaean‐like technology, while in central Macedonia production is probably more varied, being based in part on the technology of the local tradition.     

HUMAN MOBILITY AT THE EARLY NEOLITHIC SETTLEMENT OF VAIHINGEN,GERMANY: EVIDENCE FROM STRONTIUM ISOTOPE ANALYSIS*

As evidence concerning human mobility during the transition to agriculture in central Europe, we present the results of strontium isotope analysis of human skeletons from the Neolithic village of Vaihingen, Germany. We find significantly more ‘non‐local’⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr values from humans buried in a Neolithic ditch surrounding Vaihingen than from those buried within the settlement. These results fit with previous studies showing a correlation between burial circumstances and strontium isotope signatures from LBK cemeteries of southwestern Germany ( Price et al. 2001 ; Bentley et al. 2002 ). A pilot study of Neolithic animal teeth from Vaihingen suggests that either ‘local’⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr signatures were more variable than the analysed human bones suggest, or that these domestic animals themselves were mobile, perhaps ranged by mobile pastoralists.     

ASSESSING NATURAL CLAY COMPOSITION IN THE VALLEY OF OAXACA AS A BASIS FOR CERAMIC PROVENANCE STUDIES

The Oaxaca Clay Survey was initiated to provide baseline data on clay composition within the Valley of Oaxaca, Mexico, to assist in provenance determination of prehistoric ceramics. Natural clays were sampled from 135 locations throughout the valley, and analysed using INAA in combination with ceramic petrography. Observed geographical trends in trace‐element and mineralogical composition confirm that while parent material (surficial geology) strongly affects clay composition, a continuum of variation exists within the valley. The study develops and tests a continuous spatial model of clay composition that provides greater resolution in ceramic sourcing than bedrock alone. By establishing a regional framework for Oaxaca Valley clays, the survey will support significant advances in our understanding of pottery production and exchange within the valley, and provide a more robust means for monitoring exchange between the valley and neighbouring regions.     

NO STONE UNBURNED: A COMPOSITIONAL ANALYSIS OF OBSIDIAN MICRODEBITAGE BY LASER ABLATION TOF–ICP–MS

Obsidian is an effective material for the study of prehistoric raw material use and exchange, due to the high degree of homogeneity and redundancy of obsidian materials and manufactured objects in the archaeological record. The destructive nature of many analytical techniques often impedes compositional research because of the damage that may occur to priceless archaeological artefacts. The combination of time‐of‐flight (TOF) ICP–MS with a laser ablation sample introduction system provides a highly efficient means of chemically characterizing obsidian. This study shows that sample size limit capabilities of TOF–ICP–MS analysis of obsidian can reach less than 100 μm. Sampling and analysis of microartefacts enables researchers to overcome problems of sampling bias with very little damage to the valuable existing materials within the archaeological record and expands the potential for chemical compositional analyses in archaeology.     

Apprentices,Goldsmiths, and the North in Sixteenth- and Seventeenth-Century England

Abstract

The story of King Edgar being rowed on the River Dee at Chester in 973 by eight subordinate kings was once well known. This article examines how it was used in popular history writing from the eighteenth century onwards, with greatest development in the mid nineteenth century, and subsequent decline into its present obscurity. It served English political and cultural ends, being used to demonstrate the natural superiority of that race over the others in the Union, particularly the Scots. Decline of imperial sentiment and ignorance of pre-Conquest history have relegated it to incidental mention in county histories.     

Henry VIII's Progress Through Yorkshire in 1541 and its Implications for Northern Identities

Abstract

Henry's visit to the North in 1541 has been seen as, alternatively, a powerful response to the ongoing threat to order in the years after the Pilgrimage of Grace or a move in diplomatic relationships with Scotland and France. This paper suggests the level of immediate threat of disorder in the North was low and that the role of the journey in relations with Scotland was more its consequence than its cause. Rather it finds the significance of the visit in a potential renegotiation of the position of the North within the wider realm, a question opened by political and constitutional changes since 1530, a negotiation which the King himself overthrew. Instead of accommodation, Henry sought to emphasise the extent of his defeat of the Pilgrims and the Percy interest, and to humiliate utterly all but the most clearly loyal elements, especially in York itself. Yet the memory of his triumph, if triumph it was, was poisoned for Henry by his failure to meet James of Scotland and by the collapse of his marriage to Catherine Howard; and it passed remarkably quickly from the collective memory of the North, overlain by a developing sense of relations with the Tudors, as with their predecessors, as supportive of a distinctive northern identity.     

ANALYSIS OF ROMAN WALL PAINTINGS FROM THE THERMAE OF ‘IULIA CONCORDIA’

Twenty‐six wall painting fragments and some plaster, ‘intonachino’ and stucco samples, discovered at Iulia Concordia, have been studied by different analytical techniques to gain information about the pigment nature and the composition of the materials. The presence of calcite, dolomite and aragonite allow the distinction of four groups of wall samples varying in the nature of pigments and in the application technique. These differences can be attributed to different execution times or, more probably, to the arrangement of the rooms in the building structure. The nature of the pigments found in the Thermae of Iulia Concordia appears similar to that found in other Roman villas of Venetia et Histria, with the use of precious pigments such as Egyptian blue and cinnabar.     

DETERMINATION OF PIGMENTS AND BINDERS IN POMPEIAN WALL PAINTINGS USING SYNCHROTRON RADIATION – HIGH‐RESOLUTION X‐RAY POWDER DIFFRACTION AND CONVENTIONAL SPECTROSCOPY – CHROMATOGRAPHY

The employment of synchrotron techniques complemented by conventional laboratory systems has allowed us to deepen and improve our knowledge of Roman wall painting procedures. The palette identified in wall paintings from Pompeii and Herculaneum from the second century bc includes goethite, hematite, cinnabar, glauconite, Egyptian blue, and other components such as calcite and aragonite. Proof of the use of organic binders is provided by FTIR and PY–GC/MS. Therefore, the possibility of the use of ‘a secco’ techniques cannot be ruled out. Pigments in wall paintings are usually found in small percentages and conventional X‐ray diffractometers do not detect them. Synchrotron radiation – high‐resolution X‐ray powder diffraction has allowed identification with only a few micrograms of sample.     

PETROGRAPHY AND PROVENANCE INTERPRETATION OF THE STONE MOULDS FOR BRONZE DAGGERS FROM THE GALDONG PREHISTORIC SITE, REPUBLIC OF KOREA*

This paper presents material characteristics and raw material provenance of the stone moulds for bronze slender daggers from Galdong. This type of bronze dagger is uniquely distributed in the Korean Peninsula and these stone moulds were the first to be found by excavation. The stone moulds were made of igneous hornblendite with course-grained holocrystalline textures. Based on petrological, mineralogical and geochemical characteristics, the original rock materials of the moulds were inferred to be derived from the Jangsu or Namwon areas which are about 50 km away from the excavation site. It is a notable achievement that this provenance study confirmed the domestic production of Korean-styled daggers.