Characterization and source of Cucuteni black pigment (Romania): vibrational spectrometry and XRD study

A multi-technique characterization and a provenance study of the black pigment used in Cucuteni pottery painting (Neolithic age, Romania) were carried out. 127 Cucuteni shards were analyzed by Raman spectrometry. The main components of this pigment are pyrolusite and/or jacobsite. Hematite and quartz are frequent minor components and Ti oxides were seldom found. The manganiferous corpuscles discovered at Neam? county (eastern part of Romania) were the raw material of the Cucuteni black pigment. The Mn corpuscles were studied using XRD, Raman, FT-IR and Atomic Absorption Spectrometry. The main components are birnessite, goethite and frequently, quartz. Raw material was subjected to a temperature of 750 °C for 6 h and,once cooled, analyzed through Raman and FT-IR spectrometry. Pyrolusite, hematite and quartz were found in the heated powder sample.