Samples from nearly 800 Bronze Age pottery sherds from Euboea,
Eastern Boeotia and Eastern Thessaly were analysed together with 9 raw
clays from the same areas. The-analysis was carried out in an attempt
to identify areas of pottery manufacture, to discover the origin of specific
groups of pottery, to relate pottery to, raw clays and to see how
far pottery compositions can be associated with, and predicted by, geology.
The work was done on the same lines as earlier studies at the
Oxford Laboratory and at the British School at Athens. The main analytical
technique used was therefore optical emission spectroscopy. Some
25% of the total number of sherds were also analysed by atomic absorption
spectrophotometry so that the results obtained by the two techniques
could be compared. The interpretation of the results was facilitated
by the use of, computer program packages for cluster and discriminant
analysis.
Both optical emission and atomic absorption analysis resulted in
broadly similar groupings although the absolute concentrations were not
directly comparable. The groupings obtained after atomic absorption
analysis had the narrower concentration ranges. Nine elements were
measured by both techniques but in atomic absorption potassium was added
and proved; useful as an additional discriminant.
Six composition groups were distinguished from the data. One of
them was identified as Euboean, 2 as Boeotian and 3 as coming from different
regions of Thessaly. The greatest movement of pottery within
these areas was from Euboea to Thessaly. No composition group which
originated from outside these regions was identified. Six of the 9
raw clays were associated with the prevailing composition group in the
area from which they came. It was not possible to predict trends in
pottery composition by examination of the local geology.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:BRADFORD/oai:bradscholars.brad.ac.uk:10454/2811 |
| Date | January 1981 |
| Creators | White, Selina |
| Contributors | Warren, Stanley E. |
| Publisher | University of Bradford, Postgraduate School of Studies in Physics |
| Source Sets | Bradford Scholars |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis, doctoral, PhD |
| Rights | <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/"><img alt="Creative Commons License" style="border-width:0" src="http://i.creativecommons.org/l/by-nc-nd/3.0/88x31.png" /></a><br />The University of Bradford theses are licenced under a <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/">Creative Commons Licence</a>. |
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