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Archaeometry at OSU’s Radiation Center |
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Factors affecting ceramic composition: |
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Cultural factors: • Paste recipes for different wares and vessel functions. • Paste preparation (sorting, sifting, refining, mixing clays, adding temper). • Firing.
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Post-depositional factors: • Contamination from ground water and pollutants. • Weathering (hydration) of exposed surfaces. |
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Natural factors: • Parent material mineralogy for both clay and aplastic (mineral) inclusions. • Clay formation processes: erosion, redeposition; sorting of size fractions. • Weathering of clay horizons and loss of mobile cations.
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· Clays are widely distributed across the landscape, and display clinal or continuous variation in composition, making it difficult to distinguish closely spaced clay sources. · Clays are naturally variable, creating greater element diversity within ceramics from same clay source. · Cultural manipulation may obscure or enhance signature of natural clays. · Post-depositional contamination may generate “noise” in data. |
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Several of these factors potentially confound the Provenance Principle. |
