Non-destructive characterisation and classification of ceramic artefacts using pEDXRF and statistical pattern recognition

Abstract

BackgroundPortable energy dispersive X-ray fluorescence (pEDXRF) spectrometry analysis was applied for the characterisation of archaeological ceramic findings from three Neolithic sites in Serbia. Two dimension reduction techniques, principal component analysis (PCA) and scattering matrices-based dimension reduction were used to examine the possible classification of those findings, and to extract the most discriminant features.ResultsA decision-making procedure is proposed, whose goal is to classify unknown ceramic findings based on their elemental compositions derived by pEDXRF spectrometry. As a major part of decision-making procedure, the possibilities of two dimension reduction methods were tested. Scattering matrices-based dimension reduction was found to be the more efficient method for the purpose. Linear classifiers designed based on the desired output allowed for 7 of 8 unknown samples from the test set to be correctly classified.ConclusionsBased on the results, the conclusion is that despite the constraints typical of the applied analytical technique, the elemental composition can be considered as viable information in provenience studies. With a fully-developed procedure, ceramic artefacts can be classified based on their elemental composition and well-known provenance.

Synchrotron XANES and ED‐XRF analyses of fine‐paste ware from 13th to 14th century maritime Southeast Asia

“…X‐ray fluorescence (XRF) technique can be used to determine the elemental composition of materials. One of the main attraction of this technique is that it is nondestructive, which makes it very attractive for analysis of samples that are irreplaceable, such as artifacts from an archeological site . The XRF data were analyzed by using statistical approaches to classify samples in to groups based on their compositions .…”

“…One of the main attraction of this technique is that it is nondestructive, which makes it very attractive for analysis of samples that are irreplaceable, such as artifacts from an archeological site . The XRF data were analyzed by using statistical approaches to classify samples in to groups based on their compositions . In addition to commonly used XRF, X‐ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) is a powerful technique for archaeometry studies .…”

Determining the Provenance of Cayo Pottery from Grenada, Lesser Antilles, Using Portable X‐Ray Fluorescence Spectrometry

“…; Gajić‐Kvaščev et al . ; Ownby ); this is partly due to the use of different clay fractions (Papachristodoulou et al . ; Gajić‐Kvaščev et al .…”

“…; Gajić‐Kvaščev et al . ), but can also be related to post‐depositional alteration processes (Papachristodoulou et al . ) and to sample heterogeneity.…”

“…; Gajić‐Kvaščev et al . ) and to non‐destructive, portable techniques such as pXRF (e.g., Mantler and Schreiner ; Wisseman et al . ; Schreiner et al .…”