PIXE analysis and provenance study of archaeological potsherds from West Africa

Loose‐powder technique for X‐ray fluorescence analysis of ancient pottery using a small (100 mg) powdered sample

“…These potteries have been characterized on the basis of their external appearance – color, design, shape, and so on – and/or analyses of the paste and glaze components using a scientific approach. Notably, the elemental composition of pottery is highly useful for identifying its provenance, and various types of instrumental analyses have been used, including scanning electron microscope–energy‐dispersive X‐ray spectrometry (SEM–EDX), atomic absorption spectrometry (AAS), inductively coupled plasma–atomic emission spectrometry (ICP–AES), inductively coupled plasma–mass spectrometry (ICP–MS), instrumental neutron activation analysis (INAA), particle‐induced X‐ray emission analysis (PIXE), and X‐ray fluorescence (XRF) spectrometry …”

“…However, these sample‐destructive techniques have certain problems as follows: extreme dilution is necessary for the analysis of major elements (these techniques are too sensitive to determine major analytes), which may lead to experimental errors and accidental contamination, and silicon, often a major constituent of pottery, cannot be measured because it will be lost during acid decomposition using hydrofluoric acid. Also, techniques such as INAA and PIXE let us analyze ceramics items nondestructively or using samples of only a few milligrams (100 mg for both INAA and PIXE). Although these methods are highly sensitive to ultra‐trace elements, their application is impractical because the former requires a nuclear reactor and the latter an ion accelerator.…”