Pottery Analysis by Neutron Activation

Refractory trace elements in Ca-Al-rich inclusions in the Allende meteorite

“…Duplicate 25mg diquots of the silicate rock standards GSP-1, BCR-1, G-l and the 'standard pot' (PERLMAN and ASARO, 1969;TUREKIAN and KIIA~KAR, 19'70) were treated in exactly the same way as the samples and used as monitors for all elements except Ir and Au.…”

Standardisation of elemental analytical techniques applied to provenance studies of archaeological ceramics: an inter laboratory calibration studyElectronic supplementary information (ESI) available: five tabular appendices giving element concentrations measured in reference materials. See http://www.rsc.org/suppdata/an/b1/b109603f/

“…The first analytical projects concerning the analysis of pottery were carried out with Optical Emission Spectrometry (OES) [9] and later with Neutron Activation Analysis (NAA) [10] and Atomic Absorption Spectrometry (AAS) [11]. Nowadays, the most widely employed technique in pottery provenance studies is NAA, followed by X-Ray Florescence Analysis (XRF) and in a lesser extent (and as an alternative to the analysis by OES and AAS) by Inductively Coupled Plasma Spectrometry (ICPS).…”

Neutron activation techniques for the measurement of trace metals in environmental samples

“…Standards should be prepared in a matrix as close to the sample matrix as practically possible in order to minimize problems such as neutron self-shielding, irreproducible activation geometries and interfering nuclear reactions. Perlman and Asaro (1969) have discussed in some detail the necessity of carefully preparing standards in the same geometries and matrices which match, as closely as possible, that of the samples. For example, when neutron activating large quantities of sea salts, the elemental standards should be added to an equivalent amount of NaCl encapsuled in the same geometry as the sample.…”