The key role of micro-Raman spectroscopy in the study of ancient pottery: the case of pre-classical Jordanian ceramics from the archaeological site of Khirbet al-Batrawy

Micro‐Raman spectroscopy and ancient ceramics: applications and problems

“…The raw material of pottery from Khirbet al‐Batrawy was most likely composed by an illitic clay containing quartz, feldspars and minor amounts of iron oxides and hydroxides. The occurrence of feldspars, ilmenite, zircon, apatite, olivine, barite, lazurite and corundum supports the hypothesis of a significant contribution of sedimentary rocks deriving from the weathering of igneous and metamorphic rocks outcropping in the area …”

“…In this paper, additional μ‐Raman data along with a review of the relevant data of pottery from Motya (Sicily, Italy) and Khirbet al‐Batrawy (Jordan) allowed to explore the potential of Raman spectroscopy as a sensitive tool in the characterization of two classes of ancient ceramic showing different features and technological background. Raman results have been compared with those obtained applying optical microscopy (OM), X‐ray diffraction (XRD) and electron microscopy (SEM‐EDAX) …”

Technological fingerprints of the Early Bronze Age clay figurines from Tell Mardikh-Ebla (Syria)

“…In the case of Ebla figurines, macroscopic observation showed a colour of the ceramic body ranging from grey-beige to red-brown; such feature is consistent with a firing of a calcareous paste in oxidizing conditions [41][42][43][44].…”

Raman spectroscopy of minerals and mineral pigments in archaeometry

“…Because of the strong heterogeneity of the material, Raman spectroscopy is not the best technique to obtain the average composition of a ceramic because it is mostly a ‘point’ technique, analysing a very small amount of material in each measurement, and because of the large difference in scattering efficiency of the different minerals . Nevertheless, especially when used in combination with different, more averaged ‘volume’ techniques, such as X‐Ray diffraction (XRD) or neutron diffraction, Raman spectroscopy can give interesting results, especially on the minor phases, hardly detected with other techniques, in a noninvasive way. For that reason, the coupling of Raman spectroscopy with optical or electron microscopy and a diffraction technique is the most typical combination in publications involving Raman study of ceramics.…”

“…Titanium oxides (anatase, rutile and brookite) are detected by Raman spectroscopy in a very large number of studies on archaeological pottery, even when present in a small amount, as a result of their huge Raman signal and their diffusion in many geological environments. This fact gave rise to some debated cases: the Raman spectra obtained on white decorations in many ceramics, coming from different areas and with very different ages, showed the strong spectrum of anatase as a main Raman feature, like it was painted by ‘titanium white’, which was synthesized only at the beginning of 20th century.…”