Ceramics provenience: chemical analysis of ceramics and clays in Eastern Hungary via LA-ICP-MS

Summary

This project explores the provenience of ceramics found at the Bronze Age Békés 103 cemetery. By answering the question of where these ceramics came from, it is possible to hypothesize which Bronze Age communities used the cemetery. To do this, clays were collected throughout Eastern Hungary for chemical analysis. Clay is often found along river banks, but many modern rivers may have been polluted. Instead, paleo-meanders of modern rivers were chosen as collection sites; these were identified using QGIS. This revealed the chemical variability found throughout the region. Then, by comparing the chemical composition of the clays to that of the Békés 103 ceramics, the farthest possible extent of cemetery usage was determined. Preliminary analysis of the clays was performed using XRF. Both the ceramics and the clays were analyzed by LA-ICP-MS.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 82nd Annual Meeting, Vancouver, BC (2017)   •
• Learning about the Past with Fragments from the Fire: Student Research on an NSF-REU Field School

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Spatial Coverage

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 16863