In San Francesco square in Catania it was found one of the most important votive complexes of the Western Mediterranean area. The votive deposit includes materials from the beginning of the sixth century B.C. to the fourth century B.C. A considerable quantity of Archaic fine pottery, imported from Eastern Greece as well as Athens, Corinth and Sparta has been discovered during the excavation. Protomes (both imported and locally produced), plastic vases, korai figurines in Archaic dress and female statuettes with pig, were included among the excavated coroplastic material. Moreover, within the votive deposit it has been found a group of vases that, on the base of a visual examination, could be ascribed to an homogeneous class. Their characteristics are not related to other imported wares certainly identified; the clay, the glaze used for the geometric decoration, the recurrence of shapes, seems to indicate a local production connected with the cultual practices of the sanctuary. In order to evaluate the homogeneity of the clay within this class and consequently to identify a common production centre, 67 sherds of different pottery shapes have been analysed by means of the non destructive XRF technique. Measurements have been performed by using a portable XRF system entirely designed and realised at the LNS/INFN LANDIS laboratory. It consists of a Si(Li) detector coupled to a measurement head containing three 109Cd radioactive sources and three 55Fe sources arranged in an annular geometry. One set of sources can be selected with a simple rotating device. The 55Fe source (Ex=5.9 keV) allow the qualitative analysis of the sample matrix whereas the 109Cd one (Ex=22.1 keV) excite some important trace elements like Rb, Sr, Y, Zr, Mo and Nb. The X-rays energies emitted from these elements are high enough to reduce surface effects. The absolute concentration of the trace elements has been determined by means of a new method based, through a multi-linear regression approach, on the existing relation between the net fluorescence counts and the concentration. In order to highlight the differences with other typologies of certainly attributed wares, a multivariate cluster analysis on compositional data has been performed. The 67 samples, resulted clustered in a well defined class, well separated from other typologies of pottery, strongly suggesting the existence of a single production workshop for their manufacture. At this stage a petrological-chemical analysis, limited to only a few samples, will help to establish the provenance of the whole class.
Identification of a class of pottery within the votive deposit of Demetra sanctuary in Catania by using a non-destructive XRF method
A Pautasso;FP Romano;
2002
Abstract
In San Francesco square in Catania it was found one of the most important votive complexes of the Western Mediterranean area. The votive deposit includes materials from the beginning of the sixth century B.C. to the fourth century B.C. A considerable quantity of Archaic fine pottery, imported from Eastern Greece as well as Athens, Corinth and Sparta has been discovered during the excavation. Protomes (both imported and locally produced), plastic vases, korai figurines in Archaic dress and female statuettes with pig, were included among the excavated coroplastic material. Moreover, within the votive deposit it has been found a group of vases that, on the base of a visual examination, could be ascribed to an homogeneous class. Their characteristics are not related to other imported wares certainly identified; the clay, the glaze used for the geometric decoration, the recurrence of shapes, seems to indicate a local production connected with the cultual practices of the sanctuary. In order to evaluate the homogeneity of the clay within this class and consequently to identify a common production centre, 67 sherds of different pottery shapes have been analysed by means of the non destructive XRF technique. Measurements have been performed by using a portable XRF system entirely designed and realised at the LNS/INFN LANDIS laboratory. It consists of a Si(Li) detector coupled to a measurement head containing three 109Cd radioactive sources and three 55Fe sources arranged in an annular geometry. One set of sources can be selected with a simple rotating device. The 55Fe source (Ex=5.9 keV) allow the qualitative analysis of the sample matrix whereas the 109Cd one (Ex=22.1 keV) excite some important trace elements like Rb, Sr, Y, Zr, Mo and Nb. The X-rays energies emitted from these elements are high enough to reduce surface effects. The absolute concentration of the trace elements has been determined by means of a new method based, through a multi-linear regression approach, on the existing relation between the net fluorescence counts and the concentration. In order to highlight the differences with other typologies of certainly attributed wares, a multivariate cluster analysis on compositional data has been performed. The 67 samples, resulted clustered in a well defined class, well separated from other typologies of pottery, strongly suggesting the existence of a single production workshop for their manufacture. At this stage a petrological-chemical analysis, limited to only a few samples, will help to establish the provenance of the whole class.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
