Journal of Archaeological Science
Author:
Keywords:
Science & Technology, Social Sciences, Life Sciences & Biomedicine, Physical Sciences, Anthropology, Archaeology, Geosciences, Multidisciplinary, Geology, Ceramics, Provenance, Clay raw material, Sagalassos, Petrography, Geochemical analysis, Electron microprobe analysis, SOUTHWEST TURKEY, 0402 Geochemistry, 0403 Geology, 2101 Archaeology, 4301 Archaeology
Abstract:
A provenance study was carried out on coarse ceramics from the Classical/Hellenistic to Mid-Byzantine city of Sagalassos, SW Turkey. The ceramics were sampled from the excavations of the city, and clay raw materials were sampled throughout its ancient territory. Used techniques were optical microscopy and electron microprobe analysis on thin sections, geochemical analysis (fusion ICP/MS and mineralogical analysis (X-ray diffraction). The geochemical/mineralogical diversity in the ceramics is not as wide as for the clay raw materials. It seems that even at the restricted scale of this study, the resources were limited to the area around the ancient site. The differences between the ceramics are likely due to the use of different ophiolitic clay bodies being exploited for their production. © 2012 Elsevier Ltd.