A series of corrosion experiments was carried out using identical samples of a ceramic of known composition, structure and density which were subjected to a variety of simulated soil solutions. The action of the solutions was monitored by measuring their pH as a function of time at 25 °C and 90 °C. Under all conditions the pH stabilized rapidly. Microscopic and electron microscopic studies showed the presence of reaction/alteration products that would account for the observed pH changes. The findings indicate that ancient ceramics that exhibit no physical deterioration will have below their surface a composition corresponding to the composition of the sherd at the time of its burial.

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In the mid-fifth millennium B.C., the remarkably homogeneous Dalma ceramic assemblage spread throughout much of the rugged Zagros highlands of north and central western Iran. This study examines Dalma pottery production and distribution patterns by utilizing two distinct kinds of evidence. First, the several diagnostic Dalma wares and their geographical distributions are presented. Second, stylistic and apparent (macroscopic) ware homogeneity is investigated by instrumental neutron activation analysis (INAA). in order to identify local and regional ceramic production and distribution patterns. Stylistic, distributional, and INAA results are then integrated and interpreted in the light of ethnographic data on highland trade and markets, socio-political integration, and highland ethnicity.

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This study attempts both single‐site and regional trace‐element variability assessments focusing on the Kingston Mine, Keweenaw County, Michigan, USA, and other sources of native copper in the Lake Superior region of the United States and Canada. This information is of potential significance to all studies trying to characterize and distinguish between individual mineral sources. It is of particular importance to geoarchaeologists/archaeometrists who are attempting to assign geologic/geographic origin to prehistoric copper artifacts and to those interested in the trace‐element variability (vertically and horizontally) within large ore bodies.

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Cette étude sur la stabilité des céramiques par rapport à leur environnement a été élaborée dans le but d'évaluer les changements dans la composition en éléments-traces des céramiques qui se sont conservées et qui, par ailleurs, ne présentent pas de signes de détérioration physique.

No abstract