Automated SEM‐EDS pottery classification based on minero‐chemical quantitative parameters: An application on ancient Greek pottery from Adrano (NE Sicily, Italy)

Abstract

A new SEM‐EDS procedure for ancient ceramic classification, based on the automated acquisition and the semiautomated processing of multi‐elemental X‐ray maps, is described. Based on the detection of each aplastic inclusion, the procedure allows to simultaneously obtain a quantitative evaluation of both the inclusion mineral–chemical composition and the ceramic matrix chemical composition. The two data sets can individually or jointly be subjected to statistical methods. The proposed protocol was applied on a set of 22 samples of black glaze pottery from Adrano (north‐eastern Sicily), Hellenistic age (4th to 2nd centuries B.C.). Two main groups emerged from the application of the procedure, mainly distinguished for their quartz–feldspars versus calcium–aluminosilicate relative abundance as the inclusion mineral–chemical composition is concerned and for their matrix SiO2 versus CaO. The classification based on the inclusion mineral–chemical data obtained with the proposed method mirrors the results from the traditional OM observation, but when the two data sets are simultaneously considered, a subtler differentiation is observed with the separation of one of the groups in two subgroups, allowing to refine the partition.