Ricerc@Sapienza

A joint approach based on the Neutron Resonance Capture Analysis (NRCA) integrated by chemometric tools namely Principal Component Analysis (PCA) is used to determine the semi-quantitative isotopic composition of a large set of Sumerian pottery. Here, we present NRCA results from the experimental campaign carried out on the INES beamline at the ISIS pulsed neutron and muon source (Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, UK).

Pottery is the most common material found in archaeological excavations and is used as the main tool for chronological dating. Due to the geopolitical instability of the Middle East during the latter part of the last century until recent years, Sumerian pottery studies and analyses are limited. The resumption of archaeological excavations in Iraq during the last ten years allows the acquisition of new information and the study of archaeological material excavated through modern stratigraphic methodologies.