Chemical characterisation of ancient pottery from south of Italy by inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectroscopy (ICP-AES) statistical multivariate analysis of data

Chemical characterisation has been carried out on 58 fragments of archaeological pottery from pre-classical sites in Apulia and Lucania, regions in southern Italy. Fourteen elements were determined by atomic emission spectroscopy by using inductively coupled plasma source. Statistical techniques, such as principal component analysis and clustering analysis, have been utilised to define grouping of different pottery items. Tests performed showed that the analysed shards were differentiable mainly by age and provenance. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.