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ToF‐SIMS investigation of ancient ceramics from the Quartaia Site, Tuscany (Italy)
Author(s) -
Tognazzi Antonio,
Dattilo Arduino Massimo,
Bracchini Luca,
Aggravi Marianna,
Benetti Francesca,
Mugnaini Edoardo,
Magnani Agnese,
Rossi Claudio
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
surface and interface analysis
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.52
H-Index - 90
eISSN - 1096-9918
pISSN - 0142-2421
DOI - 10.1002/sia.3286
Subject(s) - ceramic , secondary ion mass spectrometry , scanning electron microscope , analytical chemistry (journal) , mineralogy , chemistry , mass spectrometry , atomic absorption spectroscopy , materials science , metallurgy , environmental chemistry , composite material , chromatography , physics , quantum mechanics
The study of ancient ceramic fragments provides important information about the production technology that characterized a certain civilization. In this work, time‐of‐flight secondary ion mass spectrometry (ToF‐SIMS), atomic absorption spectroscopy(AAS) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) were used to study two types of ceramics having different impasto (depurata and non‐depurata ceramics). Ancient fragments, belonging to the archeological site of Quartaia (Tuscany, Italy), were examined to obtain chemical and spatial information on inorganic and organic components. The results revealed the presence of the major elements, i.e. Al, Mg, Na, K, Ca, Si, Fe; minor elements, i.e. Cr, Cu, Mn, Pb; and organic components adsorbed during the firing process, both in depurata and non‐depurata ceramics. In addition, through ToF‐SIMS imaging, it was possible to highlight inorganic components, i.e. Na, Ca, Fe, K and Mg, that showed an inhomogeneous spatial distribution in non‐depurata ceramics. These chemical elements appear to be concentrated inside the inclusions of the non‐depurata ceramics impasto. These unique results demonstrated that ToF‐SIMS is a potential tool to reveal important aspects of the Quartaia ceramic production technology and it results in a very promising technique for the archeological studies. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.