Characterization of Byzantine pottery from Oltina (Constanţa County), Romania, using PIXE and Optical Microscopy

Abstract An assemblage of 58 ceramic shards discovered in archaeological excavations at Oltina, Romania, dated to the 10th-11th century CE, was subjected to archaeometric investigations in order to reveal the raw materials and manufacturing techniques employed by the potters from the Lower Danube zone during the Byzantine ruling. The initial grouping of the shards according to stylistic criteria was refined by the subsequent petrographic study. Optical Microscopy (OM) detailed the general mineralogy and the pottery fabric, i.e. the textural characteristics, porosity and microstructure, surface treatments and firing. The PIXE analyses of potteries performed at AN2000 accelerator of LNL, INFN, Italy led to the identification of the chemical composition of the ceramic shards. The Hierarchical Cluster Analysis of the PIXE data evidenced several categories of shards with distinct compositional signatures, the main division being the one separating the ceramic fragments made of kaolinitic clays from the rest of the Oltina potteries.