X‐ray compositional microanalysis and diffraction studies of Haltern 70 amphorae sherds

Haltern 70 amphorae sherds from excavations at Castro do Vieito, north of Portugal, and amphora sherds found inside kilns from Baetican and Lusitanian provinces of the Roman Empire are studied by X‐ray diffraction and X‐ray fluorescence (scanning electron microscopy/energy‐dispersive X‐ray spectroscopy). The comparison of these results is also made. The chosen methods give the possibility to determine element composition of the pottery, which is already fired, and thus try to single out the match of the two series of amphorae sherds. From the chemical analysis, the Castro do Vieito sherds are very homogeneous, but this is not the case of the sherds collected in the overall kilns. Vieito sherds have nearly no Na content, and Al content is about 9 wt% as well as samples from kilns from Medium Guadalquivir, Cadiz Bay and Guadiana estuary. Ca content in Vieito sherds are about 1 wt% and in amphorae kilns sherds except in the case of samples from Puerto Real and Arva, where Ca concentration is about 5 wt% and Lebrija and Pinguele where Ca concentration is about 10 wt%. The main conclusion drawn is that the provenance of Castro do Vieito sherds seems to be confirmed as being from Baetica (actual Andaluzia) because of the aforementioned reasons together with the fact that the elements found in the sherds are the same as the ones known to belong to raw materials from Baetica. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.