Progress of Cryogenics and Isotopes Separation , ISSN: 1582-2575
2010, Volume 13, Issue 1

Metal Content and Isotopic Characterization of Archaeological Samples. 

Abstract

In the field of archaeometry, elemental chemical analysis by determining the maximum possible number of elements has been widely applied on the study of provenance of archaeological pottery. ICP-MS is one of the most important spectrometric multi-elemental analytical techniques for the characterization of solid samples in material science. The use of inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry to provide highly precise and sensitive elemental and isotopic analyses has revolutionized the analytical scene in archaeometry over the past decade.

In the present study, chemical characterization and isotopic ratio of lead and strontium  has been carried out on 15 shards of archaeological pottery originate from Romania and dated on the Neolytical period.  The use of strontium isotopes (⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr) is used in archaeological research to determine migration in prehistoric populations.

Mass spectrometry with inductively coupled plasma technique (ICP-MS) is a convenient and suitable, ²⁰⁶Pb/²⁰⁷Pb ratio can be determined precisely enough to distinguish anthropogenic/ lithogenic source of lead contamination.