Vrije Universiteit Brussel

Provenance Study

Pottery and clay provenance

A part of this project concerns the identification of the provenance of the raw material used in production of pottery and potential source changes during the Late Bronze Age on the Hala Sultan Tekke archaeological site.

Trace and major elements are widely used as tracers in provenance studies for pottery (e.g. Ben-Shlomo et al, 2007; Li et al, 2005; Mommsen, 2003; Gomez et al, 2002), on clay tablets (Goren et al, 2004), to characterize the geochemistry of potential raw material (e.g. Hein et al, 2004a; Hein et al, 2004b). Lead isotopes are commonly used on metallic artefacts (e.g. Niederschlag et al, 2003; Pike et al, 2007) or artefacts presenting a high lead content as glasses or glazes on pottery (e.g. Wolf et al, 2003) but not or rarely on the pottery itself. In this project, the use of lead and strontium isotopic signatures as tracers for pottery sources will be tested. Isotopic analysis will be coupled to elemental geochemistry (major and trace elements) and applied to sherds and sediments selected as potential raw material. Mineralogy is also analyzed.

Sampling

During a prospective fieldtrip in 2005, a first set of 13 samples, selected as potential raw material, were collected in the surroundings of the Hala Sultan Tekke site.

Modified after Geological Map 1995, Cyprus Geological Survey

In parallel, a set of 18 sherds representing the most common pottery types of the Late Bronze Age in Hala Sultan Tekke were selected.

misfired sherd sample
Canaanite sherd sample
White Slip sherd sample

Results

Lead isotopic ratios were measured on these two sets of samples and show that thirteen sherds including two misfired (i.e. local products) display lead isotopic composition similar to the signature of one cluster of sediments. This observation implies that very local sources were used for the pottery production at this site during a part of the Late Bronze Age. However, three of the sherds display unambiguously different lead isotopic signatures. Based on archaeological observations, one originates from the Levant, while the two others were excavated from older layers. These preliminary results show the effectiveness of lead isotopes for tracing pottery provenance in Cyprus and are published (pdf version).

Diagram showing preliminary results

207Pb/204Pb vs 206Pb/204Pb biplot. Black circles: sherds; white diamonds: outcrop samples; grey area: isotopically homogeneous sherds, white areas: outcrop samples fields (from Renson et al, 2007).

During a second fieldtrip in 2007, a larger range of sediments and rocks, were collected in the area of the site and in south-east Cyprus. Different Quaternary clayey sediments, different marls (Paleogene Lefkara formation, Neogene Pakhna and Nicosia formations), Cretaceous clays, clayey sediments coming from the weathering of the ophiolitic rocks, … were collected. Lead isotopic ratios and elemental concentrations are being measured on these samples.

2008-2009

In 2008, around 100 more sherds will be analyzed in order to set up a database. This record will contain lead isotopic results from different sites in (Sanidha, Alassa, Enkomi, Amathus) and outside Cyprus (Tel Kazel, Tel Tweini?, Ugarit?) and different periods (for a complete list see annexe). It will enable us to develop a reference database to compare lead isotopes compositions from sediments and pottery from different periods from all over the Eastern Mediterranean.

More information concerning the fieldtrip in 2008 and 2009, can be found here. A more in-depth study concrning our new measurements, methodology and results is in progress.

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