Chemical Characterization of Sinopean Archaeological Common Ware : Chemistry Behind Ceramics

Chemical characterization of archaeological common wares is important in order to make quantitative explanations about history and trade relations of nations. Chemistry uses a microscopic point of view by applying spectroscopic methods rather than macroscopic studies that archaeologists usually deal in the structural analysis. The present study is done on the common ware samples which were made of raw clays from Demirci, Sinop, Black Sea Coast of Turkey, because of the geopolitical importance of this region having trade routes. Elemental and mineralogical analyses of the clay-originated common ware samples found in the archaeological excavations and of the clay taken from Demirci region, which locates at almost 15 km southern of Sinop, were made. While the elemental compositions of the samples were obtained by X-Ray Fluorescence, the mineral structures were investigated by Powder X-Ray Diffraction and FT-IR spectroscopy. Furthermore, the characteristic reactions that the clays experienced were determined by Thermal Gravimetric Analysis.In addition, chemometric techniques using statistical methods,e.g. the standard clustering method and principal component analysis was also applied.