THE HISTORY OF THE LAWRENCE BERKELEY NATIONAL LABORATORY INSTRUMENTAL NEUTRON ACTIVATION ANALYSIS PROGRAMME FOR ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND GEOLOGICAL MATERIALS

The Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory pottery provenance group developed standards and instrumental neutron activation analysis (INAA) methods that are used at many archaeometry laboratories around the world. The background and development of ‘Standard Pottery’ and of methods for INAA are descri...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Archaeometry 2007-05, Vol.49 (2), p.201-214
Main Authors: ASARO, F., ADAN-BAYEWITZ, D.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
ANALYSIS OF GEOLOGICAL MATERIALS
CHRONOLOGICAL DIFFERENTIATION
Generalities
HIGH-PRECISION X-RAY FLUORESCENCE ANALYSIS
INSTRUMENTAL NEUTRON ACTIVATION ANALYSIS
ISADORE PERLMAN
LABORATORY HISTORY
LAWRENCE BERKELEY NATIONAL LABORATORY
Metal industry
Methodology and general studies
Organisation and history of research
POTTERY PROVENANCE
Prehistory and protohistory
SILVER
Typology, technology and attribute analysis
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Summary:The Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory pottery provenance group developed standards and instrumental neutron activation analysis (INAA) methods that are used at many archaeometry laboratories around the world. The background and development of ‘Standard Pottery’ and of methods for INAA are described. Early pottery provenance studies are described, and other research programmes, involving obsidian and magmatic mixing, the origin of the stone used for the Colossi of Memnon, and the ‘Plate of Brass’, are mentioned. Research work by the Laboratory included the discovery of the world‐wide iridium anomaly and extensive subsequent research on what has come to be known as the ‘Asteroid Impact Theory’. Characteristics of the analytical programme for pottery provenance work, including overall aims, precision and accuracy, intercalibration, and irradiation and measurement protocols, are discussed. New research areas developed in the past 15 years, to broaden the usefulness of chemical compositional data for archaeological investigation, and examples of recent work, are described. This research, which makes use of high‐precision X‐ray fluorescence analysis in addition to INAA measurements on sample splits, includes distinguishing the products of different workshops located at the same production site, studies on the significance of the distribution of silver in archaeological pottery and the use of high‐precision chemical compositional data as an aid for making chronological distinctions.
ISSN:0003-813X
1475-4754
DOI:10.1111/j.1475-4754.2007.00296.x