Ion beam analysis of pottery from Teotihuacan, Mexico

This work presents the characterization of sherds and pottery paints from Teotihuacan. Mexico, belonging to the Mesoamerican Epiclassic (700-900 AD) and Postclassic (900-1521 AD) periods. A simultaneous analysis by Particle Induced X-ray Emission (PIXE) and Rutherford Backscattering Spectroscopy (RBS) was carried out to measure the elemental composition of pottery and clays sources of the Teotihuacan region. Also, a semiquantitative X-Ray Diffraction study (XRD) was performed to determine the mineralogical phases. From elemental and mineralogical composition, groups of local and foreign sherds were established. Results showed that the PIXE-RBS method combined with XRD proved to be a very powerful and general procedure for archaeological characterization. Moreover, non-vacuum differential PIXE analysis was carried out on colored regions of some representative vessels to study the layered structure of the paints-clay system. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.