Fingerprinting ceramic workshops in the Lusitania Roman world: an appraisal based on elemental characterization by instrumental neutron activation analysis

Abstract

Portuguese occidental and southern coasts comprise the most important ceramic productions centres in the Lusitania province of Roman epoch. The main purpose of this work is to present an appraisal on the compositional patterns of 14 Lusitanian ceramic workshops, by reconstructing their life cycle from the procurement and processing of the raw materials, to trace provenance, trades and their impact in the Roman world. The chemical composition of ceramics and clays was obtained by instrumental neutron activation analysis and mineralogy by X-ray diffraction. The definition of reference groups relied on the use of chemometric techniques for data structure analysis, coupled with geochemical considerations. Results allowed differentiating between and within workshops by establishing geochemical fingerprints.