emi-Quantitative Analysis for Pottery Fragments Excavated at Udhruh Site, Jordan Using Non-destructive SR-XRF Analysis Employing Multivariate Statistical Methods

Abstract

This paper presents a multielement analysis of fifteen Ayyubid-Mamluk glazed pottery sherds for determining the chemical composition in order to study their provenance. The tested fragments in this work belong to the historical site of Udhruh in southern Jordan. The chemical analysis for samples has been carried out by using Synchrotron Radiation X-ray Fluorescence Spectrometry (SR-XRF) technique. The semi-quantitative analysis of the elements Fe, Cu, Zn, Br, Rb, Sr, Y, Zr, Nb, Mo, Pd, Ag, Cd and Pb has been applied to the samples using SR-XRF technique. The data were analyzed by using PrincipalComponent Analysis (PCA) and Hierarchical Cluster Analysis (HCA) in order to define groups of different glazed pottery sherds by obtaining information about their similarity and clustering. The results provide persuasive evidence that the Udhruh pottery fragments have at least three different sources of provenance.
Keywords: SR-XRF, Semi-quantitative, Udhruh, Ayyubid-Mamluk pottery, PCA.