2013 Volume 62 Issue 2 Pages 73-87
An archeo-scientifc study of ancient ceramics aims to contribute to reconstructing the history of non-literate and prehistoric societies. For this purpose, it would be especially significant to uncover the relationship between the production and supply of ceramics in those societies. Sue ware is the most abundantly produced type of ceramics in ancient times, and many kiln sites of Sue ware have been discovered and studied throughout Japan. Hence, we chose this representative type of ancient ceramics as a study subject to develop an X-ray fluorescence method to investigate the provenance of the ceramics. A comparison among the fluorescent spectrums, which were obtained from the excavated Sue wares, revealed that the fluorescent spectrums of K, Ca, Rb and Sr showed region-specific patterns, and thus the kiln sites can be clearly distinguished with the charts of K-Ca and Rb-Sr. The charts of granitic rocks that constitute a basement of Japanese islands showed similar regional specificities, suggesting that the region-specific pattern of the fluorescent spectrum of Sue ware is due to its main component, feldspar, in terms of petrology. A discriminant analysis on the excavated Sue wares from kiln sites and Kofun tumuli revealed that the product from Izumi-Suemura, Osaka, the largest Sue ware production site in the Kofun period, were supplied to all of Japan in a unilateral way, indicating the effectiveness of this method. The method could also be applied to archaeological studies on the ceramics of the ancient and middle ages, such as the issue of production and supply of Haniwa ware that was arranged around Kofun tumulus. Thus, analytical chemistry is very useful for archaeological science of ancient ceramics, suggesting a new way to conduct ceramic archaeology, in which an analytical chemist would participate.
