2021 Volume 52 Pages 1-14
X-ray fluorescence spectrometry (XRF) is used for routine analysis of ancient pottery. Nevertheless, the pottery samples are often difficult to apply sample preparation appropriate to reliability XRF determination due to the limited sampling amount. Then, new specimens for XRF determination were developed to accurately assay the small amount of ancient pottery for the provenance study in archaeology. In this paper, first, importance of specimen preparation for XRF was demonstrated by comparison among the precisions of fluorescent X-ray intensities from three pottery specimens (unprepared pottery, powder pellet and glass bead) made from one pottery shard and estimation of escape depth of the X-ray assuming direct measurement of Japanese pottery. Next, synthetic calibration standards were reviewed. The standards were produced in imitation of the chemical compositions of Japanese pottery. Finally, the following preparation techniques were devised as a means to measure precious and limited ancient pottery sample: (1) molded-loose-powder technique using 100 mg of powered sample; (2) micro-sized glass bead specimen using 1.1 mg of powdered sample; and (3) a low dilution, undersized (12.5 mm diameter) glass bead specimen using 200 mg of powdered sample.
