Attempt to Estimate the Origin of Jomon Pottery Excavated in Saitama Prefecture based on the Japanese River Sediments Database

Abstract

In this study, Jomon pottery excavated in Saitama Prefecture was analyzed by synchrotron radiation X-ray powder diffraction (SR-XRD) and high-energy synchrotron radiation X-ray fluorescence analyses (HE-SR-XRF) to reveal the production sites. The compositional data of pottery excavated from each site was compared with the data of Japanese River Sediment Database (JRS-DB) of the surrounding area to examine whether the JRS-DB is effective in the provenance analysis. First, heavy minerals in the pottery were semi-quantified using SR-XRD, and heavy elements were quantified using HE-SR-XRF. Next, we attempted to classify the artifacts excavated from eight sites in Saitama Prefecture by conducting principal component analysis based on the obtained compositional data of heavy minerals and heavy elements. Next, the heavy mineral and heavy element compositions of the pottery excavated from each site were compared with those of the surrounding JRS-DB samples to estimate the local or imported products. As a result, we were able to demonstrate that synchrotron radiation X-ray analysis and JRS-DB are useful for provenance analysis of Jomon pottery .