A rapid method of screening ceramic artefacts to reject unlikely hypotheses of provenance

Abstract

This study was aimed at testing a cost‐effective method based on comparing the rare earth element patterns in artefacts of known origin with patterns of potential raw materials, thus allowing the restriction/exclusion of working hypotheses on provenance, and consequently a better focus of research funding. The method targets ceramics/materials of terrigenous origin. Lanthanoids and yttrium patterns were determined in 26 wine amphorae that had a well‐established geographical origin from the Nuovo Mercato Testaccio in Rome, and these patterns were compared to plausible terrigenous materials from various ancient Roman regions. The point was not to pinpoint the origins of the material, but rather to rule out possible areas of origin. On both a national and a regional scale, we were able to exclude some regions of origin for these amphorae that would otherwise have been largely plausible. This method does not require sampling from already known kiln/extraction sites. Moreover, if maps of all rare earth elements in soils become available on a regional scale, it could be possible to obtain a level of discriminatory detail in the range of a few tens of kilometres.