Radiation Physics and Chemistry 162 (2019) 114–120

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Radiation Physics and Chemistry

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/radphyschem

FT-IR, XRD, SEM-EDS, EDXRF and chemometric analyses of archaeological T

artifacts recently excavated from Chandravalli in Karnataka State, South
India
D. Seethaa, G. Velrajb,
⁎

a
Department of Physics, Periyar University, Salem 600011, Tamilnadu, India
b
Department of Physics, Anna University, Chennai 600025, Tamilnadu, India

ARTICLE INFO ABSTRACT

Keywords: In the present study, eight samples were selected for the spectroscopy, microscopy, X-ray diffraction and
Artifacts Chemometric analyses. All these samples were collected from the Chandravalli site located in Karnataka, South
FT-IR India. The firing technology (firing temperature and conditions) involved in the artifacts during manufacturing
XRD due to its mineralogical composition determined by FT-IR and XRD. Through vitrification factors and the high
SEM-EDS
firing limit of the artifacts are correlated with the above results obtained by scanning electron microscope (SEM).
EDXRF
Chemometric analysis
The nature of the clay and refractory behavior are explained in detail through EDS and EDXRF analyses. The
SiO2/Al2O3 cluster and factor analysis are used to grouping/provenance study of the artifacts. In addition to that, the ele-
mental oxide ratio is performed to the confirmation of grouping of artifacts.

1. Introduction pottery. On the basis of the high temperature phases present, it is

Archaeology is the discipline which deals with Man's past through
the study of the material remains that have been left behind. It is a
common fallacy that archaeology is about things – objects, monuments,
landscapes. It is not about people, i.e. archaeology is concerned with
the full range of past human experience – how people organized
themselves into social groups and exploited their surroundings; what
they ate, made, and believed; how they communicated and why their
societies changed. For example, communication, technology sharing,
and trade between different ancient cities can be revealed on the basis
of similarity of materials found in archaeological sites. A large variety
of modern analytical techniques have been successfully applied in the
analysis of ancient materials to uncovering the information of historical
and artistic significance.
Farmer and Russell (1966) analyzed the archaeological artifacts
with the help of Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. From the in-
frared spectra, the mineralogy and firing temperature of archaeological
artifacts were obtained. According to Ramasamy et al., the crystallinity
index was obtained with help of FT-IR intensity peaks at 777 and
697 cm−1 (Ramasamy et al., 2009). Maggetti (1982) and Alam et al.
(2008) states that X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) had an important role in the
identification of the high temperature phases of clay minerals such as,
wollastonite, anorthite, diopside and mullite formed during the firing of
normally possible to estimate the firing temperatures employed in the
productions of the pottery. Tite and Maniatis (1975a) have studied the
microstructure to determine the upper limit/range of firing temperature
of artifacts by scanning electron microscopy (SEM).
The elemental composition obtained by EDS and EDXRF analyses.
Various elements in different composition decide the provenance of
artifacts. Thus the represented artifacts are grouped based on these
chemical profiles by using the Chemometric analysis such as Cluster
Analysis (CA) and Factor Analysis (FA). The different groups of mi-
nerals indicate that the artifacts might have been manufactured with
different sources. Also the calculated elemental oxide ratio helps to
confirm the results of Chemometric analyses. Grouping of artifacts was
carried out using the ratios of SiO2 to Al2O3 concentrations, due to their
non-volatile nature (Dasari et al., 2014a). Provenance studies involve
the use of particular artifact traits to establish where the piece was
manufactured or the source of the raw materials from which it was
made.
2. Materials and methods
2.1. Chandravalli (14° 12' 40'' N, 76° 23' 04'' E) site details
Totally eight samples were collected from Chandravalli

⁎
Corresponding author.
E-mail address: gvelraj@annauniv.edu (G. Velraj).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.radphyschem.2019.03.017
Received 17 October 2017; Received in revised form 5 March 2019; Accepted 14 March 2019
Available online 18 April 2019
0969-806X/ © 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
D. Seetha and G. Velraj
Plate 1. Archaeological potshards of Chandravalli site.
archaeological site and all are red ware excavated from different
depths. Among these eight shards six are pot shards and the remaining
two are sprinkler which was used in the early historic period is shown
as in Plate 1. Chandravalli is an archaeological site located in the
Chitradurga district of the state of Karnataka, India. The region is a
valley formed by three hills, Chitradurga, Kirabanakallu and Chola-
gudda. Excavations at Chandravalli have revealed earthen pots, painted
bowls, sprinkles and coins of Indian dynasties belonging to 2nd Century
BC. Chandravalli is pre-historic archaeological site and found that the
human habitation existed during the Iron Age.
Other objects found included neoliths, a cist with a skeleton in it,
pots containing bones and teeth of animals and a Roman bulla. One of
the cists also appeared to contain the legs of a sarcophagus. A rock
inscription seen near Bhairaweshvara temple here links Chandravalli to
the reign of Kadamba Mayura Verma (The Hindu (Daily News maga-
zine), 2013).
2.2. Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy
In the present study, the FT-IR spectra were recorded in the mid-
infrared region (4000–400 cm−1) in an evacuated chamber of Bruker
Tensor 27 spectrometer using KBr discs as matrices. The spectral re-
solution of ± 2 cm−1 was used and the spectra were accumulated over
16 scans. The selected sample is crushed and ground with KBr which is
pelletized as disc. The ground sample and KBr are mixed in the ratio of
1:20 respectively. The peaks were recorded by using the OPUS 6.5
software.
2.3. X-ray diffraction (XRD)
For X-ray diffraction analysis, a small fragment of the specimen of
about 0.2 g of the sample was ground manually by using agate mortar.
Thirty milligrams of the powdered sample were homogeneously dis-
persed on a cover glass which served as a sample holder in the X-ray
diffractometer. Subsequently, the X-ray diffraction patterns were ob-
tained at ambient temperature with a Rigaku miniflex II diffractometer
using CuKα radiation of λ = 1.5406 Å. Diffraction patterns were re-
corded in 2θ angle in the range of 20–80°.
2.4. Scanning electron microscopy - energy dispersive (SEM-EDS)
spectroscopy
The morphological investigations were undertaken on a JEOL, JSM-
6390 scanning electron microscope at an accelerating voltage of 20 kV
and a beam current of 1–3 nA. SEM images were obtained by either
secondary electrons (SE) or back-scattered electrons (BSE).
The instrument is equipped with an energy dispersive spectrometer
(EDS) system, for the analysis of the X-rays emitted by the sample to
determine the elemental composition for elemental identification
during SEM observations. Pure element oxides and natural minerals
were used as standards for the quantitative analysis. There is no isolated
sample preparation for this analysis.
115
Radiation Physics and Chemistry 162 (2019) 114–120
2.5. Energy dispersive X-ray fluorescence (EDXRF) spectroscopy
The chemical compositions of the specimens were determined by
Energy Dispersive X-ray Fluorescence (EDXRF), with a fully compu-
terized EDX-720 XRF Energy Dispersive spectrometer on pressed pel-
lets. The spectrometer equipped with X-ray tube that has rhodium (Rh)
as the standard anode material, a high-energy resolution Si (Li) de-
tector, and five primary X-ray filters. Firstly the samples were finely
powdered in an agate mortar. The measurements were performed from
homogenized powder samples. All the elements in the periodic table
from Sodium to Uranium can be measured qualitatively and quantita-
tively in powders, solids and liquids. The DXP-700E software package
version 1.00 is used for X-ray spectrometers.
2.6. Chemometric analysis - software details
The statistical methods such as cluster analysis and factor analysis
were performed with the help of WINSTAT Excel and SPSS 16.0 soft-
ware packages respectively. Factor analysis and the cluster analysis are
a common approach used as a tool to examine graphically the grouping
pattern of the samples in terms of chemical composition (Ravisankar,
2013). The two components methods have been frequently used for the
study of the provenance of potteries. In this study, the elemental con-
centrations have been processed using factor analysis and cluster ana-
lysis, in order to determine similarities and correlation between various
samples. Petrographic and structural analysis can provide valuable in-
formation about provenance of archaeological materials (Neff, 2000;
Neff, 2001; Edward, 2000; Wilson and Pollard, 2001). In the cluster
analysis among the various parameters the simple linkage and Eu-
clidean distance were used to grouping the artifacts.
3. Results and discussion
3.1. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR)
The FT-IR spectrum and the tentative vibrational assignments of
archaeological artifacts recently excavated from Chandravalli are
shown in Fig. 1 and Table 1 respectively. All the remaining spectra are
given in the Supporting information. The strong to medium intensity
band at around 3434 cm−1 are assigned to O-H stretching of absorbed
water molecules mostly during burial period (Russell, 1987). The weak
peaks at around 2855 and 2925 cm−1 belong to C-H stretching vibra-
tions and indicate the presence of organic material (Shoval, 1994).
Many of the calcite bands are present in the Chandravalli pot shards,
such as the very weak bands at around 1880, 1792, 1421 and 728 cm−1
(Maritan, 2006). Calcite is the most common carbonate mineral in
clays. Generally, the calcite were beginning to decompose into CaO and
Fig. 1. FT-IR spectrum of Chandravalli (CDL1) potshard.
D. Seetha and G. Velraj Radiation Physics and Chemistry 162 (2019) 114–120

Table 1
Infrared absorption frequencies (cm−1) with relative intensities of Chandravalli potshards and tentative vibrational assignments.
FT-IR absorption bands in wavenumber (cm−1) with Relative Intensities Tentative Vibrational Assignments

CDL1 CDL2 CDL3 CDL4 CDL5 CDL6 CDL7 CDL8

3437S 3430S 3432S 3432M 3439M 3434M 3432S 3443VS O-H str. of adsorbed water
2925W 2927VW 2927VW 2925VW 2927VW 2929VW – – C-H str. of organic contaminants
2855VW 2857VW 2855VW 2857VW – – – – C-H str. of organic contaminant
1878VW 1876VW 1890VW 1878VW 1883VW 1876VW 1878VW 1880VW C-O str. of calcite
– – – 1792VW – 1797VW – – C-O str. of calcite
1631M 1635M 1637W 1625W 1633W 1631W 1635W 1635M H-O-H stretching of adsorbed water
– – – 1421W – 1427S – – C-O str. of calcite
– – – 1076VS – – – – Al-Si-O str. of amorphous aluminosilicates
– – – – – 1058VS – – Si-O str. of clay minerals
1046VS 1048VS 1046VS – 1044VS – 1042VS 1038VS Si-O str. of clay minerals
– – 795W – 793S – 795S 795M Si-O bending of quartz
777S 781S 777M 779S 777S 781M 777S 779M Si-O bending of quartz
730W 742W 728W – 730W – – – C-O str. of calcite
691W 691W 693VW 695W 693VW 693VW 691M 691W Si-O bending of quartz
646VW 646VW 646VW 646VW 646W – – – Al-O-Si str. of feldspar
– – – 579W 579M – – – Fe-O bending of Magnetite
530M 528M 534M 532W – 532W – 526S Fe-O bending of Hematite
465VS 467VS 467S 463VS 465VS 465VS 469VS 471VS Si-O-Si bending of silicates

Relative Intensity: VS-Very Strong, S-Strong, M-Medium, W-Weak, VW-Very Weak.

CO2 most likely between 600 and 800 °C (Seetha and Velraj, 2016;
Farmer, 1974). Though, in the present study, the very weak intensity
absorption band observed at around 1880 cm−1 in all the samples
shows that the calcite is about to decompose and the firing temperature
may be 600 °C–800 °C. The very strong Al-Si-O stretching of amorphous
aluminosilicates was present only in the CDL4 at 1076 cm−1, whereas
the very strong intensity band in the range of 1038–1058 cm−1 were
assigned to Si-O stretching of clay minerals (Shoval, 1994). In the FT-IR
spectra of the Chandravalli pot shards, the main Si–O stretching band is
located at around 1038 & 1048 and 1058 cm−1 elucidate the firing
temperature may be 700–800 and < 800 °C respectively in all the
samples except CDL4. However, in CDL4 the silicate band at 1076 cm−1
represented the firing temperature above 800 °C (Maniatis and Tites,
1981).
The presence of quartz is confirmed by the characteristic doublet at
777 & 795 and around 691 cm−1 (Legodi and de Waal, 2007). The
Fig. 2. X-ray diffraction pattern of Chandravalli (CDL1) potshard.
absorption bands observed at 579 cm−1 and at around 532 cm−1 could
be assigned to the iron oxides such as magnetite and hematite respec-
tively. Both the hematite and magnetite were almost present in all the the minerals present in it and spectrum CDL1 is shown in Fig. 2, where
samples suggest the firing atmosphere whether it was made in oxidizing the remaining spectra are given in Supporting information. Illite have
or reducing atmosphere. The intensity ratio I/Io calculated to prevail the maximum intensity peak in CDL1, CDL5 and CDL8, however the
the firing atmosphere is reported in Table 2. Another peak is found at quartz is the major mineral in all the samples. Quartz have the main
around 463 cm−1 is due to Si-O-Si bending of silicates (Saikia and peaks at 1.38, 1.54, 3.34, 2.45 and 1.37 Å though illite occurs at 3.33 Å.
Parthasarathy, 2010). The non-clay feldspar group minerals are the next abundant phases in
the Chandravalli shards, which is present in all the samples and the
main peaks are 3.18, 3.21, 4.02 Å (albite) 2.12, 3.75, 2.23 Å (ortho-
3.2. X-ray diffraction (XRD) clase) 3.26 Å (anorthoclase) 3.82, 3.77, 3.95 Å (bytownite) and 3.25 Å
(Anorthite). The high firing minerals mullite (3.40 Å) and microcline
The XRD patterns were recorded for Chandravalli shards to identify (3.44 Å) are present in CDL4. The low firing mineral calcite is obtained

Table 2
Vitrification stages and estimated firing temperatures &atmosphere of Chandravalli pottery shards.
Shards code CaO % Clay type Vitrification stage Firing atmosphere Position of the silicate band Determination of firing temperature (°C)
prevailed (cm−1)
FT-IR XRD SEM

CDL1 1.45 NC NV Oxidizing 1046 700–800 < 800 < 800

CDL2 1.46 NC NV Oxidizing 1048 700–800 < 800 < 800
CDL3 1.09 NC NV Oxidizing 1046 700–800 < 800 < 800
CDL4 1.56 NC EV(CB) Reducing 1076 > 800 > 800 > 800
CDL5 0.66 NC NV Reducing 1044 700–800 < 800 < 800
CDL6 4.82 NC NV Oxidizing 1058 700–800 < 800 < 800
CDL7 0.69 NC NV Oxidizing 1042 700–800 < 800 < 800
CDL8 0.33 NC NV Oxidizing 1038 < 800 < 800 < 800

116
D. Seetha and G. Velraj Radiation Physics and Chemistry 162 (2019) 114–120

Fig. 3. SEM microphotographs of Chandravalli (CDL1 & CDL8) potshards.

with the d-spacing values 2.28, 1.97, 3.03 and 2.24 Å in all the relics
except only in CDL4 and CDL5. Also the calcite group minerals arago-
nite and dolomite were obtained in some of the pot shards are listed in
Table which is given in Supporting file. The hydroxide mineral gibbsite
(2.38 Å) and mica group mineral montmorillonite (4.30 Å) are obtained
only in CDL7. The iron oxides hematite and magnetite exist in all the
samples and wustite is present only in CDL7. The intensity peak at
3.51 Å represent to kaolinite in CDL2. Similarly, the kaolinite group
mineral dickite is obtained at 4.24, 2.39 Å.
The composition of the pottery depends on the temperature of the
firing (Maggetti, 1981; Kingery and Friedman, 1974; Maggetti et al.,
1984). The common method used for estimation of the firing

117
D. Seetha and G. Velraj
Fig. 4. EDS spectrum of Chandravalli (CDL1) potshard.
temperature is X-ray diffraction, based on determination of the mineral
assemblage formed in the fired matter due to the destruction of original
minerals and the crystallization of new minerals. However, this method
is limited to examination of crystallized materials. The calcite, either in
the matrix or added as a temper, indicate the firing temperature below
800 °C. When the temperature is increased to 800 °C, CaCO3 decom-
poses to CaO, and the illite decomposes and spinel type phases appear
(Rye, 1981). In the present study, calcite is present in almost all the
samples and the firing temperature is below 800 °C (except CDL4) and
are well coincide with the FT-IR results. The high firing minerals mi-
crocline and mullite were present in CDL4 which indicates that the
firing temperature may be above 800 °C which is confirmed by the FT-
IR and SEM results.
From the FT-IR and XRD analyses, the mineralogy of the ancient
relics is achieved. C-H stretching is present in Chandravalli site samples
confirm that these samples were collected from the habitational site.
Clay deposits generally contain variable amount of organic matter, but
organic additives can also be used by potters during preparation of the
ceramic paste in order to achieve more plasticity. In addition, organic
matter can also be deposited during use of ceramic tableware or during
the burial (Damjanović et al., 2011). Similarly, H-O-H absorption band
present in all the samples due to the presence of water molecule may
absorbed from weather. Feldspar is also a common mineral in clay. This
group of minerals has several types such as orthoclase, microcline (K-
feldspar), albite (Na-feldspar) and anorthite (Ca-feldspar). Though
these feldspars (orthoclase and microcline) have the same chemical
formula (KAlSi3O8), they have different structures are clearly differ-
entiated in XRD analysis. Quartz is a non-clay mineral invariably pre-
sent in all the samples. Both the FT-IR and XRD mineralogical results
are associated with each other and these results are used to estimate the
firing temperature and firing technology of the selected pot shards.
3.3. SEM with EDS analysis
The SEM examination of the pottery in the received state provides
information on the internal morphology developed during original
firing in antiquity, and in particular, on the extent of vitrification and
pore structure. The extent of the glassy phase, which is observed for
each ceramic sample by using the comparative vitrification stages es-
tablished by Maniatis and Tites (1981) provides a clue to the firing
temperatures.
The first stage in the development of vitrification in fired clay is the
appearance of isolated smooth surface structure being referred as the
initial vitrification stage. The increase in size of the isolated areas of
glass and the presence of bloating pores are indications of extensive
vitrification (Tite and Maniatis, 1975b). The initial and extensive vi-
trification takes place in between 750 and 950 °C in non-calcareous type
(open /reducing). The extensive vitrification is in between 850 and
1050 °C in case of calcareous clay. The presence of some slight buckling
118
Radiation Physics and Chemistry 162 (2019) 114–120
and rounding of edges of the clay plates identifies that it may be no
vitrification (NV) stage. The non-calcareous clay fired at temperature
below 800 °C will produce no vitrification. But unfortunately in the
present study, morphological photograph of all the Chandravalli sam-
ples (except CDL4) were slight buckling and rounding of edges that it
may be the earlier stage of vitrification takes place below 800 °C. As
mentioned above the isolated glass and presence of slight bloating pores
in CDL4 indicate the extensive vitrification, which might be fired above
800 °C (Seetha and Velraj, 2015). The vitrification and its corre-
sponding firing temperature are shown in Table 2. The SEM micro-
photograph of artifacts are shown in Fig. 3.
In the Chandravalli site, there are two different firing temperature
(> 800 °C and < 800 °C) and atmosphere (reducing/oxidizing) were
obtained. It reveals that the artisans might have the knowledge of dif-
ferent firing technology in that particular period. Correspondingly it
reveals the provenance of artifacts i.e. it might be manufactured from
different sources. It is confirmed by the Chemometric analysis ex-
plained later. The reducing and oxidizing atmosphere indicate that the
closed and open firing respectively. From the SEM analysis, the high
firing temperature were obtained due to its vitrification stages.
From EDS analysis, the identified major elements are O, Si, Al, K, Sr
and Fe, while Ca, Mg, Na, Ge, Ti, Mn, Zn and Te are present in minor
amounts are displayed in EDS spectra and the Table, which is given in
the supporting file. The reference EDS spectrum (CDL1) is shown in
Fig. 4. Clay mineral mainly contains aluminum, silicon, oxygen.
Moreover, the low calcium content (0.52%–4.32%) and high silicon and
iron content in all Chandravalli pottery samples implies that silica rich
and calcium poor clays with more iron minerals were utilized for its
production.
3.4. EDXRF analysis
The representative samples collected from Chandravalli site shows
the percentage of calcium oxide as less than 6% and hence the clay type
of the samples belongs to non-calcareous while the flux concentration
of above 9% reflects the low refractory nature (Mohamed Musthafa
et al., 2010). The chemical variations observed were related to the
different provenances, raw materials or manufacturing techniques of
the potteries (Seetha and Velraj, 2016). The details of the present ele-
mental oxides are given in Supporting file and the reference spectrum is
given in Fig. 5.
The elemental composition of artifacts for all the selected sites were
obtained by EDS and EDXRF analysis. All the samples are rich in silica
and poor in calcium and fluxes. Hence the craftsman of Chandravalli
site have utilized the non-calcareous type clay during manufacture
(Maniatis and Tite, 1981).
As high P2O5 contents may be due to organic substances once stored
in the vessels (Dudd and Evershed, 1998). The organic substances were
present in all the selected samples. The presence of organic substances
indicate that samples might be used for household purposes. Here it
should be remind that all the selected samples were excavated from
both habitational and burial site.
3.5. Chemometric analysis
3.5.1. Hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA)
Cluster analysis classifies samples into distinct groups by calculating
Euclidian distance between the samples (Bakraji et al., 2014). Fig. 6
shows the cluster analysis dendrogram of Chandravalli pot shards.
There are three clusters were classified based on the elemental con-
centrations. The cluster I contains CDL1, CDL2, CDL3, CDL5, CDL6 and
CDL8 while the cluster II contains CDL7 and cluster III contains CDL4.
The small linkage distance of samples formed as a single group. Based
on the Al, Si, Mg, Na, Ca, Fe, Ti, K, Sr and O elements, the distinct
groups were formed.
D. Seetha and G. Velraj Radiation Physics and Chemistry 162 (2019) 114–120

Fig. 5. EDXRF spectrum of Chandravalli (CDL1) potshard.

Fig. 7. Bivariate plot for factor score 1 against factor Score 2 of Chandravalli
pot shards.
Fig. 6. Cluster analysis dendrogram of Chandravalli pot shards.

Table 3
Factor loading matrix for the Chandravalli samples data set after varimax ro-
tation.
Variables Factor 1 Factor 2 Factor 3 Factor 4

Ti 0.920 0.051 − 0.259 − 0.091

Te 0.880 0.372 0.016 − 0.070
Ca 0.848 0.259 0.214 0.373
Fe 0.624 0.372 − 0.573 0.242
Si − 0.600 − 0.571 0.367 − 0.138
K − 0.029 0.958 − 0.011 − 0.195
Mn 0.532 0.778 − 0.124 0.188
O − 0.441 − 0.748 0.346 − 0.121
Na 0.351 0.715 − 0.182 0.527
Mg − 0.205 − 0.40 0.924 − 0.089
Al − 0.283 0.212 − 0.852 − 0.015
Sr − 0.369 − 0.107 0.519 − 0.370
Zn − 0.216 0.099 − 0.280 0.897 Fig. 8. Bivariate plot for factor score 1 against factor Score 3 of Chandravalli
Ge 0.584 0.221 0.163 0.745 pot shards.
% of Variance Explained 30.983 24.296 19.284 14.999

elements K, Mn, Na and Ma, Al respectively. Factor 4 contains the high

3.5.2. Factor analysis (FA)
Table 3 shows the loading matrix of data set and the varimax ro-
tation was performed. There are four factors were obtained, factor 1
contains the high positive loading of elements Ti, Te, Ca and Fe. Si-
milarly, the second and third factor have the high positive loading of
positive loadings of elements Zn and Ge. The total variance explained
for four factors are 30.98%, 24.29%, 19.28% and 4.99% correspond-
ingly. The cumulative variance 89.56% of the data set is greater than
50% reveals that the principle component fit to the data set is good
(Seetha and Velraj, 2016). From the four factor score, the artifacts were

119
D. Seetha and G. Velraj
Fig. 9. Histogram of concentration ratios of SiO2 to Al2O3 for Chandravalli pot
shards.
differentiated based on the presence of elements. There are three groups
were formed and the bivariate plot of first third principal component
scores are shown in Figs. 7 and 8. Group I contains seven elements Na,
Fe, Ge, Ti, Mn, Te & Ca, group II contains Al, Zn and K and group III
contains Si, O, Sr and Mg.
3.5.3. Elemental oxide ratio (SiO2/Al2O3)
Fig. 9 shows the histogram of concentration ratios of SiO2 to Al2O3
for Chandravalli pot shards. From the histogram, there are three group
of samples obtained based on their elemental ratio. All the samples
from CDL1 to CDL8 were formed as an assemblage except only CDL4
and CDL7. Both CDL4 and CDL7 are also distinct to each other. These
results well coincide with the FA and CA results (Dasari et al., 2014b).
In the present study, cluster and factor analysis were done to
grouping the archaeological artifacts. The Chandravalli site samples
seperated as three groups. The elemental ratio used to validate the
above results. All these results are correlated to each other. From these
results, the different groups are may due to the different sources during
manufacturing or trade link.
4. Conclusion
Due to the presence/absence of calcite and amorphous aluminosi-
licate bands, two different kind of temperature such as both medium
(< 800 °C) and high firing (> 800 °C) temperature obtained.
Furthermore due to the presence of hematite and magnetite, the arti-
sans might have knowledge of both firing technology in that particular
period. Low firing leads to the high porosity and vice versa. The high
porosity vessels may be used to store the grain and solid materials.
Presence of P2O5 obtained by EDXRF in all the samples proved that
these potteries might be used for household purposes. This is once
confirmed that all the sites we collected are excavated from both ha-
bitational and burial sites.
The distinct groups in each site are due to the trade link or the
different sources of the material used during manufacturing. The ob-
tained group samples by Chemometric analyses are correlated with
firing temperature value. Both are well coinciding however with in-
consequential distortion. Present work mainly deals with firing tech-
niques and grouping of artifacts. This information will help the ar-
chaeologist scientifically to know the cultural sequences of ancient
people.
Acknowledgment
The authors are deeply thankful to the Archaeological Survey India
120
Radiation Physics and Chemistry 162 (2019) 114–120
(ASI), Bangalore for providing the archeological samples and the au-
thors extended thanks to the instrumentation center, Karunya
University for the instrumentation facility of SEM - EDS and
Department of Nanoscience and Technology, KSR college of Technology
for EDXRF analysis. Also the authors thankful to Periyar University,
Salem for provided the FT- IR and XRD analysis. One of the authors are
also acknowledge with thanks to the Periyar University for the financial
assistance provided through University Research Fellowship (URF) and
for the financial support provided through major research project in
this field by Department of Atomic Energy-Board of Research in Nuclear
Sciences (DAE-BRNS), New Delhi.
Appendix A. Supplementary material
Supplementary data associated with this article can be found in the
online version at doi:10.1016/j.radphyschem.2019.03.017.
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