Study of Neolithic pottery from Polyplatanos (Imathia) using micro X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy, stereoscopic microscopy and multivariate statistical analysis

Various types of Late Neolithic decorated pottery excavated in Polyplatanos (Imathia, Greece) such as Crusted (C), Classical Dimini (CD), Black-on-Red (BoR), Cream-on-Red (CoR) and Graphite (G) were archaeometrically studied in order to investigate their provenance and to clarify specific technological features. The clay bodies, the paints and the slips were stereoscopically analyzed, while their elemental composition was determined, using non-destructive multi-elemental micro X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy. Furthermore, the analytical data were statistically treated using multivariate exploratory techniques (Principal Component Analysis, PCA). As a result, novel technological information was derived especially concerning the Crusted type ceramics, which have not been widely examined by archaeometric means up to now, while useful provenance associations were also derived from the statistical combination of the studied groups.