Using portable energy dispersive X-ray fluorescence (EDXRF) analysis for on-site study of ceramic sherds at El Hibeh, Egypt

As part of its geoarchaeological research program, the El Hibeh Project of the University of California, Berkeley field-tested at the site of El Hibeh, northern Middle Egypt, the utility of a portable EDXRF unit for obtaining geochemical analyses of pottery suitable for provenance and other ceramic classification studies. When the geochemical ceramic data from the field test are combined with basic petrographic analysis for the pottery sample set, compelling results are generated. In particular, a triangular scattergram using elemental iron, strontium and rubidium data, in parts per million, provides excellent temporal and spatial separation of ceramic fabrics type, origin and date. The geochemical behavior of iron, strontium and rubidium is discussed in relation to geological source materials utilized for pottery manufacture.