A study of archaeological pottery of Northeast India using laser induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS)

The objective of this work is to investigate the chemical composition of the archaeological potsherds from Northeast India. Laser breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) and scanning electron microscope coupled with energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (SEM-EDX) have been used to identify the chemical composition of potsherds. LIBS is a micro-destructive technique and based on the time resolved detection of optical emission of transient plasma. In archaeological science, application of LIBS has gained interest for its capability in atomic species recognition. Scanning electron microscope coupled with energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy are powerful techniques to investigate the microstructure as well as the chemical composition of the archaeological ceramics. LIBS and EDX analyses have revealed that divergent quantities of Si, Al, Fe, Mg, Ti and K occurred as key constituent in the composition of analysed potsherds. The SEM-EDX results demonstrate that low refractory and non-calcareous clay have been used as raw material and the pottery was fired below 800 °C.