Raman Microespectroscopy (RMS) as an Useful Tool for the Study of Archaeological Ceramics: a case study from Northwestern Argentine region (the Aguada Portezuelo ceramic style) (Catamarca valley, Province of Catamarca, Argentina).

DE LA FUENTE, G. A. AND J. M. PÉREZ MARTÍNEZ.

Siena, Italia

Simposio; 37th. International Symposium on Archaeometry, 12-16 May, Siena, Italy.; 2008

Raman microespectroscopy (RMS) is nowadays a very well established analytical technique for the pigment identification in archaeological pottery which allows the in situ study of art objects through a totally non destructive approach. The coupling of a Raman spectrometrer to an optical microscope has further increased the versatility of the method by allowing the selective analysis of components of heterogeneous samples on a micrometre scale and by reducing greatly the amount of sample. Information on the chemical nature of the different pigments used by ancient potters to decorate ceramic vessels can be obtained directly throughout the application of this analytical technique. In this paper, we will present a short review of the RMS analytical technique and an evaluation of the advantages and disadvantages of the same throughout a case study. We analysed several samples of pigments (black, red, brown, and white) used to decorate archaeological ceramic samples. Ceramic samples do have both prefiring and postfiring paintings and they belong to the Aguada Portezuelo Culture, Middle Period (ca. AD 600 - AD 900), Catamarca valley, Province of Catamarca, Argentina.