Compositional study of slips and paintings in San José and Santa María pottery (Yocavil valley, Northwest Argentina): an approach by non-destructive and complementary techniques

PALAMARCZUK, VALERIA; TOMASINI, EUGENIA; ZALDUENDO, MARÍA MERCEDES; PORTO LÓPEZ, JOSÉ MANUEL; FUERTES, MARÍA CECILIA

Rendiconti Lincei. Scienze Fisiche e Naturali

Springer

Lugar: Roma; Año: 2020 vol. 31 p. 461 - 472

2037-4631

From a multidisciplinary perspective, we propose a first comparative study on the pigments of archaeological pottery San José and Santa María of Yocavil Valley, province of Catamarca, Northwest Argentina (ca. S XI-XVI AD). Both stylistic sets share a color palette in which the black, red and cream tones are structured. Considering that we are handling objects of cultural heritage, an analysis strategy was developed that combines non-destructive techniques (XRFp and XRD) and minimally destructive sampling methods with other techniques (EDS and micro-Raman spectroscopy) for the characterization of elements and crystalline phases in pigments. The results show some shared features -as hematite in red paints, cream slips resulting from a low-iron clay base preparation-, but also some diversity in the composition of the pigments -as presence of rutile in some red paints, pyrolusite or series of solid solutions in the system manganese-iron oxides in black pigments.