A neutron diffraction study of ancient Greek ceramics

Non-destructive neutron diffraction studies were performed on three 2nd-century BC archaeological pottery fragments from the excavation site of Neos Scopos, Serres, in North Greece. In all the 273K diagrams quartz and feldspars phase fractions are dominant. Diopside and iron oxide phases were also identifiable. The diopside content is found to decrease with increasing quartz-feldspar compositions. Iron oxides containing minerals were found to be present and the phase compositions reflect upon the coloring of the samples. However, the different content compositions of the phases may suggest different regions of the original clay materials as well as different preparation techniques. The firing temperatures were determined to be in the range of 900–1000°C.