MARESIAS 4th Internacional Nuclear Chemistry 2014

4th INTERNATIONAL
NUCLEAR CHEMISTRY
CONGRESS
.
RADIOGRAPHY APLLIED TO FUNERAL AND
UTILITY ARCHAEOLOGICAL CERAMICS STUDIES
Alfredo V. B. Bellido and Rose Mary Latini – UFF
Maria Inês S. SOUZA and Gevaldo L. ALMEIDA – IEN/CNEN
Introduction
•  We have been studding this archaeological sites for a
long time, ceramics from the Brazilian Amazon,
specifically the Purus River basin, in the state of Acre
and the Lakes region in the state of Rio de Janeiro,
Brazil.
•  This allowed us to know the potential of different
physical and chemical techniques methodologies for the
characterization, classification, provenance studies and
dating this ceramics (Potsherds) – INAA, Mössbauer
spectroscopy , TL all combined with MVSA .
Study Area in State of Acre
The potteries discovered in these archaeological sites were preclassified by archaeologists, in three archaeological phases
denominated as Quinari, Iquiri and Iaco. Other fragments from Los
Angeles Archaeological Site don´t belong to any defined
archaeological phases.
The Acre region has
archaeological sites with
and without earth circular
structures.
Potsherds
Study area the Lakes Region
state of Rio de Janeiro
OBJECTIVE:
The aim of this study is to investigate
manufacturing techniques used in prehistoric
Brazilian pottery from Amazon Basin in the
state of Acre and the Lakes Region state of
Rio de Janeiro using Gama Ray
Radiography
Manufacturing Techniques –
Preparation of Ceramics
•  T h e m a i n d i f f e r e n c e s i n t h e m a n u a l
manufacturing techniques of ceramics are
related to the way the clay was handled. Two
such techniques are a roller and pallet [1].
•  Palette technique exhibits a homogeneous mass
and the rollers technique exhibits horizontal
traces from the junction of rollers, overlapping,
forming layers supported on each other and
smoothed to obtain a homogeneous surface.
Difference between the manufacturing
techniques - palette and rollers
Test objects
CP1- rollers with coverage;
CP2 - rollers without coverage;
CP3 - rollers with little cover and
CP4 - palette.
Original
Image
Image correcteddiverging beam to
simulate a parallel
beam- by the
algorithm
embedded in the
PlotXP software
The attenuation map,
expressed by the pixel
intensity. The brighter
strips correspond to the
dichtes separating the
rollers in CP1 (Rolls) but
not in CP4 (Pallets).
Surface plot of the
corrected image with the PlotXP –
and original image.
Experimental Arrangement
•  Source of γ-rays - 165Dy (95 keV) was produced at IEN/CNEN
•  Exposure time – 2 hours
•  Detector: Imaging Plate.
UTILITY
CERAMICS
FUNERAL CERAMICS
Neutrongraphy
Other Thechniques
ARRANJO DE MODERAÇÃO E COLIMAÇÃO INSERIDA
NO CANAL PARA OBTENÇÃO DAS IMAGENS
Potteries fragments
on the image plate.
Características neutrônicas
na saída do canal onde os
tomógrafos são instalados
P=340W
Fluxo térmico
fluxo epitérmico
razão de cádmio
razão L/D
razão n/
4.46 x 105 n.cm-2 s-1
6,0 x 103 n.cm-2 s-1
25
63,25
3,00 x 106 n.cm-2.mR-1
The Neutrongraphy shows two different manufacturing details:
(a) rollers and (b) palette
Microtomography Technique
•  Radiography and µ–CT have been used to
identify manufacturing details. The radiography
represents a superposition of all layers of the
object in the beam direction. Differentiation
between front and back of the inside contents is
not possible. In this way µ–CT was applied for
the visualisation of cavities, differences in
manufacture of pore orientation structures and
differences in temper.
Equipment: µCT SkyScan/Bruker,
model 1173
•  The experimental conditions were 90 kV, 80 µA
with image pixel size of 15µm. The exposure
time was 1300 ms and the rotation step was 0.5
degrees within a 360º, which led a total
acquisition time of 01h20min. It was used a
bench-top µCT SkyScan/Bruker, model 1173.
Archaeological Phases, Acre Brazil
Temper
Iquiri
Los Angeles
Iaco
Quinari
TEST OBJECTS AND MICROTOMOGRAPHY IMAGES
PALETTE TECHNIQUE
ROLLER TECHNIQUE
CONCLUSIONS
•  This work has evaluated the feasibility to identify the type of
technique employed in the ceramics manufacturing - whether rollers
or pallets and the classification of the Archaeological Phases specially that used in prehistoric Brazilian pottery from Acre state.
•  The results show the potentiality of these techniques for studies of
manufacturing details and this information may contribute to a better
understanding of the archaeological classification and provenance
studies.
REFERENCES
1.
2.
3.
4. 
5.
6.
7.
8.
A Lindahl and I. Pikirayyi. Ceramics and change: an overview of pottery production techniques in northern South
Africa and eastern Zimbabwe during the first and second millennium. Archaeol Anthropol Sci, 2:133–149, 2010.
R.M. Latini, A.V. Bellido, U. M. Vinagre Filho, M. I. S. Souza, I. Lima, D.F. Oliveira and R.T.Lopes, Archaeometric
studies by neutron, x-ray radiography and microCT. AIP Conf. Proc. 1529, 49, 2013.
G. L. Almeida, M. I. Silvani, An Algorithm to unveil the Inner Structure of Objects concealed by Beam Divergence
in Radiographic Image Acquisition Systems. XXXVI Reunião de Trabalho sobre Física Nuclear no Brasil,
September 01-05, 2013. Maresias - SP, Brazil.
M. I. Silvani, G. L. Almeida, Enhancing the Quality of Radiographic Images acquired with Point-like gamma-Ray
Sources through correction of the Beam Divergence and Attenuation. XXXVI Reunião deTrabalho sobre Física
Nuclear no Brasil, September 01-05, 2013. Maresias - SP, Brazil.
R.M Latini, A.V.B.Bellido, O.F. Dias Junior, L.F.Bellido. “Determining the Provenience of Prehistoric Ceramic
Artefacts from the Amazon Basin Using Geochemical Tracers”. In Environmental Geochemistry inTropical and
Subtropical Environments, Lacerda LD, Santelli R, Duursma E, Abrão J. (eds). Springer-Verlag:Heidelberg, 2004;
93-99.
U. M Vinagre Filho, A.V.B.Bellido; R.M Latini, A. Buarque, A.M. Borges. “Estudos de Proveniência emCerâmicas
Arqueológicas Unas do Rio de Janeiro” In: XXXI Reunião de Trabalho sobre Física Nuclear no Brasil, São
Sebastião/SP. 2008.
A.V.B.Bellido, R.M Latini, I. G. Nícoli R. Scorzelli, P.M. Solorzano. “Neutron Activation Analysis and Mössbauer
Correlations of Archaeological Pottery from Amazon Basin for Classification Studies”. XXXIII BRAZILIAN
WORKSHOP ON NUCLEAR PHYSICS, AIP Conference Proceedings, v.1351, p.288 – 292,2011.
P.M. Solorzano, R. Scorzelli, R.M Latini, A.V.B.Bellido. “Estudo de Ceramicas Arqueologicas da Bacia
Amazônica”. IX Congresso Ibérico de Arqueologia. Lisboa, 2011.
Thank you for your attention
Muito obrigado pela atenção
alfredobellido@gmail.com