| Abstract: | Normally, the use of clays as reference materials in chemical provenance studies of ancient ceramics is complicated due to the original clay paste processing. The primary mixing and/or refining of raw materials during pottery production makes a straightforward comparison of archaeological ceramics with extant geological materials difficult if not impossible in many cases. However, in the case of Pliocene clays from Aegina (Greece), which were examined chemically and mineralogically and compared with Bronze Age pottery produced on the island, a successful exception can be presented. The chemical composition of a large group of Aeginetan pottery resembles the chemical composition of clays from a deposit in close vicinity to the main Bronze Age settlement of the island. Clays from specific outcrops exhibit considerable chemical and mineralogical homogeneity, and the suitability of those clays for pottery production apparently made substantial clay paste processing unnecessary. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. |
