Abstract: The original intention of the project, conceived in the context of the British School at Rome's excavation and survey programme in the Bradano basin (based on Gravina) was to establish the composition patterns of Hellenistic glazed wares from sites in southern Apulia, and then to use these to trace the trading patterns of the area, against a control group of sherds from the Athenian Agora. It proved possible to distinguish Attic from Apulian sherds by their nickel and chromium content, and average-link-cluster-analysis by computer showed that Gnathian ware from Taranto could be distinguished from seven other south Italian groups, suggesting that speciality wares were made of clays from special beds. Because of the geological homogeneity of the area no further distinctions could be made, but some sherds were also analysed petrologically and by heavy mineral analysis, for a methodological comparison. The very homogeneous geology, coupled with the fineness of the wares showed these methods to be at the limits of their usefulness. Only very generalized conclusions could be drawn concerning the origin of the pottery from the petrological evidence; the micro-mineralogical data showed that interesting differences existed between pottery from the main Apulian sites, but these could equally have reflected natural variations occurring within fairly homogeneous clay deposits.

Abstract: Both the growing body of literature on the tree-ring calibration of radiocarbon dates, and the variety of statistical approaches used, make it appropriate to review the basic principles involved in the construction of a calibration curve. While its ultimate validity is in part a geophysical problem, the appropriate form for the calibration function, given a specific body of data, is a statistical question centering upon the analysis of the measurement errors involved. The relationship between the calibration function and the inverse calibration function is examined, and the shortcomings of the available published calibration curves considered in the light of this examination. It is concluded that there is no reason to doubt the general principles on which the calibration is based, but a need exists for a more critical handling of the measurement data with a statistical treatment of the errors involved. The quality of the data could itself be improved by the use of replicate samples for inter-laboratory projects specifically designed to investigate the magnitude of measurement error.

Abstract: Because of differences in their physical properties, bone, tooth dentine and tooth enamel react very differently during the course of fossilization. This relationship is shown clearly in the case of diagenetic introduction of fluorine wherein bone and dentine with high permeability and small apatite crystallite size contain 2–3 times the amount of fluorine as coexisting enamel with its low permeability and large crystallites. Smaller differences in the same sense are found within bone types from the same species, and care must be used in applying fluorine content methods even among bones from the same deposit.

Abstract: The chemical states of iron in a few selected clays and ceramics have been ascertained employing the technique of Mossbauer absorption. The effects upon the iron in firing the clays under different conditions have also been measured. Colour changes are correlated with the various chemical states of iron before and aftefiring.

Abstract: Evidence is presented that the clay in ancient ware fired at a temperature below 700–800°C becomes rehydrated over the millennia, such that it behaves somewhat like an unfired clay, rendering DTA a useful tool in identifying the clay minerals present. More recent samples can be artificially rehydrated by heating in a steam autoclave.

Abstract: The Bronze Horse of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, suspected in recent years of being a modern forgery, is shown by thermoluminescence to have been made in antiquity. Besides the standard thermoluminescence measurements, a new technique was used, utilizing single, highly radioactive grains of zircon separated from the core material of the horse. The zircon grains, because of their high radioactivities (100–200 ppm) and subsequent large internal alpha doses (60–170 krad), are negligibly affected by γ irradiations given to the horse during previous examination. The results show the horse was made 2000 to 4000 years ago, consistent with a work of classical antiquity.

Abstract: U concentrations were measured in the enamel and the dentine of 5 bovid teeth obtained from Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania. Their ages were estimated on the basis of their association with Olduvai Beds I through III/IV which in turn, were estimated from 14 C, paleomagnetic, fission track, K-Ar, and amino acid data. Analyses for U were made by fission track counting. Analysis of CaO, P 2 O 5 , Na 2 O, MgO BaO and Al 2 O 3 was made using an electron microprobe and the data are reported. The fossilized teeth were found to contain U concentrations up to 200 times higher than occur in common igneous and metamorphic rocks and to range as high as 700 ppm. Unfossilized bovid teeth were estimated to contain less than 0.02 ppm U. Thus it is likely that the specimens studied formed with low concentrations of U and that the bulk of the U now in the teeth was introduced during fossilization. An explanation is hypothesized.

Abstract: The archaeologist must often determine if ceramics having similar designs and forms but from widely separated locations were locally made or are the result of diffusion. This paper describes a methodology of technological analysis of ceramics utilised to solve such a problem. Results of a mineralogical analysis of ceramics and a discussion of the cultural implications of the results is presented. It is concluded that this methodology is an essential tool in distinguishing sites and elucidating relationships within the Sudanese Neolithic.

Abstract: Details are given of how the widths of the annual rings of oak boards, which form the panels for certain sixteenth-century portraits painted in south-east England or adjacent parts of the Continent, have been matched with one another. A representative ring-width curve based on eighteen trees has been obtained and dated by region-to-region bridging from the master chronology, derived at Munich, for oaks grown in central and southern Germany. The feasibility of dendrochronology for oaks of slow and regular growth in late medieval times has been established for a region which extends beyond south-east England to Oxford on the west and to Flanders and parts of France on the east and south-east.

Abstract: Radon and subsequent members of the uranium-238 decay chain are responsible for an appreciable fraction of the radiation dosage received by pottery. Consequently in thermoluminescent dating calculations it is necessary to make an estimate of the degree to which this gas was escaping during burial. Direct measurement of the radon accumulated from pottery fragments indicates that wet conditions do not drastically inhibit the escape of radon, contrary to what has usually been assumed in thermoluminescent dating up till now.

Abstract: Two possible sources of error in the measurement and interpretation of the specific gravities of gold coins are investigated. First, the effect of the presence of copper was measured and found to be more significant than previously thought. It is shown that the presence of 5% of copper in a gold-silver alloy results in a measured gold content which is 3.3% too low when the coin is analysed by the specific gravity method. Secondly, the importance of cleaning the coins before measuring the specific gravity is also demonstrated.

Abstract: It has been suggested that utilization of the bristlecone pine calibration for 14C age correction can result in dates which are up to several hundred years too early in comparison with archaeological evidence. Among other possible causes in situ production of 14C due to the high altitude growth region of the bristlecone pine has been proposed to explain this effect. Although theoretical evaluation indicates that a significant amount of 14C could be produced by this mechanism, irradiation of bristlecone pine wood with a neutron dose equivalent to the calculated cosmic ray maximum received by a 6000-year-old tree did not produce any detectable effect. Other geochemical considerations related to the growth environment of these trees may offer a possible explanation for enhanced 14C levels. These inherent uncertainties in the 14C record of the bristlecone pine emphasize the need for an alternative source of tree-rings for comparative correlation with the 14C time-scale.

Abstract: This paper presents a method for dealing with unpaired skeletal elements in order to approach the questions of (1) how many animals are represented in an assemblage; and (2) how large these individuals were. The method is designed for use with fish remains and can easily be extended to paired elements. It is shown how the interplay between the data appropriate to the solution of both problems may be compared in order to provide a method of verification of the results arrived at by standard methods of assessment of the minimum number of individuals.

Abstract: Employing cluster analysis, patterns and relationships have been looked for within the trace and alloying elements of about eighty bronze daggers of the Wessex and contemporary cultures in Brittany. The results showed that only one of the four types of daggers could be linked with a particular metal cluster, that various types of daggers were used parallel to one another over considerable periods and that the more advanced metal clusters have an almost entirely British distribution.

Abstract: The remanent magnetization of samples spanning Zones I to III of the Hoxnian Interglacial at Hoxne has declination values that lie within 30° of the present-day declination, and inclination values that are not more than 10° steeper or 20° shallower than the present-day inclination.

Abstract: Imitations of T‘ang Dynasty (a.d. 618–906) ceramics were produced at the beginning of this century casting them from original piece-moulds. The impeccable style of these wares means they are indistinguishable from their ancient prototypes by visual inspection. Examples of such imitative material are revealed by thermoluminescent dating analysis. A brief discussion of the need for and methods of the piece-moulding technique in its use by the T‘ang artisan is also given.

Abstract: This note presents some new analyses for 13 early copper and bronze artefacts from Turkey in the Collection of the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford. They were not included in a small programme of early copper and bronze objects from Iraq, Syria and Palestine (Moorey and Schweizer 1972, Archaeometry14 (2), 177–198) and conclude this pilot-project.

Abstract: X-ray fluorescence analyses of ten Septimius Severus denarii, all having the catalog number Cohen 777, and all minted in a.d. 196, show the following: (1) copper and silver concentrations in the ten coins cover a rather broad range, (2) lead and gold concentrations correlate with the silver concentrations, (3) no elements, except silver, correlate directly with the copper contents, (4) two coins have very nearly the same compositions, but this could actually be explained by chance, given the precision of the analyses and the range of compositions found for all ten denarii, (5) weights, thicknesses, and diameters of the coins varied over a relatively wide range, but densities varied only slightly. Assuming reasonably homogeneous melts of coinage alloy, X-ray fluorescence (XRF) analyses of many more Severus denarii of a.d. 196 should enable one to deduce several details of the mint operation such as (1) the number of dies in use of C. 777 coins at one time, (2) the overall batch size of coins, and (3) the number of different Severus denarii minted from the same batch of alloy. With improved precision of XRF analyses now possible, it only remains for a source of Severus denarii to be found to enable testing of this hypothesis.

Abstract: The silver content within the body and at the surface of 22 Roman ‘bronze’coins dating to a.d. 274–305 was determined by X-ray fluorescence to discover whether these coins were silver dipped and/or issued with a deliberately added amount of silver in their alloy. Results of this analysis indicate that antoniniani and fractional coins of the period 274–294 were probably both silver dipped and minted in an argentiferous alloy. Radiate and laureate fractions issued after 295 do not seem to have had an argentiferous alloy, nor does this analysis provide any evidence that they were silverdipped.

Abstract: S Non-destructive analyses are reported of a twelfth century stained glass panel from York Minster. The main conclusion from the results is that the observed differences in severity of corrosion between various glasses may be explained by variations in the proportions of potassium and calcium.

Abstract: There is some evidence that early medieval single-light splayed windows were specifically designed for maximum optical efficiency. Some factors affecting the design of an individual window are examined from three points of view: (1) a brief theoretical consideration of the crude effects of size and angle of splay; (2) an abbreviated account of an analysis of the characteristics of actual windows surviving from the Anglo-Saxon period; (3) an account of an experiment to determine by means of a scale apparatus the relative effects of window size, angle and type of splay, and surface finish of the fabric.

Abstract: An unusual occurrence of huntite CaMg3(CO3)4, found in a wooden box pertaining to the cargo of a sunken Roman ship of imperial age in the Golfo di Procchio on the north coast of Elba is described. The huntite has been identified on the basis of chemical analysis, thermo-gravimetric analysis, differential thermal analysis, X-ray diffraction and electron microscope images. Having ruled out its origin by the reaction of sea water on some pre-existing material it is concluded that the huntite represented the original content of the box. The origin and the provenance of huntite and its possible use are discussed.

Abstract: On several bowls from Nubia (1600 b.c.) and on one canopic jar (New Kingdom) huntite, a calciummagnesium-carbonate CaCO3. 3MgCO3 was identified by means of X-ray diffraction and infra-red absorption techniques. Vases from the Amarna period (1370 b.c.) are decorated with a blue paint, which proved to be cobalt-blue. Copper chloride atacamite was used on limestone reliefs from Thebes-West but the green frit chrysocolla occurs more frequently on Egyptian objects as is mentioned in literature.