Technical Study of Pigments and Paintings in Archaeological Ceramics from Northwestern Argentine Region: An Archaeometri
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Technical Study of Pigments and Paintings in Archaeological Ceramics from Northwestern Argentine Region: An Archaeometric Approach and Implications for Their Conservation Through SEM-EDS. Guillermo A. De La Fuente School of Archaeology, National University of Catamarca, Campus Universitario s/n, Belgrano N° 300, 4700 – Catamarca. ARGENTINA Email: [email protected] ABSTRACT The ancient technology involved in the application of pigments and paintings used by potters to decorate ceramic vessels is one of the most interesting aspects of ceramic technology in the past. Potters have used in the past several sources (e.g. inorganic and organic) to decorate the vessels in order to achieve the colours desired and fix them in the vessels throughout the firing process. In this paper, we present the results of a technological and chemical characterisation of pigments and paintings through the application of Scanning Electron Microscopy-Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy (SEM-EDS) to ceramics from the Middle Period (ca. 650 AD – 900 AD) at Northwestern Argentine region. INTRODUCTION The “Aguada Portezuelo” ceramic style (ca. 650-900 A.D.) from Northwestern Argentine region presents a great variation and complexity in the manufacture techniques employed by the ancient potters concerning mainly the surface treatments and decoration applied to the ceramic vessels [1, 2, 3, 4]. One of the more important characteristics of these ceramics is their marked polychromy (Figure 1 and 2); the motifs are elaborated in negative and positive and the colours utilized in its decoration range between the red purple, reddish, black, and yellow, this later colour unique in the ceramics from this region [3]. Sometimes, the colors have not been very well fixed by the firing and they appear as slight and without brightness, presenting also pre- and postfiring paintings (Figure 3). Another of the technical decorative aspects little studied for this ceramic is the existence of resistant negative paintings [3]. Additionally, a manufacture attribute of particular importance is the surface treatment. The internal surface of the vessels is sometimes of an intense polished black color and in others it is burnished. Perhaps, it results from a technical process of smoking of the internal surface of the vessels, but it is necessary to develop specific studies of the technique used to create this visual effect. In this paper, we present the results of a technological and chemical characterisation of pigments and paintings through the application of Scanning Electron Microscopy-Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy (SEM-EDS) to ceramics from the Middle Period (ca. 650 AD – 900 AD) at Northwestern Argentine region. MATERIALS AND METHODS Thirty-one ceramic samples were analysed by SEM-EDS. The sherds come from stratigraphical excavations at six archaeological sites located geographically in the Catamarca valley, Province of Catamarca. The archaeological sites are C14 dated in the Middle Period (ca. 600 – 900 A.D.) belonging to the Aguada Culture of the Northwe
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