Identification and Analysis of Ceramics Context on the Basis of Remainings of Burial Environment (Samples of Grey Ceramics Related to Iron Age)

Context of the archaeological findings is an important part of these artifacts and many useful information, regarding the provenance, application and dating of findings must be determined considering the characteristic of corresponding context. In some cases, the context of an historical objects is missing and hence, the accuracy of the information regarding the historical object is unsatisfactory. However, some types of laboratory experiments are able to provide the required information regarding the archaeological context of the object. In this study, it was tried to find the context of five gray Iron Age pottery pieces belong to the Museum of Ancient Iran. In order to identify and measure the elements in sediments and body of the samples, inductively coupled plasma-optical emission spectroscopy (ICP-OES) technique was used. Also, to identify the anions present in sediments on the samples, ion chromatography (IC) technique was employed. The results showed that, the sample MB-1 and MB-2, on the basis of elements present, have the same context, where the specifications are very close to the cemetery. Also, based on the high concentrations of calcium carbonate deposits in the chemical composition of MB-3, this sample could be related to the kitchen or floor of a residential area. Regarding the samples termed MB-4 and MB-5, as the results of elemental analysis showed the presence of some elements such as potassium, magnesium, iron, and titanium and, a positive correlation of these elements with each other, as well as a negative correlation between potassium and magnesium with Si, the context ought to be associated with fire, such as oven and grill found in the kitchen. Results of polarized light microscopy (PM) also showed a close correlation and structural similarity based on the type of tempering with gray earthenware tempering, traditionally used during the Iron Age, which are clay minerals having relatively smooth and homogeneous texture in all the samples.