THE IMPORTANCE OF THE 'BEST RELATIVE FIT FACTOR' WHEN EVALUATING ELEMENTAL CONCENTRATION DATA OF POTTERY DEMONSTRATED WITH MYCENAEAN SHERDS FROM SINDA, CYPRUS

• Published in: Archaeometry Vol. 49; no. 2; pp. 359 - 371
• Main Authors: MOMMSEN, H., SJÖBERG, B. L.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford, UK Blackwell Publishing Ltd 01.05.2007; Wiley-Blackwell
• Subjects: Antikens kultur och samhällsliv; Archaeology; Archaeology subjects; Arkeologi; Arkeologiämnen; BEST RELATIVE FIT; BONN ARCHAEOMETRY LABORATORY; Classical Archaeology and Ancient History; Generalities; Historisk-filosofiska ämnen; HISTORY; History and philosophy subjects; HUMANIORA och RELIGIONSVETENSKAP; HUMANITIES and RELIGION; NEUTRON ACTIVATION ANALYSIS; Organisation and history of research; POTTERY; Prehistory and protohistory; Late; Cypriot; Mycenean; Bronze Age; Palestine; Cyprus; Asia; Africa; Egypt; Palestine; Origin; Site; Sherd; Number; Analysis; Sample; Archaeometry; Ceramics; Laboratory; Technique; Neutron activation; History
• ISSN: 0003-813X; 1475-4754; 1475-4754
• DOI: 10.1111/j.1475-4754.2007.00306.x

Neutron activation analysis of pottery was established at Bonn in 1983 and has since become one of the primary archaeometry‐based analytical techniques at the facility. A brief history of the laboratory and a discussion of the best relative fit procedure for pottery is provided. When comparing concentration data for pottery, a best relative fit should always be considered. This mathematical procedure generally results in ‘sharper’ concentration patterns and improves the separability of chemically not very different compositional groups. This is demonstrated for a set of 30 Late Cypriot (Myc. IIIC1) pottery samples from Sinda, Cyprus, which allow formation of a good reference pattern for this site. Applying factors in the range of 0.82–1.43, a number of samples from Egypt and Palestine can be assigned with high probability to a Cypriot origin.