Identification of a Class of Pottery within the Votive Deposit of the Demetra Sanctuary in Catania by Using a Non-destructive XRF Method

The use of non-destructive and portable analytical techniques in the field of Cultural Heritage has increased in the last years; because such techniques allow obtaining important information about the analysed sample without destroying any part of it and without moving it from its piace of custody. Among the various non-destructive techniques, particularly interesting are the ones based on the XRF (X-ray fluorescence) method. These analyses have to be performed carefully, the analysed area must be sufTiciently homogeneous to be representative of the sample. In this abstract, the results are presented, obtained in a study devoted to the identification of a class of pottery within the votive deposit of the Demetra Sanctuary in Catania (Sicily). The study has been carried out by using a non-destructive XRF method, particularly suited for the quantitative deterrnination of some trace elements of petrological interest: Rb, Sr, Y, 2r, Nb and Mo. These elements are considered to be indicative of the composition of clay deposits, they can provide good indications about the provenance of an object and, furthermore, its relationship to peculiar stylistic types. A new mathematical method, based on a multi-linear regression approach for quantitative analysis, is presented together with the obtained data. In order to highlight the differences between the studied samples and other typologies of wares a multivariate cluster analysis on compositional data has been performed.