Assesses differences in elemental composition of raw clays pre- and post-firing, suggesting new insights for provenance studies.
The use of energy‐dispersive X‐ray fluorescence (ED‐XRF) spectrometry for analyzing ceramic artifacts typically centers on identifying geochemical groups within an assemblage and/or matching artifacts to specific clay sources or alluvial systems. For those focused on provenance, there are unresolved methodological issues concerning the effects of firing on the composition of raw clays. For this study, raw clays from eastern Idaho were analyzed with XRF both before and after firing to test whether there were significant differences in the elemental composition of these materials. The results have implications for future provenance studies that compare ceramic artifacts to raw or fired clays.
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Freund et al. (2026) studied this question.
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