Standardisation of elemental analytical techniques applied to provenance studies of archaeological ceramics: an inter laboratory calibration studyElectronic supplementary information (ESI) available: five tabular appendices giving element concentrations measured in reference materials. See http://www.rsc.org/suppdata/an/b1/b109603f/

Chemical analysis is a well-established procedure for the provenancing of archaeological ceramics. Various analytical techniques are routinely used and large amounts of data have been accumulated so far in data banks. However, in order to exchange results obtained by different laboratories, the respective analytical procedures need to be tested in terms of their inter-comparability. In this study, the schemes of analysis used in four laboratories that are involved in archaeological pottery studies on a routine basis were compared. The techniques investigated were neutron activation analysis (NAA), X-ray fluorescence analysis (XRF), inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry (I…