ANALYSIS OF ARCHAEOLOGICAL SAMPLES BY THE INTERNAL MONOSTANDARD METHOD OF PGAA

Nondestructive determination of major and trace elements within volumi nous materials has been demonstrated by prompt gamma-ray neutron activ ation analysis. Some fragmented pieces of pottery bowls considered to have been produced in the late 18th century were analyzed by a new int ernal monostandard method, and noticeable differences of the elemental contents and significant correlations of the elemental distributions were observed among the samples. The possibility of identification of producing areas of unearthened material is demonstrated by the analyti cal results and the applicability of this method to the investigation of precious samples in a completely nondestructive way is verified in practice.