APPLICATION OF XRF AND CORRESPONDENCE-ANALYSIS TO PROVENANCE STUDIES OF COASTAL AND INLAND ARCHAEOLOGICAL POTTERY FROM THE MNGENI RIVER AREA, SOUTH-AFRICA

XRF spectrometry was applied to provenance studies of Iron Age pottery specimens that originated from the Mngeni river area in South Africa. Ten transition metals (Sc to Zn) mere determined in 107 potsherds, ex cavated from four different sites. The data were subjected to a comput erized mathematical technique (correspondence analysis), which was use d to group the samples according to the similarity of their elemental distributions. The groupings were interpreted in terms of social or cu ltural interaction between the sites. (C) 1997 by John Wiley & Sons, L td.