This article presents studies on iron speciation in the pottery obtained from archaeological sites. The determination of iron forms Fe(II) and Fe(III) has been provided by a very simple test that is available for routine analysis involving the technique of molecular absorption spectrophotometry (UV–Vis) in the acid leachable fraction of pottery. The elemental composition of the acid leachable fraction has been determined by inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES). Additionally, the total concentration of the selected elements has been determined by X-ray fluorescence spectrometry with energy dispersion (EDXRF). The results of the iron forms’ determinations in archaeological pottery samples have been applied in the archaeometric studies on the potential recognition of the pottery production technology, definitely going beyond the traditional analysis of the pottery colour.

This article is intended to complement the present state of knowledge on the lime production conducted in the area covered by the settlement of the Wielbark culture in the earlier stage of its development. The article includes a review of available evidence of such a production, reflected within a settlement by the presence of a lime kilns. The article focuses mainly on the presence of such features in the south-western area occupied by the Wielbark communities.

A significant increase in the amount of materials obtained from the recent large area excavations resulted in numerous finds of wells. For years, these unique archaeological features were not treated as a separate research problem. In order to obtain the fullest research results, an increasing interdisciplinarity involving different fields of science is applied to the studies on wells nowadays. Constructions made of organic raw materials are extremely rare in the space of a typical archaeological site and they are also extremely important sources for gaining knowledge about particular settlements. Wells are accompanied by a certain range of features related to the use of water intake and located in its immediate vicinity. These discoveries allow for extremely interesting interpretations of the functional connections between individual complexes of this type. Functions of wells are an issue that is inextricably linked to the location of such complexes in the settlement’s space. Another aspect related to studies of these features is their extremely rich symbolism. Wells are special archaeological features. Their uniqueness places them among the most interesting objects studied by archaeologists.

This article presents the results of an analysis of ceramics from archeological sites. The main goal of the study was to determine the elemental composition of ceramics using XRF. This study was conducted in two stages. The first stage involved the analysis of complete vessels from the museum exhibition. The second involved the interpretation of the results obtained from the first stage. In the second stage, 30 samples obtained by dividing a single fragment of a ceramic vessel were analyzed. The results (results scattered due to material heterogeneity) were compared with the results of analyses of a large group of ceramic samples from a similar period. To supplement the information about the ceramic material studied, destructive analyses were also performed (after grinding the aforementioned 30 samples), namely mineral composition using FTIR (to determine the raw materials) and iron speciation using UV-Vis and HPLC-ICP hrOES (to determine the firing method). The results obtained indicated that limiting the research to the most-used non-destructive procedures in archaeometry can lead to misinterpretation. Although the presented study concerned archaeological objects, it can be considered in the context of research on other materials.

Damian Waszak (red.) Celtica studia z dziejów Celtów tom II, Tetragon, Kalisz – Warszawa 2014