Archaeology, Ethnology & Anthropology of Eurasia 37 (1) 2009

Annotation:  Environment and Human Behavior in Northern Mongolia during the Upper Pleistocene Bear in Mind: Bear Hunting in the Mesolithic of the Southern Caucasus L.B. Kirtcho. Two Bronze Age Steles in Gorny Altai Electron Probe Microanalysis of the Paste from Ceramics of the Far East Eurasian Coins of the 13th century from the Northern Caucasus Absolute Dendrochronological Scales of Archaeological Sites in European Russia A Dendrochronological Analysis of Wood from Pskov Dendrochronological Studies of Medieval Novgorod (Based on the Findings of Archaeological Excavatio On the Semantics of Animal Style Ornithomorphic Images in Pazyryk Ritual Artifacts Treasures of the Sacred River Everyday Diet of the Buryats in the Late 19th and Early 20th Centuries The Ethnic Environment of Diasporas in Western Siberia Demography of the Siberian Nenets in the First Third of the 20th Century Modern Altai Crafts Human Crania from the Tes Burial Ground, Kamenka III: The Analysis of Metric and Nonmetric Traits Analysis of Temporal Anthropometric Changes in Various Groups of Israeli Males The International Conference on the Neolithic of the Sea of Japan Basin (Vladivostok, 17–18 March, 2   

Electron Probe Microanalysis of the Paste from Ceramics of the Far East

T. Takeuchi, L.N. Mylnikova, S.P. Nesterov, N.A. Kulik, E.I. Derevianko, S.V. Alkin, and K. Nakamura.

Results of electron probe microanalysis (EPMA) of ceramics from various sites in the Russian Far East, Sakhalin, and Japan are discussed. The proportions of the principal chemical elements (Ca–K–SiO2, K–Ca–Na, Mg–Fe–Ti) in the clay paste are shown by means of 3-D plots. New techniques for the computer-aided evaluation of sand grains and for processing images are proposed. Advantages and drawbacks of EPMA are assessed, and methodological guidelines are suggested for using this method for the study of feldspars in the clay paste of prehistoric pottery.

Keywords: Ceramics, clay paste, Neolithic, Early Middle Ages, Amur, electron probe microanalysis.