Hit and sunk: provenance and alterations of ceramics from seventeenth century Angra D shipwreck

Abstract

A set of 34 archaeological ceramics, including olive jars, transparent green lead glazed, tin-lead glazed and unglazed ceramics, from seventeenth century Angra D shipwreck found at Terceira Island (Azores Archipelago, Portugal) was archaeometrically characterized by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Ceramic provenance has been established by statistical exploration of the ICP-MS chemical data, suggesting as being mainly from Seville origin (southern Spain) and, at a lesser extent, from the north of Portugal, piling up evidences to suggest a Spanish ship. Alteration and contamination effects of underwater environment in calcareous ceramics are assessed by XRD and SEM-EDS analyses, like the crystallization of zeolites, as well as pyrite.