Ceramic Chemical Composition and Ancient Societies:

Multi-disciplinary approaches have been beneficial in as far as the understanding of pre-historical societies is concerned . Marrying archaeology and chemistry for example has thus proven to be the best way in understanding the hidden mysteries within the ancient past which seems far but yet close to us. As such the research presented within this book aims to examine the variations which exists between the clay materials used in the manufacture of ceramic pots from different archaeological contexts at Great Zimbabwe. Archaeometry studies related to the understanding of ceramic chemical compositions and chemical groupings have previously not been awarded the much needed attention due to a number of factors which includes the cost. A Benchtop ED-XRF was therefore used to analyze 30 archaeological ceramics from the site. Each archaeological context within the walled areas or perimeter wall was represented by 6 samples, while 2 samples were from the workshop plantation and 4 from the barrier hut (representing the unwalled areas).