Electron paramagnetic resonance and discriminant analysis of white pigment used by Early Neolithic potters in the Eastern Romanian Plain

Abstract

To evidence the reciprocal influence and material exchanges between Early Neolithic to Middle Chalcolithic communities from Romanian Plane, the white pigments of 103 ceramic fragments was investigated by Electron Paramagnetic Resonance (EPR). All investigated fragments showed a complex EPR spectrum due to the superposition, in different proportions, of the Mn²⁺, Fe³⁺ as well as iron ferromagnetic clusters EPR spectra. This permitted to develop a new procedure for extracting a set of five numerical parameters to quantify recorded spectra, parameters which were the basis for a Discriminant Analysis able to compare them by sites or by cultural traditions. In this way, it was evidenced that the first Neolithic people (Starčevo-Criș) utilized multiple raw material sources, while the more recent communities (Vădastra, Hamangia, Boian, Gumelnița) relied on more localized sources. This indicates an accumulation of knowledge about the raw material sources in the area, leading to the utilization of those with optimal technological properties. This accumulation of know-how by Chalcolithic communities is linked to complex processes of population movements from Anatolia, as well as the ancestral and descendant prehistoric populations that inhabited the same sites in different time horizons. Thus, the archaeometric analysis proposed by this study offers indirect proxies regarding the behaviors of Neolithic and Chalcolithic communities that inhabited the Romanian Plain over 2000 years (ca. 6200–3800 cal BCE).