Characterization of Costa Rican potsherds by neutron activation analysis

Neutron activation analysis has been applied to evaluate the concentrations of 24 elements in archaeological potsherds and 5 clay samples with a view of establishing the average composition profiles. Due to their stability in clays, 14 elements were selected as indicators. A statistical treatment of the overall analytical data, including principal component analysis, was applied in an attempt to determine correlations between the concentrations of the elements in the samples, possibly in relation with their ages and/or their places of collection.