Comparison between TOF-ND and XRD quantitative phase analysis of ancient potteries

A non-invasive time-of-flight neutron diffraction (TOF-ND) analysis has been performed onarchaeological pottery fragments from the excavation sites in the ‘‘Strait of Messina’’ area (Sicily,Southern Italy). The revealed quantitative information on the mineralogical composition have beencompared, in the case of two samples representative of coarse and fine grained pottery, with the weightfractions of the crystalline phases as obtained from X-ray diffraction on powders (XRPD), for differentamounts of extracted powder. From the results, the consistency of these micro-destructive and noninvasiveapproaches has been checked. This research may contribute to better define the most efficientsampling and analytical method for the determination of mineralogical composition on ceramicsdifferent in structure and composition.