Ultrasonic Disaggregation of Potsherds for Mineral Separation and Analysis

Abstract

Weakly bound composite materials such as low-fired pottery, bricks, mortar, and indurated soils can be disaggregated by ultrasound with no significant chemical or physical alteration of individual component grains. The components may then be separated by size, shape, density, magnetic properties, etc. This allows mineralogical, bulk chemical, trace-element, thermoluminescence, or other analyses of individual separates as well as determination of their relative proportions in the composite.