This is the measurement data from chemical analysis of archaeological Neolithic pottery using portable X-ray fluorescence analysis (p-XRF). The pottery came from the sites Wanna 1588, 1591, 1592, 1594 and 1603 (district of Cuxhaven, Lower Saxony, Germany) and belongs to the cultural group of the Funnel Beaker culture. The measurements are part of the research projects "Preserved in the bog - relics of prehistoric settlement landscapes in the Elbe-Weser triangle" funded by Niedersachsen Vorab and "Pottery traditions as a mirror of social structures of the 5th and 4th millennium BC in northern Central Europe" funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG project number 438036891). A handheld Niton XL3t XRF-Analyzer of the company analyticon was used. The device was held stationary in a stand. The measurements were taken on the edge of each sherd that have been previously cleaned and smoothed using abrasive paper. Each sherd was analysed in three different areas of the edge using the mode Mining and a small beam of 3 mm. The data consist of the average values of these measurements for each element. Each spot was analysed with four different filters. The total measuring time was 125 seconds.
This is the measurement data from chemical analysis of archaeological Neolithic pottery using Inductively Coupled Plasma- Atomic Emission Spectrometry (ICP-AES). The pottery came from the sites Wanna 1588, 1591, 1592 and 1594 (district of Cuxhaven, Lower Saxony, Germany) and belongs to the cultural group of the Funnel Beaker culture. The measurements are part of the research projects "Preserved in the bog - relics of prehistoric settlement landscapes in the Elbe-Weser triangle" funded by Niedersachsen Vorab and "Pottery traditions as a mirror of social structures of the 5th and 4th millennium BC in northern Central Europe" funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG project number 438036891). The measurements were carried out by OMAC Laboratories Ltd. in Loughrea, Galway, Ireland. A minimum of 0.5 g of sample material was taken from each sherd. The sample material was grinded to a fine powder and solved in a 4-acid solution. These solutions were injected into an excited argon plasma.
The data publication presented is concerned with the collection of geochemical results enhanced with metadata of archaeologic, stylistic, geographic and other crucial information. The publication covers analytical and metadata sets of analysed projectiles, both from own and published works. Starting point for the data collection was the PhD thesis Müller 2018 were projectiles from different find sites, dating into the Roman Republic, were analysed and published.
The objects up to date included in the current database are from various find sites with varying archaeological background, which have been collected and evaluated by the authors for diachronic comparison within a supra-regional frame. Own unpublished data are also included. These data are of objects, which are too isolated in terms of a research question to be published in a journal. However, our intention is to make them accessible in the context compiled here for any further use. We hereby encourage other researchers to contribute to this database either with their published or even their unpublished data so that it can continuously develop for the specific objects presented here.
The samples taken by the project group were analysed in the laboratories of FIERCE, the Frankfurt Isotope and Element Research Center of Goethe-University Frankfurt and the Research Laboratory of the Deutsches Bergbau-Museum Bochum, a central unit within its research department using Multicollector ICP mass spectrometry.
We are initiating this database with the goal that it will grow through collective contributions from researchers working on this topic. It should therefore be seen as a project of collaborative engagement. The research team is dedicating its efforts to the continuation and maintenance of the database. Anyone who contributes data will be named as a contributor in subsequent versions of the database.