Geochemical data of archaeological pottery from West Africa

The geochemical data of pottery from sites in West Africa was obtained by using a pXRF. Measurements were conducted using a Niton GOLDD+ portable X-ray fluorescence (pXRF) device from Thermo Fisher. A 50 kV and 100 mA tube with an Ag anode generates X-ray and the secondary radiation is detected by larger silicon drift detector. The diameter of the measurement window is 8mm. The “TestAll Geo” Mode was used as it is well suited for ceramics (Ezlami et al. 2020). The instrument was calibrated using 32 ceramic samples from the “Forschungstelle Keramik” of the Goethe University Frankfurt previously measured with WD-XRF (Furger & Helfert 2023), in order to ensure data comparability and usability by other researchers. Before measurements, the device was powered on for one hour to achieve thermal stability. A pottery standard was measured at regular intervals to ensure consistency. Each measurement took 330 seconds (filters: standard 60 sek; low 60; high 90; light 120) ensuring the accurate detection of lighter elements (Beck 2017, 56).西非遗址出土陶器的地球化学数据采用便携式X射线荧光光谱（portable X-ray fluorescence，pXRF）技术获取。测试使用赛默飞世尔（Thermo Fisher）Niton GOLDD+型便携式X射线荧光光谱仪完成。该仪器采用银（Ag）阳极X射线管，设置管电压50 kV、管电流100 mA以产生X射线，次级辐射由大尺寸硅漂移探测器接收。测量窗口直径为8毫米。 本次实验采用"TestAll Geo"模式，因其适配陶器样品的分析需求（Ezlami等，2020）。为保障数据的可对比性与其他研究者的可复用性，仪器采用法兰克福歌德大学"Forschungstelle Keramik"提供的32件陶器样品进行校准，该批样品此前已通过波长色散X射线荧光光谱（Wavelength Dispersive X-ray Fluorescence，WD-XRF）完成测试（Furger & Helfert, 2023）。正式测试前，仪器需开机预热1小时以达到热稳定状态。测试过程中定期测定陶器标准样品，以确保数据的一致性与稳定性。单次测试时长为330秒（滤光片配置：标准模式60秒、低能量模式60秒、高能量模式90秒、轻元素模式120秒），可保障轻元素的精准探测（Beck, 2017:56）。