LAUSR

Abstract This work is about to explore the mineralogical analysis of three different archaeological pottery sherds discovered from the archaeological site Kundureddiyur, Tirupattur District, Tamil Nadu, India. The mineralogical characteristics of the samples are analysed using FTIR, XRD, EDS and TG-DTA spectroscopic tools. It is observed from the results, the mineral quartz identified in all the samples at the region of 755 cm−1. Additionally, calcite and kaolinite are identified at the band region of 1739 and 1015 cm−1 respectively. Also, magnetite and hematite minerals are found in the regions of 580 and 530 cm−1 respectively. Further, confirmation of minerals was identified by the XRD technique. The XRD and FTIR characterization studies were able to indicate the conditions of the firing process adopted and the firing temperature attained by the artisans at the time of manufacture. Using, the TG-DTA significant weight loss of the pottery samples have been identified and all the samples were fired below the temperature 900 °C. Finally, some major elements such as Si, Al, Fe, Ca, Na, K, Mg, C and Ti are determined by energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) for pottery samples to confirm the firing temperature.