JOURNAL OF RAMAN SPECTROSCOPY J. Raman Spectrosc. 2005; 36: 829–833 Published online 27 June 2005 in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI: 10.1002/jrs.1371 Micro-Raman spectroscopic study of pottery fragments from the Lapatsa Tomb, Cyprus, ca 2500 BC M. Sendova, 1* V. Zhelyaskov, 1 M. Scalera 2 and M. Ramsey 1 1 Division of Natural Sciences, New College of Florida, Sarasota, Florida 34243, USA 2 The John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art, Sarasota, Florida 32243, USA Received 7 February 2005; Accepted 22 March 2005 Micro-Raman spectroscopy was applied to the mineralogical characterization of Bronze Age Cypriot ceramic fragments from the Lapatsa Tomb collection of the Ringling Museum of Art. Micro-probing was carried out on the surface and the results were compared with those of micro-probing from the cross- section of the two samples studied. Significant statistics were collected from 500 locations on each sample. Various phases were identified: quartz, albite, calcite, ilmenite, anatase, rutile, hematite and maghemite. It was determined that the different red coloration of both pieces is due not only to different hematite concentrations, but also to different grain sizes. The presence of low-temperature albite and anatase suggests low firing temperatures. The presence of hematite suggests firing in an oxidizing atmosphere. Copyright  2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. KEYWORDS: micro-Raman spectroscopy; Cypriot pottery; firing; inorganic pigments INTRODUCTION In 1973, the Ringling Museum of Art received 38 pieces of Bronze Age pottery from the Lapatsa Tomb 15 situated on the north slopes of the Kyrenia mountain range on the north coast of Cyprus. The artifacts were excavated during several expeditions under the auspices of the University of Melbourne, Australia. Overall, the excavated site vessels are diverse. They vary from a planned use in the after-life with tools for hunting or war to textile weaving implements such as spindle whorls. According to the archeologists, the works vary from hand-made to wheel-made. The clays may be described as originating from well-mixed, fine, sandy, sedimentary clays, fired, surface slipped then painted or polished. 1 Micro-Raman spectroscopy is a powerful analytical method for non-destructive material characterization. In the past 7 years, there has been a notable increase in the number of studies applying the Raman spectroscopic technique to archeological artifacts ranging from Egyptian funerary artifacts, 2 mummies, 3 to prehistoric rock art, 4 Byzantine hagiography, 5 medieval paintings, 6 manuscripts and cantorals 7 and various objects of fine art from more recent history. This research has contributed a large body of L Correspondence to: M. Sendova, Division of Natural Sciences, New College of Florida, Sarasota, Florida 34243, USA. E-mail: sendova@ncf.edu Contract/grant sponsor: US Department of Education; Contract/grant number: P116Z040038. scientific facts to art historians, curators and conservationists. Much research has been devoted particularly to examining the chemical, mineralogical composition, pigments and glazes 8 of ancient Greek, 9 Roman, 10,11 Chinese 12,13 and Ottoman 14 ceramic artifacts, medieval luster potteries and faience 15 – 17 and Medici porcelain. 18 The main questions which have to be answered are about the nature of the raw materials and the technology implemented for production of the ceramic artifacts, e.g. the firing temperature and the nature of the firing atmosphere. This knowledge will give us a better understanding of the civilization that created the ceramics, while providing a substantial advantage to conservation for improving the restoration and preservation techniques. The aim of this work was to implement micro-Raman spectroscopy to identify the mineralogical composition of fragments from the Lapatsa pottery collection (Plate 1) in order to learn more about the technological conditions, such as firing temperature and firing atmosphere under which these vessels were produced. EXPERIMENTAL Raman spectra were taken from various locations on two samples. The two fragments originate from different vessels: samples A and B are shown in Plate 1(a). Sample A has a vibrant red lustrous surface, whereas sample B has an orange–red matte-looking surface. The two shards are part Copyright  2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.