Study of the influence of surface roughness in the PIXE analysis of pottery

The PIXE analysis of pottery is possible by operating in air with basically no limits on the size and shape of the goods. The analysis of the clay body in valuable goods of archaeological and historical value is, however, limited to exposures along pre-existent rough fractures whose surface could alter the transmission of X-rays to the detectors and create artefacts. We have studied the effect on a homogeneous metal slab where grooves of different shape and depth have been milled and compared the data with a Monte Carlo (MC) calculation for our typical set-up and with data on a few potsherds from archaeological excavations