Archaeological research at the Institute of Nuclear Techniques, Budapest University of Technology and Economics: Scholarly achievements of a prosperous long-term collaboration

The laboratory is part of a university institute with a nuclear reactor on the premises. NAA of archaeological materials started in the early 1980s, and has found continuous interest since then. Site-specific characteristics of the NAA procedure are the long irradiation and counting times, due to the relatively low neutron flux, the single comparator method of standardization and the use of reference materials for quality control. The main research interest focuses on provenance studies of potteries; 90% of the analysed samples are ceramic materials. Most of the projects concentrate on the investigation of pottery finds from Roman Pannonia, and from different archaeological sites in Israel. The Qumran pottery project is presented as a typical example.