On-site, non-destructive studies at Iznik Tile Kilns Excavation

The research ethic in the world limits sampling and destructive analyses as much as possible and accepts only the use of non-destructive techniques to maintain the integrity of the excavation finds. Up to now, the research on Iznik tiles was carried out on a limited number of artifacts with which the researchers were not able to perform any statistical assessment to define different workshops that existed in the excavation area of Iznik Tile Kilns. Moreover, most of the previous studies were concerned with artistic and morphological investigations rather than the analyses of glaze and coloring agents. Since 2018, non-destructive analyses with pXRF and stereo microscope started on the excavation materials to define the glaze, coloring agents, and body composition. Some ceramics and tile sherds were also characterized with a confocal Raman spectrometer in the laboratory to complement the chemical data obtained with pXRF.