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The proposed method has been applied to a multi-phased settlement complex and pottery manufacturing centre in Ostrowite in northern Poland. In this study the radioactive isotope ratios method has been applied to a set of ceramic pottery specimens from the same multi-layered archaeological site and probably produced from local raw material. The pilot radiometric research was based on: 24 Neolithic (5200–5000 BCE), 21 Early Iron Age (800–600 BCE), 4 Roman Period (100–400 CE), and 13 Middle Ages (1030–1320 CE) pottery fragments, and also 8 samples of local clay (glacial till) and 3 burned clay samples. The method shows the similarities within the ceramic material used to manufacture the pottery. The variations in the quantitative and qualitative compositions of the basic products (clay, silt, loam, sand, ash and organic admixtures) used in the preparation of the ceramic paste change the isotopic composition and activity ratios. Pottery from each ceramic manufacturing centre, based on the specific composition of the raw materials, have characteristic isotope ratios. Radioactive isotope ratios as fingerprints of ancient ceramic manufacturing centres have not yet been applied as an archaeometric method. In this study two isotope ratios have been selected and applied: 40K/228Ac and 226Ra/208Tl. All analysis have been done using gamma spectrometry system, with quality and quantity analysis of the spectrums. Low-background passive shield was used for obtain improvement of results quality. The pilot study confirms the grouping of isotope ratio results for each sample type, even in terms of similarities with the base clay material collected in this region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During archaeological excavations of a medieval stronghold in Rozprza, a buried thick deposit of deep black (Dark Earth type) soil was discovered. A multianalytical (sedimentological, geochemical and archaeobotanical) study was carried out in order to identify traits the Rozprza Dark Earth. The analyses demonstrated that the soil was formed as an effect of surface accumulation of organic deposits from swampy areas and waste materials with rich admixtures of organic materials. The organic carbon content of the soil of the Rozprza Dark Earth was twice as high, and the total concentration of P was many times higher as compared with the adjacent soil outside the stronghold. Plant macroremains which were recorded within the buried soil and a cultural layer are evidence for human activity, mainly wood gathering and agriculture. In the Early Middle Ages, summer crops could be cultivated there with the use of tilling methods characteristic for root crops or gardens. The accumulation of the Rozprza Dark Earth commenced in the second half of the tenth century AD. In the period between the eleventh and thirteenth century, a ring-fort was established there. The deep black soil is partly covered by the ring-fort's rampart. The rampart was built with the use of re-deposited earlier cultural layers and sand of the subsoil. It was then clad with sod bricks. Such a construction of a medieval rampart has been recorded for the first time in the territory of Poland. A new interpretation of archaeological structures and cultural layers offers a basis for new conclusions concerning the chronology and the development stages of the medieval settlement and ring-fort in Rozprza. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]