The multidisciplinary approach of material culture investigation using physical methods from the natural sciences is known as archaeological science or archaeometry. In the past two decades archaeometry studies of ancient pottery from archaeological digs from the Mediterranean and Adriatic Coasts have illustrated the ability of physical methods to enrich our knowledge about the composition of pottery dating back to the Roman and Hellenistic periods.

At the University of St. Thomas, a group of faculty and undergraduate students from history, art history, geology, and chemistry have studied ancient artifacts from an archaeological site on the island of St. Clement, off the Dalmatian Coast of the Adriatic Sea.  Our analysis ranges from examination of the texture of pottery fabrics to semi-quantitative analysis for major and minor elements with X-ray fluorescence (XRF) and internal morphology with scanning electron microscopy (SEM).  While the diverse members of the group have different goals aligned with their disciplines, the goal of the research is to uncover insights into the provenance, production techniques, and trade networks of the Roman era on the island.  Undergraduate students have travelled with faculty, dug and surveyed the site, collected data at the site and brought samples back to the University of St. Thomas.  In several summer and academic year research projects we have studied the XRF spectra of pottery sherds from the site.  Applying quantitative chemical and geological approaches, we are attempting to relate our results with those from the archaeological literature on other Dalmatian sites.  In this presentation we will show the results from X-ray fluorescence collected by students in collaboration with chemistry and art history faculty and explore the potential of this project to advance learning and the future careers of young researchers.