Neutron activation
In the early 1970s, a noted nuclear scientist Isadore Perlman undertook the analysis of numerous Cypriot ceramics sent to him by the Swedish archaeologist, Einar Gherstad, when he pioneered high-precision methods of neutron activation analysis at the Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory in the US. Neutron activation analysis helps to determine the origin of ancient pottery and other artifacts through the analysis of the clay from which they were made. He was helped in the project by another noted scientist Frank Asaro.