descriptive term. Subsequently, the body is pierced and the preformed spouts are luted (glued) in place. Etymologically the word means "mud". Lute is a slurry of clay and other substances the potter feels would enhance the binding. The false spout may be hollow, partly hollow, or solid. If hollow, it is blocked with ceramic. Finally, the stirrup handles are luted on. Radiographic analysis revealed minor differences in construction: size and shape of the base, method of obtaining a base pot, size, shape and placement of the spouts and handles, etc. What the investigators wanted to know is whether any of these were statistically significant; i.e., were not the result of random variation, and therefore were the signature of some potter or school of potters. They decided to perform a quantitative analysis of each pot's elemental composition; that is, a list of elements with the percentage present. They would assume a presence of 23 elements and detect the amounts present, obtaining a profile for each pot. Software to perform an analysis of variance of the profiles of all the samples for various factors would then detect if any factor caused a non-random difference. Neutron activation analysis The tedious methods of qualitative analysis by chemical isolation of the components went out of general use with the invention of mass spectrometry in the early 20th century. Most generally, mass spectrometers turn the sample into a gas (destroying it) and by bombarding it with a stream of electrons create a plasma, or supercharged cloud of ions, which loses the energy imparted to it by radiating wavelengths characteristic of the elemental atoms at an intensity that depends on the concentration of the element. A detector sorts the radiation by wavelength and reads the atomic spectra. Software turns the raw spectra and concentrations into a report of element and concentration present in the sample. This method was less attractive to the investigators because of sample destruction. A subsequent method activates only the nucleus rather than the whole atom. At the British Museum, a sample powder was obtained from each jar by drilling a 2 mm diameter hole in the footing with a tungsten carbide drill. The sample was sealed in a silica tube and sent off to a laboratory. There each sample was irradiated with a stream of neutrons. The nuclei acquired more neutrons than nature ordinarily permits, creating short-lived isotopes, which decayed emitting a radiation