Archaeometric investigation of pottery from funerary gifts in Kal-e Chendar,Shami (Khuzestan,Iran)

Thirty fragments of red slip, glazed, common and cooking ware from Hellenistic and Parthian tombs at Kal-e Chendar in Shami (Iran) were investigated. Petrographic assemblage and chemometric evaluation of chemical data collected most samples in a large cluster, suggesting a common provenance, even in a quite wide area which includes Izeh plain and lowland Susiana, and underlining the presence of smaller very distinguished groupings. Surface finishing layers (both glazes and red slips) showed a high degree of alteration of their morphological features. Blue glazes are typical plant-ash, with copper as a colouring agent.     

A TECHNOLOGICAL EXAMINATION OF NINTH–TENTH CENTURY AD ABBASID BLUE‐AND‐WHITE WARE FROM IRAQ,AND ITS COMPARISON WITH EIGHTH CENTURY AD CHINESE BLUE‐AND‐WHITE SANCAI WARE*

Eight sherds of ninth–tenth century ad Abbaesid blue‐and‐white glazed earthenware, excavated in 1931 at Hira in western Iraq, were analysed using, variously, quantitative wavelength‐dispersive spectrometry (WDS) and energy‐dispersive spectrometry (EDS) in association with scanning electron microscopes (SEM), and semi‐quantitative X‐ray fluorescence spectrometry (XRF). In order to compare the compositions of the cobalt pigments used, the glazes of seven complete vessels of eighth century ad Chinese Tang blue‐and‐white sancai were also analysed semi‐quantitatively using XRF. The Abbasid wares were shown to have used traditional Mesopotamian alkali–lime glazes applied to calcareous clay bodies. Half the glazes examined were opacified with tin oxide. Three types of blue decoration (i.e., raised; spreading; and flat, non‐spreading) were produced using a variety of formulations, including a mixture of cobalt pigment with lead oxide. The sources of the ores used for the cobalt pigments have not been identified. However, the analytical data showed that the cobalt ore used for the Abbasid blue‐and‐white ware could be distinguished from that used for the Tang blue‐and‐white sancai by its higher iron content and by the presence of a significant amount of zinc. The use of cobalt‐blue decoration on the ninth–tenth century ad Abbasid ware was anticipated in China by eighth century ad Tang blue‐and‐white sancai wares. However, whether its introduction by the Abbasid potters should be seen as an independent invention that followed the introduction of tin‐opacified glazes in Iraq, or whether it was influenced in some way by Chinese originals, is still unresolved.     

克拉克瓷研究

克拉克瓷作为明末清初的一种中国外销瓷,对世界陶瓷文化和陶瓷贸易产生了重要影响。本文从克拉克瓷名称的含义、特征、分期、窑口和时代等五个方面较为全面地对克拉克瓷的历史作了研究。着重地介绍了外国目前对克拉克瓷的研究成果,并对克拉克瓷的生产范畴和断代提出了自己的观点。     

The process,location, and history of Hohokam Buff ware production: some experimental and analytical results

A distinctive red-on-buff pottery, found throughout central and southern Arizona, is a hallmark of prehistoric Hohokam culture. To manufacture it, Hohokam potters used a complicated recipe and controls for firing to chemically manipulate their clay and produce a light-colored fabric on which to paint their red designs. In this study, firing experiments and ceramic analysis are used in conjunction with excavation evidence to evaluate competing ideas about the buff ware manufacturing process, investigate where the pots were made, and model the developmental history of red-on-buff production.     

X-RAY DIFFRACTION OF EARLY IRON AGE POTTERY FROM WESTERN NORWAY

X-ray diffraction has been used to analyse the surfaces and cores of sherds from pottery from Voss and Etne. two late Roman-early Migration Period sites in western Norway. Results show: (1) the presence of illite and illite/smectite in black-burnished ware from inhumation graves which suggests that this ware was never subjected to temperatures as high as 375°C, (2) the absence of these heat-sensitive clay minerals in red ware from cremation graves at these sites which suggests a secondary firing at 700–800°C, (3) the clay minerals are similar in the cores and surfaces of the black pottery which suggests that the colour differences are due to firing procedures rather than the application of a slip, and (4) chlorite is present in all of the samples which is an indication that the ware originated in a Voss workshop where chlorite is present in other pottery found there and in the local geologic deposits.     

山东危山西汉墓出土陶器彩绘颜料研究

为研究山东危山西汉墓出土彩绘陶器颜料成分,采用偏光显微镜、显微拉曼光谱仪和扫描电子显微镜-能谱仪进行了分析。研究结果显示,危山汉墓陶器彩绘颜料有朱砂、铅丹、中国紫(汉紫BaCuSi2O6)、铁红、铁黑、白土等。中国紫颜料首次在山东省的发现,扩大了该颜料的使用区域,具有重要的考古学意义。另外,还在紫色颜料中分析出了BaCu2Si2O7蓝色晶体,这是继中国蓝中国紫之后的又一重大发现。     

"皇帝万岁"铭瓷器与中国佛教

根据窑址标本和传世品而知,"皇帝万岁"铭瓷器至迟在北宋时已出现,延续至明清.佛教将皇帝比作佛,并以世俗方式颂之,原出于自我保护和发展的需要,也是它接受和利用中国文化价值观念的表现."皇帝万岁"铭瓷器可说是中国佛教走向本土化、世俗化的一个见证.     

淮阳彩绘陶院落的年代问题

淮阳彩绘陶院落是目前我国汉代考古中极为少见的建筑明器精品.本文依据出土墓葬的形制、随葬品的组合、陶院落的装饰艺术和时代特征等几个方面,对其年代进行了重新判定.     

Tracing the origin of Chinese early white porcelain in the late sixth century—evidence from Xing kiln

As the criterion used by archaeologists for determining early white porcelain is quite ambiguous, the origin of Chinese white porcelain remains a point of disagreement. In this study, we systematically investigate 61 typical Xing porcelains of the late Northern dynasties to the early Sui dynasty (550–600 CE) using spectrophotometer, X-ray fluorescence (XRF), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), and analyze the differences between early white porcelain and celadon of Xing kiln in terms of their whiteness and raw materials characteristic. The results show that early white porcelain is a new type of ware that differs from celadon, which can be distinguished by whiteness, with a whiteness greater than 8% being early white porcelain and a whiteness less than 8% being celadon. It is assumed that the ancient potters created the whiter wares based on celadon by improving the glaze and selecting new raw materials for the body, but the production of this type of ware was short lived and subsequently refined in the Sui dynasty (581–618 CE) owing to the limited improvement in whiteness.     

湖北出土西周噩国青铜器鉴赏

湖北以＂鄂＂为其简称,其历史相当的悠久。＂鄂＂字在甲骨文、金文中写作＂噩＂。自20世纪七十年代以来,在湖北随州,先后发现了几批数十件西周早期青铜器,最为重要的是在一些青铜礼器上刻有＂噩侯＂等铭文。     

Glaze-paints,technological knowledge,and ceramic specialization in the fourteenth-century Pueblo Southwest

The advent of glaze-painted ceramics by Ancestral Pueblo peoples in the US Southwest occurred during an important period of cultural change. In east-central Arizona, potters used glaze-paints to decorate a striking, representational-style pottery during the early fourteenth-century AD. We evaluate the possibility that these vessels were manufactured by emergent specialists who possessed crafting-knowledge that was not widely shared with others in their communities. Time of flight-laser ablation-inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (TOF-LA-ICP-MS) was used to characterize the composition of a large sample of red ware sherds from sites in the Silver Creek area. This analytical approach precisely measures the chemical composition of paints, which can then be used to model ancient technological “recipes.” Our study highlights the complexities of craft production in small-scale societies and the utility of practice-based versus typological approaches to specialization.     

Early development of Jingdezhen ceramic glazes

Major types of ceramics produced in the history of Jingdezhen, from the Tang green glaze stoneware, through the Five Dynasties white ware, the Song dynasty bluish-white ware to the Yuan and Ming dynasties blue-and-white ware were analysed for their glaze chemistries to reveal, chemically, how the glazes of different periods in Jingdezhen evolved. Possible early period glaze recipes are proposed. Important events in the course of the technological development of Jingdezhen ceramic, such as the first use of limestone as a glaze flux, and how they may have impacted the way Jingdezhen ceramic technology advanced, are discussed.     

汝官瓷和钧官瓷主量化学组成的多元统计分析

为了研究多种釉色汝官瓷和钧官瓷的原料来源、成分和分类关系,正确鉴别两窑瓷器,应用质子激发X荧光分析(PIXE)技术测定了一组清凉寺窑汝官瓷片和一组钧台窑钧官瓷片的主量化学组成,应用多元统计分析方法对测试数据进行了分析,结果表明:多数汝官瓷胎、钧官瓷胎样品的原料产地和成分接近但有所不同;汝官瓷釉和钧官瓷釉的原料产地和配方则明显不同;从主量化学组成上可以较好地区分汝官瓷釉和钧官瓷釉样品。分析结果可为深入研究汝官瓷和钩官瓷的原料产地、起源关系、真伪鉴别和提高仿古瓷器的质量等方面提供可借鉴的科学依据。     

Medieval Painted Pottery in South and Central Italy

DURING the 9th century unglazed pottery decorated with red or brown slip came into production along the middle Rhine. This pottery, known as Pingsdorf ware, was exported in large quantities to the North Sea region and even to the Baltic coast.² By the 12th century red-painted pottery, often imitating Pingsdorf ware, was made at a number of sites in the Low Countries and western France.³

It has long been known that painted pottery was manufactured throughout the medieval Islamic world, including north Africa, and isolated finds of painted ware have been published in Italy and Spain.⁴ Nevertheless, little attempt has been made to explore the possible connexions between painted pottery in the Mediterranean basin and western Europe,⁵ A serious obstacle to such an attempt is the inadequacy of most publications of Mediterranean finds. This paper offers an account of the painted wares in one area of the Mediterranean, peninsular Italy, and suggests that the pottery found there may indeed be related to the earliest painted wares north of the Alps. It must be emphasized, however, that the study of Italian medieval pottery is in its infancy and that the suggestions made here are of an entirely speculative nature.     

钧窑三问——论钧窑研究中的几个问题

本文结合古代文献对钧窑研究中的三个问题进行了考证。第一,今人多将钧窑视为宋代的“五大名窑”之一,实际上钧窑在宋至明初大体默默无闻,明后期的文献中始对其记载,但直到民国时期仍未能列入“五大名窑”,20世纪后半叶钧窑才名列“五大名窑”,前提是“钧官窑”概念的确立,是建立在某些推论基础上的产物。第二,古代文献中所指的钧窑,除了指今之钧窑的一些特殊产品外,还可能指古钧州境内其他窑场的产品,现所称的钧釉瓷可能是某些文献所记之汝窑器。第三,《清波杂志》中关于窑变朱砂红瓷的记载,应指北宋末钧窑生产的红釉瓷。     

PANTELLERIAN WARE: A COMPREHENSIVE ARCHAEOMETRIC REVIEW*

Pantellerian ware is a Late Roman cooking ware whose production centre was established on the island of Pantelleria by the pioneering research of Fulford and Peacock almost 20 years ago ( Peacock 1982 ; Fulford and Peacock 1984 ). Archaeological and archaeometric studies carried out by the authors of the present contribution during the past four years have aimed to fully characterize this ceramic class. Recurrent ceramic forms, their distribution over time and space, their petrographic characteristics and their chemical identity, as well as possible raw materials and their technological properties, were considered. The present paper is a comprehensive review of this archaeometric work and aims to establish a ‘reference group’. Using a representative number of samples of Pantellerian ware that were recently discovered in the island through archaeological field surveys or surface and submarine excavations, it was possible to characterize in detail the compositional variability of this ware in terms of chemistry and petrography. Furthermore, the physical properties of this ceramic type have been defined in order to better understand its performance characteristics, mainly in response to induced thermal stress. In the meantime, the experimental mixing and tempering of locally sampled raw materials have shed light on the ancient manufacturing process and have led to an approximation of the original paste.     

Microstructural analysis of the color-generating mechanism in Ru ware,modern copies and its differentiation with Jun ware

Ru ware and Jun ware belong to the five most famous porcelains of the Song dynasty (AD 960–AD 1276), China. Their relationship is one of the focuses of research in ancient ceramic circle. In this article, some shards of Ru ware, its modern copies and Jun ware were analyzed by using SEM, UV–VIS spectrometer. Under SEM, Ru ware has different micromorphological structure to Jun ware, and Ru modern copies are more similar to Jun ware. These differences could explain the reflectance spectrum difference between Ru modern copies, Jun ware and Ru ware. So the UV–VIS method has the potential to answer Ru–Jun confusion problem and be a reference in nondestructive authentication of Ru ware. Special optical phenomena may illuminate that the glaze color of Ru ware is the combined result of physical and chemical effects. However, more determinate conclusions need more samples.     

“磁州窑类型”几种瓷器的年代与产地

本文以剔花、绞胎、黑釉跳刀刻花、红绿彩和孔雀蓝釉等“磁州窑类型”几种瓷器为对象,在以往研究的基础上,通过有关遗物和考古资料——特别是一些重要新发现,对这几个品种的年代与产地作进一步“细化”,从而提出一些新见解。     

山东临淄山王村俑坑出土陶质彩绘颜料初步分析

2008年5月山东临淄山王村俑坑出土了数量较多的彩绘陶质文物,为了了解彩绘颜料结构和成分,采用粉末偏光显微法、剖面观察结合拉曼光谱分析对彩绘文物表面颜料样品进行分析。结果表明,这批陶质文物表面彩绘是以白灰做地仗层,由碳酸钙、白土、铁黑（Fe₃O₄）、铁红（Fe₂O₃）、朱砂等颜料调和而成,且厚度不均。在个别样品中发现了少量的中国蓝颗粒(BaCuSi₄O₁₀),这是这次分析中较为重要的发现,此分析结果也可为考古研究提供科学信息。