Using portable energy dispersive X-ray fluorescence (EDXRF) analysis for on-site study of ceramic sherds at El Hibeh,Egypt

As part of its geoarchaeological research program, the El Hibeh Project of the University of California, Berkeley field-tested at the site of El Hibeh, northern Middle Egypt, the utility of a portable EDXRF unit for obtaining geochemical analyses of pottery suitable for provenance and other ceramic classification studies. When the geochemical ceramic data from the field test are combined with basic petrographic analysis for the pottery sample set, compelling results are generated. In particular, a triangular scattergram using elemental iron, strontium and rubidium data, in parts per million, provides excellent temporal and spatial separation of ceramic fabrics type, origin and date. The geochemical behavior of iron, strontium and rubidium is discussed in relation to geological source materials utilized for pottery manufacture.     

LEAD ISOTOPE ANALYSIS OF TANG SANCAI POTTERY GLAZES FROM GONGYI KILN,HENAN PROVINCE AND HUANGBAO KILN,SHAANXI PROVINCE

Through the use of MC–ICP–MS, this study analyses the lead isotope ratios of 19 Tang Sancai pottery glazes unearthed from the Gongyi and Huangbao kiln sites. According to their different lead isotope ratios, the two kilns can be grouped separately. The research also suggests that the Gongyi and Huangbao kilns are independent production centres of Tang Sancai in the Tang Dynasty. The data from the Huangbao kiln indicates that the lead in the glazes originates from the Northern China geochemical province, while the data from Gongyi kiln suggests its source as the Yangtze geochemical province. Furthermore, the results obtained for the Tang Sancai pottery indicate that the lead sources for glaze making of these two kilns were very consistent, which suggests that lead isotope analysis could be a helpful method to identify the kilns producing Tang Sancai artefacts.     

Potter’s Wheel in the Iron Age in Central Europe: Process or Product Innovation?

The use of a rotational device for forming ceramic objects represents a fundamental innovation in pottery technology. This work addresses aspects of the transmission of this technological innovation on the basis of technological and provenance analysis of Iron Age pottery in a selected region of Eastern Bohemia. The possible trajectories of the innovative process are approximated specifically through the polarities between product and process innovation and transmission of cultural traits in open and closed learning networks. Apart from standard methods of petrographic and geochemical analysis, this analysis employs innovative methodology for identification of pottery-forming techniques. The results indicate the effects of various mechanisms of cultural transmission which shaped the evolution of techniques in the Iron Age society. The technological changes can be explained by shifting accents on product and process performance characteristics in changing selective environments.     

A multivariate analysis of pottery from southwestern Cyprus using neutron activation analysis data

Neutron activation analysis is employed to geochemically characterize 129 pottery sherds collected from 38 sites during an archaeological survey of the Paphos District of southwestern Cyprus. Cluster analysis identifies three significant groupings using 26 trace elements and rare earth elements. These compositional groupings appear to reflect differences in the geographical locations of the sherd collection sites and particularly the influence of the surficial geology. In particular, the rocks of the ultramafic Troodos Ophiolite Zone, the Mamonia Complex, and various formations of the Circum Troodos Sedimentary Sequence appear to impart a detectable imprint on the sherds of the study area. Discriminant analysis identifies Ce, Th, Cr, Na, Fe, Hf, Ba and Co as the most significant chemical discriminators between the three compositional groupings and derives two discriminant functions that between them account for 100% of the variance between the groups. Discriminant analysis also confirms that 82% of the sherds classified by cluster analysis are correctly classified. Based on probability measures, the large majority of the sherds (98%) are considered to be local in origin.     

The geochemical diversity of neogene clay deposits in Crete and its implications for provenance studies of Minoan pottery*

The determination of provenance probably forms the primary role of geochemical analyses in archaeological ceramic studies. In what has comprised a successful field of study, the ultimate basis for such research has been the comparison of pottery compositions with the geochemical diversity displayed by clay deposits within a given study area. Although such studies are now common, the understanding of chemical and mineralogical variability in ceramic raw materials has been somewhat neglected, with the dominance of assumptions rather than the actual analysis of clays. In this paper, a study is presented of Neogene clays in Crete (Greece), a clay type commonly used in ancient and modern pottery production. Sixty‐one samples were taken from 28 locations in the central and eastern parts of the island, to reveal both intra‐ and inter‐deposit variability. In one deposit chosen for multiple sampling, the 14 samples display great variability in the alkali elements, Fe and Co, and to a lesser extent in the REEs. Many of the geographically separate deposits differ from each other in chemical composition, with Eastern Cretan deposits showing higher REE concentrations and higher Th/Sc ratios, whereas Central Cretan deposits of younger geological stages are characterized by a lower Th/U ratio. Mineralogical analysis by XRD is used to explain aspects of the geochemical variability of the clays.     

Identification of Pottery‐Forming Techniques using Quantitative Analysis of the Orientation of Inclusions and Voids in Thin Sections

The relationship between forming techniques and orientation of the components of ceramic materials in the context of pottery technology has long been recognized and used for identification of the techniques employed to create archaeological ceramics. The alignment of inclusions is usually characterized by qualitative categories or ordinal scales. This paper evaluates the potential of quantitative orientation analysis for identification of pottery‐forming techniques. A collection of experimental pottery formed using five forming techniques and combined techniques was analysed. The forming techniques were characterized by the intervals of the mean direction and the circular standard deviations of the orientation of the major axes of the ellipses equivalent to the objects representing random sections of inclusions and voids. The most informative criteria for the identification of pottery techniques are the circular standard deviation of the inclusion/void orientations in the core area of the vessel wall in a perpendicular thin section and the mean direction in a tangential section.     

舞阳贾湖墓葬的统计学初步分析

本工作旨在了解贾湖单人墓随葬品数量与墓主人性别、年龄以及墓葬分期之间的关系。根据墓葬样本的实际情况,本工作使用t-检验、单因素和双因素方差分析的方法进行了初步的统计学分析。结果显示,贾湖墓葬随葬品总量与性别无关,但与墓主人的死亡年龄有关,壮年随葬品较丰富。同时,随葬品数量受到性别和死亡年龄的交互影响比较显著,女性少年儿童的随葬品数量最多,男性壮年的随葬品次之。从随葬品的种类上看,除少年儿童组最多外,女性壮年墓葬占有石制品最多;男性壮年墓葬占有骨、牙制品最多。本工作还发现陶器和骨、牙制品的数量在不同时期存在着较显著变化,第二期时骨、牙制品和陶制品的数量较多。本工作认为,女孩随葬品数量较多的情况可能与母系氏族社会重女习俗有关,不同性别的壮年侧重随葬不同质地的物品则可能暗示着贾湖先民们已经出现了一定程度的社会分工,陶和骨、牙制品在第二期时比较丰富的现象可能与这一时期渔猎采集活动较活跃有关。     

Provenance study of early and middle bronze age pottery from Kaman-Kalehöyük,Turkey, by heavy mineral analysis and geochemical analysis of individual hornblende grains

The provenance of Early Bronze Age and early Middle Bronze Age pottery produced between 2100 and 1970 B.C. and excavated from Kaman-Kalehöyük, Turkey was studied using mineralogical methods, including heavy mineral analysis and geochemical study of individual hornblende grains. The relative abundances of heavy minerals in the fabrics of 20 Early Bronze Age (EBA) and early Middle Bronze Age (MBA) pottery sherds, together with 27 local sediments collected within a radius of 25 km of the site were studied. The heavy mineral distributions in the Kaman region were statistically analyzed for consistencies in their occurrence. Amphibole was found to be the most abundant heavy mineral in most of the analyzed samples, followed by titanite and epidote. The amounts of other minerals such as garnet, clinopyroxene, and zircon are subordinate. Different proportions of heavy minerals in the fabrics allow categorization of the EBA and early MBA potteries into 5 groups. Comparative study of heavy mineral assemblages of local sediments and pottery suggests that half of the EBA and most of the MBA potteries were produced from sediment near the excavation site, whereas the other half of the EBA potteries were produced from sediment occurring at 25 km east or more east of the site. The geochemistry of individual amphibole grains was studied by electron-microprobe analysis. Most of the studied amphibole grains are calcic and aluminous, corresponding to hornblende. They can be further characterized into four types based on their chemical composition. The combination of heavy mineral identity and hornblende geochemistry provides diagnostic evidence for the origins of Kaman-Kalehöyük pottery. These and analogous heavy mineral techniques are effective archaeometric tools for determining pottery provenance.     

山东大汶口文化酒器初探

中国有悠久的酿酒传统,近年来利用科技手段进行陶器残留物分析,使我们能够获得史前时期酿酒技术的直接考古学证据。本文对山东王因和西夏侯遗址出土的4件大汶口文化时期的陶器进行微植物和微生物分析,初步揭示了海岱地区在距今6200~4600年的酿酒传统。即,利用麹、根霉和/或毛霉制麹,以粟黍、小麦族、葛根、栝楼根和百合为主要原料而酿造麹酒。制作精致的磨光黑陶高柄杯是饮酒器,红陶杯和灰陶瓶也与酒有关。海岱地区和中原地区在新石器时期使用不同的酒器,但利用多种植物酿造麹酒是共有的酿酒方法。     

PASTE CHARACTERIZATION OF WEEDEN ISLAND POTTERY FROM KOLOMOKI AND ITS IMPLICATIONS FOR SPECIALIZED PRODUCTION

Abstract

We report the results of a petrographic analysis of pottery from Kolomoki, a Middle and Late Woodland period mound and village complex in southwestern Georgia. Thin sections of 65 sherds representing several prestige and utilitarian Weeden Island pottery types, from both domestic (midden) and ceremonial (mound) contexts, were obtained. For comparison, we also analyzed samples from a few potential clay sources. We characterize the range of variability in paste/resource groupings present in the Kolomoki assemblage and use these data to address patterns of manufacture and exchange of Weeden Island pottery through comparisons to thin sections of comparable types from the McKeithen site and other Weeden Island sites in the region.     

郑州商文化陶字符量化分析

对郑州商文化陶字符量化分析结果显示,早商文化陶字符使用以具有首都地位的郑州早商文化遗址最为集中,具有较强的地域性。郑州早商文化陶字符分期演进中出现一些分界现象,缘于商文化的兴盛和文化中心的转移。郑州商文化陶字符多出现于祭祀场所和手工业作坊遗址具有特殊意义的遗迹,表明其主要为生活、手工业生产、祭祀活动中有关数量、日期、位序、族属、地点等信息的记录遗存。     

Leftovers: The presence of manufacture-derived aquatic lipids in Alaskan pottery

Lipids preserved within the walls of ancient pottery vessels are routinely analysed to reveal their original contents. The provenience of aquatic lipids in pottery is generally connected to vessel function (e.g., for cooking or storing fish, shellfish and aquatic mammals). However, ethnographic reports from early historic Alaska mention the use of aquatic oils for waterproofing low-fired pottery. Results of lipid residue studies on Alaskan pottery reflect an exclusive function of pottery to process aquatic resources. However, can one be sure these residues are the product of vessel function and not a remnant of the manufacturing process? The study presents the results of an experiment where the preservation of aquatic lipids during the firing process at different temperatures was measured. It was found that nearly all lipids were removed at firing temperatures of ≥ 400°C. Petrographic analysis of Alaskan pottery samples indicates that firing temperatures were generally > 550°C but < 800°C. The contribution of pre-firing manufacture-derived lipids to samples fired at these temperatures may be regarded as negligible. While the possible presence of aquatic lipids from post-firing surface treatments cannot be excluded, such treatments appear unnecessary for well-fired pottery.     

GEOCHEMICAL ANALYSIS OF THE SEDIMENTS IN AND AROUND AN EARLY NEOLITHIC WELL NEAR BRODAU,GERMANY*

The discovery of wells of the linear pottery culture since 1990 has led to new insights on the ability and needs of humans at this time. The still small number of about 20 wells in Europe, compared to the much greater number of known settlements of this period, led to the assumption that they were built for special purposes, other than the water supply for the whole village. Investigations on the origin of archaeosediments of a more than 7000‐year‐old and 4.2 m deep well from the linear pottery culture in north‐west Saxony, Germany were carried out by geochemical analysis to improve our knowledge of the building, the usage and the decay of this wooden construction. Special emphasis was put on the material around two 10‐week‐old piglets that were intentionally deposited in the construction pit. Three major units—the sediment in the well, the infilling of the construction pit and the surrounding gravels—influenced by lateral transport of fine clay could be identified and described.     

The mineralogy and petrography of Low Lands Ware 1 (Roman lower Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt basin; the Netherlands,Belgium, Germany)

Over the last 80 years Belgian, Dutch and German archaeologists working in the lower Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt basin have encountered a Roman pottery group that occurs in large quantities at most Roman sites in the region. Several researchers have separately tried to define this pottery, resulting in different names. Petrographic and geochemical analyses of 100 samples have now shown that the production of this ware predominantly made use of one source of raw material, divisible into three sub-groups on the basis of technological choices. The probable source lies in the early-Pleistocene Tegelen-formation, a clay rich in muscovite mica and garnet, which outcrops in the tertiary Scheldt escarpment (Nl) and the campine microcuesta (B). On the basis of geographical characteristics, Roman finds and the presence of a large Medieval pottery industry, production in the Bergen-op-Zoom area is suggested. In view of these new findings the name ‘Low Lands Ware 1’ is introduced to refer to this pottery group.     

Gabbroic clay sources in Cornwall: a petrographic study of prehistoric pottery and clay samples

Summary.  This analysis of prehistoric pottery and clay samples from Cornwall demonstrates that the clay used to make Cornish gabbroic pottery in prehistory originated around the gabbro rock outcrop in a small area of the Lizard peninsula. The research uses petrographic and chemical analysis to subdivide the prehistoric pottery into six groups. Owing to the unusual geology of the Lizard these groups can be attributed to specific locations. The most abundant pottery fabric, Typical Gabbroic , was made using coarse clay which is mainly found in a 1 km² area near Zoar. A finer version of this clay, found higher in the soil profile or slightly transported and redeposited, was used to make Fine Gabbroic pottery and an even finer variant called FNS (Fine Non-Sandy) Gabbroic . We identify for the first time here a Loessic/Gabbroic pottery fabric which can be matched exactly to clay found at Lowland Point. Serpentinitic/Gabbroic pottery was made using clay from the gabbro/serpentinite border zone. Pottery made from the Granitic/Gabbroic fabric did not match any clay from the Lizard, showing that gabbroic clay was sometimes removed and made into pottery elsewhere in Cornwall. The main clay source near Zoar was used for clay extraction throughout the Bronze Age and Iron Age for pottery which was traded all over Cornwall. Other gabbroic clay sources produced pottery only during certain periods and exclusively supplied particular settlements, such as the Loessic/Gabbroic fabric which was found only at Gear and Caer Vallack. The results suggest that pottery was produced by several small-scale cottage industries, which may have operated on a seasonal, part-time basis and probably formed only part of a wide range of activities located around the Lizard area.     

CHARACTERIZATION OF CORAL RED SLIPS ON GREEK ATTIC POTTERY*

Samples of red and black gloss from Greek Attic pottery of the late sixth to fifth centuries bc were examined using scanning electron microscopy (SEM and FIB/STEM). The focus of the study was the chemical and microstructural characterization of the red gloss that was first produced during this period. Two groupings of red gloss were revealed. One red was found to be compositionally similar to the black glosses (labelled ‘LCM coral red’). The other red showed more significant chemical differences, such as higher calcium and magnesium, in comparison to the black (labelled ‘HCM coral red’). The existence of two chemically distinct reds—otherwise identical in colour and texture—suggests that there was more than one source of clay available to the Attic potters for producing red.     

The history of method and theory in the study of prehistoric puebloan pottery style in the American Southwest

The history of Americanist archaeology can be profitably approached through an examination of ceramic design studies in the puebloan region of the American Southwest. An intellectual tradition is represented throughout these studies, grounded in the assumption that ceramic design variation can be reflected, among other things, in prehistoric social groupings. Within this tradition, a number of differences in method, theory, and application can be distinguished, including (1) the classificatory systems employed, (2) the spatial and temporal scales at which ceramic design variation was studied, and (3) the potential functional role of stylistic attributes on pottery. The debates, both intellectual and social, surrounding the development of method and theory in the New Archaeology are clarified by this historical review, as are the transitions to Culture History and from the New Archaeology in the American Southwest.     

陶寺遗址出土泥质陶器的中子活化分析与研究

本文采用中子活化分析技术对陶寺遗址出土的74件泥质陶器样品进行了分析研究,结果显示出土于遗址不同功能区的泥质陶器在原材料的使用或制作工艺上存在差异性,这或许表明了不同阶层的人所使用的泥质陶器也是有差别的,已经有了贫富贵贱之分。     

A Late Roman ceramic production from Pompeii

The Via Lepanto site is one of the best examples showing how the Vesuvian region was partially reconstructed and earlier re-occupied after Vesuvius's eruption in the year 79 AD. The large amount of ceramic finds illustrates the typology in use in this area during the IV and V century AD. Analyses were focused on table and cooking ware productions. Archaeometric data were obtained using chemical and minero-petrographical methods (OM, XRD, XRF and SEM). Grain size measurements using Image Analyses on thin sections and a geochemical comparison with clayey deposits outcropping in the Campania region permitted the identification of the raw materials used for these pottery productions. XRD and SEM completed the data set, establishing the protocols used for pottery production in the Pompeii area during Late Roman period. The Via Lepanto site was part of an exchange network of markets with a periodic frequency, where locally produced and imported pottery was sold, indicating a flourishing network of exchanges spanning short, medium and long distances.     

Pottery production on Rishiri Island,Japan: perspectives from X‐ray fluorescence studies

Energy‐dispersive X‐ray fluorescence (EDXRF) was used to determine the minor and trace element composition of 54 sherds of pottery dating from the Final Jomon to Okhotsk periods. The majority of the sherds came from Rishiri Island, Japan. Principal component (PC) scores were calculated using the log transformed concentration values, and groups were sought in the PC scores using kernel density estimates (KDEs). Two main groups were found in the data; linear and quadratic discriminant analysis classified both groups successfully. Significant differences in the concentrations of Cu, Fe, K, Nb, Pb, Rb, Th and Zr were found to exist between the two groups. The lack of correspondence between chronological ware types and geochemical groups implies that the same raw materials and paste recipes were in use during the Epi‐Jomon and Okhotsk eras on Rishiri Island. One possiblity is that the Epi‐Jomon and Okhotsk potters used the same clays and tempers, since no other alternatives were available. Alternatively, the Okhotsk potters could have adopted the same paste recipes as the Epi‐Jomon potters, or the Okhotsk pottery tradition could be descended from the Epi‐Jomon pottery tradition.