THE ALPS—A BARRIER OR A PASSAGE FOR CERAMIC TRADE?*

The Alps as a barrier : ceramic remnants of the so‐called Laugen‐Melaun culture (c. 11th to c. sixth centuries bc ) can be found in the northern Italy (Trentino/Alto Adige)—eastern Switzerland—Liechtenstein and western Austria region. A petrographic study of 454 sherds from this area covering a time span of 500 years reveals the following. (1) The pottery from the Trentino/Alto Adige contains a predominantly volcanic temper, which can be linked to the volcanic rocks of the Bolzano area—in other words, to the core region of this culture. This material is therefore of a local/regional production. (2) These ceramics were imported from the Bolzano region to southeastern Switzerland (the Inn Valley) and the amount of imported pottery decreases markedly from the 11th century bc (approximately 70% imported) to the seventh to sixth centuries bc (approximately 10% imported). (3) No imported pottery can be detected north of the Alpine crest in Switzerland, Liechtenstein and Austria, and in this region serpentinite temper was preferred by ancient potters. These results demonstrate that long‐lasting contacts and ceramic trade existed between the populations of the Inn Valley and the Trentino/Alto Adige. Such contacts could have been motivated by intermarriages between the two populations and/or economic exchange. The potters north of the Alpine ridge adopted the Laugen‐Melaun style and produced such pottery locally. The use of serpentinite temper is puzzling and not related to any technological advantage. (Could it be recycled material? Or does it have any sociocultural specificity?) The Alps as a passage : 59 fragments of a black gloss ware, the so‐called Campana, unearthed at 11 Late Latene sites (second to first centuries bc ) in Switzerland and neighbouring Germany were analysed chemically by X‐ray fluorescence. The results revealed: (1) that all of them were produced either in Italy or Lyon and then exported to the north; (2) that two principal south–north exchange routes existed, (a) fluviatile, along the Rhône–Rhine corridor and (b) trans‐Alpine, using the Alpine passes, such as the Simplon and the Grand St Bernard.     

The Potential of EBSD and EDS for Ceramics Investigations—Case Studies on Sherds of Pre‐Columbian Pottery

The work focuses on the potential of structural and chemical examinations by scanning electron microscopy based methods for archaeometric studies on ceramics. Achieved by a single preparation technique (polished block sections), the feasibility and benefits of electron backscatter diffraction are demonstrated as case studies using polychrome examples of pre‐Columbian pottery (Wari, Moche and Cajamarca). Elemental and phase maps allow for separate consideration of clay and temper. Identification of mineral phases and intergrowths of temper particles provide information for clarifying clay procurement and firing techniques with respect to local versus non‐local pottery to enlighten trade relations, technological transfer and shared heritage of pre‐Columbian cultures.     

‘ORGANIC TEMPER’ AND THE EARLY NEOLITHIC POTTERY PRODUCTION: INTERPRETATIONAL CHALLENGES

Well-preserved plant remains found in clay bodies of Early Neolithic pottery of Southeastern Europe have been largely understudied. The characteristics and provenance of this ‘organic temper’ remain mostly unknown, making interpretations obscure. Based on a range of research methods, this article explores the macro and micro plant remains within the pottery clays, considering such aspects as the use of domesticated versus wild plants and actual functional temper versus organic inclusions as background noise. This innovative approach is applied to explore three different Early Neolithic Balkan sites, demonstrating the importance in distinguishing between (a) deliberate addition of selected temper as a technological prerequisite; (b) sporadic occurrence of plant parts in (domestic) areas where pottery was made, (c) natural characteristics of the local clays containing organics and used as raw materials, and (d) plant use pointing towards more specific pottery-making techniques. Possible misinterpretations and pitfalls are discussed in using the applied integrated methodology, thus revealing crucial details on the variability of the technological approaches applied during the Early Neolithic of Southeastern Europe.     

Using hearths for temper: petrographic analysis of Middle Woodland charcoal-tempered pottery in Northeast Florida

Charcoal-tempered pottery is uncommon in North America, but was produced with notable frequency in Northeast Florida from ca. AD 300–600. Thirty-six thin sections of pottery were analyzed by petrographic analysis and compared to 10 clay samples in order to characterize the paste of charcoal-tempered wares in terms of charcoal and mineralogical composition and abundance, assess the number of clay sources used to make the pottery, identify the species of wood represented in charcoal inclusions, and infer techniques of ceramic production. This analysis identified four temper categories, three texture groups, and three distinct clay resources used to make charcoal-tempered pottery, all of which were likely local to Northeast Florida. Identified wood taxa include pine (Pinus sp.), cedar (cf. Juniperus sp.), cypress (cf. Taxodium sp.), and sassafras (Sassafras albidum), with pine suspected to be the most common. These genera of charred wood, which exhibit minimal shrinkage in the samples, along with the prevalence of bone and grog inclusions, indicate that hearth contents were processed as temper, sometimes in combination with quartz sand. Potential reasons for the use of hearth contents as temper are considered.     

MINERO‐PETROGRAPHIC STUDY OF COOKING WARE AND POMPEIAN RED WARE (ROSSO POMPEIANO) FROM CUMA (SOUTHERN ITALY)

Excavations carried out in Cuma by the Centre Jean Bérard archaeologists have uncovered a large quantity of pottery. This study is focused on cooking ware and on internal red‐slip cookware, also known as Pompeian Red Ware (Rosso Pompeiano), dated from the first century bc to the first century ad . A comparison with the minero‐petrographic composition of beach sands collected along the Bay of Naples coastline highlights the provenance of the temper from the Somma‐Vesuvius area, marked by leucite‐bearing scoriae and garnet. Petrochemical analyses allow us to distinguish two main groups of pottery characterized by different technological options based on the amount of temper and on the type of clay. X‐ray diffraction and scanning electron microscope data demonstrate improved accuracy in the production of Rosso Pompeiano, especially with regard to firing control, which was in a prevailing oxidizing atmosphere and in a narrow thermal range, between about 800 and 900°C.     

Unglazed pottery from the masjed-i jom’e of Isfahan (Iran): technology and provenance

The masjed-i jom’e of Isfahan is one of the earliest mosques of Iran. Since 1970, Italian researchers performed an extensive archaeological investigation uncovering huge amounts of finds. This study aims at investigating the technological features and provenance of the unglazed pottery finds by using a minero-petrographic approach. Twenty-three samples of storage, table and cooking wares were selected based on the recurrence of typologically identifiable fragments and fabrics. Two bricks, seven production indicators (spacers, kiln furniture, slags) and a local clay were analysed for comparison. The production indicators and most of the pottery show high-CaO concentration. Thick-walled wares contain coarse sedimentary/metamorphic inclusions. Samples with thinner walls contain similar but fine/well-sorted inclusions. The mineralogy and microstructure indicate firing temperatures mainly ranging from 850 to 1000 °C. Low-CaO samples contain coarse sedimentary inclusions; in one sample, volcanic lithics are present. Firing temperatures range from about 800 to 950 °C, and the low-CaO character can be related to their specific function for cooking foods. One sample, found in older stratigraphic levels, differs for its peculiar calcitic temper and lower firing temperature. Local production of most samples was constrained by the composition of the inclusions compatible with the sediments of the Isfahan area. High-CaO pottery shows compositional affinity with production indicators, local clay and tiles produced in Isfahan during the Safavid period. Cooking ware usually contains local temper, with the exception of a sample with volcanic inclusions, for which a non-local provenance is supposed. No appropriate information is, however, available regarding the low-CaO clays used in the area.     

CORRESPONDENCE AND DISCRIMINANT ANALYSES OF SAND AND SAND TEMPER COMPOSITIONS,TONTO BASIN,ARIZONA*

Geologists use petrographic modal analysis to relate fluvial sand composition to source rock composition, thus establishing provenance. Archaeologists seeking to establish provenance of sand temper in pottery can use similar petrographic methods, but their finer scale of investigation requires more precise statistical tools than those employed by geologists. A quantitative method for performing that task is presented. It utilizes correspondence analysis and discriminant analysis of logratio transformed point‐count data to define petrofacies, or sand temper resource procurement zones. The procedure is illustrated with sand and sand‐tempered sherd samples collected from the Tonto Basin, central Arizona; temporal trends in utilitarian ceramic production c. AD 100–1350 are reviewed.     

Ceramics Technology at Late Classic K’axob,Belize

Abstract

Excavation of a Late Classic Maya platform at K’axob, Belize, has revealed a suite of pit features and associated artifacts that are strongly suggestive of pottery production. Interpretation of the features as remnants of pit kilns used to fire pottery is bolstered by comparanda from the Andean region. Archaeometric and experimental replication studies also support the interpretation of this locale as one of pottery fabrication. Findings discussed include features identified as kilns, raw material suitable for temper, lumps of fired clay, ground stone, and expedient clay-working tools made of recycled pottery sherds. This research contributes to knowledge of the organization of Maya pottery production by providing the most comprehensive information presented to date on the technology of ancient Maya pottery fabrication and firing.     

STUDYING TECHNOLOGICAL PRACTICES AT A LOCAL LEVEL: NEUTRON ACTIVATION AND PETROGRAPHIC ANALYSES OF EARLY CERAMIC PERIOD POTTERY IN CENTRAL CHILE*

We discuss neutron activation and petrographic analyses of domestic ceramics and some raw materials from five archaeological sites in the Valdivia de Paine locality, in Central Chile. During the time period studied, the area was occupied by small‐scale horticultural groups with disperse and sedentary or semi‐sedentary settlement patterns. The analyses indicate that diverse local raw material sources were used in pottery production, and shared by members of different co‐residential units and between different cultural groups. The data indicate as many similarities as differences among the technological practices of pottery‐producing groups who lived in spatial proximity. The results have implications for the understanding of pottery‐producing communities at a local level, as well as small‐scale groups in general.     

Discrimination of Ceramic Surface Finishing by Vertical Scanning Interferometry

Finishing techniques are significant markers of the technological ‘know‐how’ involved in the production of the traditional, clay‐based ceramic ware. In order to provide a reliable tool to discriminate among two main surface processing techniques—that is, smoothing and burnishing—vertical scanning interferometry (VSI), a recently developed non‐destructive technique for analysing the surface roughness and topography, is applied. The smoothed areas have an obvious roughness expressed by linear structures. The latter are made of parallel ridges and trenches with an average depth of 15–20 μm. Burnishing leads to a lower topography and a lower roughness compared to the smoothed surface section. VSI quantifies the spatial distribution of the surface building blocks, which consist of phyllosilicate aggregates of variable size. The statistical treatment of the roughness data obtained by VSI shows that the surface topography provides significant information on the pottery processing and a clear qualitative and quantitative discrimination between different surfaces. VSI supports the reconstitution of the chaîne opératoire for traditional ceramic pottery and the recognition of the surface finishing techniques.     

Archaeometric Investigation of Medieval Pottery from Excavations at Novo Brdo,Serbia

Medieval pottery from excavations at Novo Brdo, Serbia, an important mining and trading centre during the 14th and 15th centuries, was investigated by a combination of optical microscopy, inductively coupled plasma – optical emission spectrometry, Fourier transform infrared, micro‐Raman and energy‐dispersive X‐ray fluorescence spectroscopy and X‐ray powder diffraction methods in order to determine its composition and firing temperature. The samples investigated were made of medium‐ to coarse‐grained, non‐calcareous clay, by a relatively well‐controlled firing procedure in an oxidizing atmosphere. The firing temperature was estimated to be 850–950°C. The similarity between the chemical composition of the investigated pottery and the local raw clay, combined with the outward appearance and the archaeological findings, indicate domestic production. The pottery is covered with the transparent lead‐rich glaze. Iron and copper were used as colourants.     

河曲坪头遗址龙山时期陶器及其制陶原料的化学成分分析

为了对山西省忻州市河曲坪头遗址出土的龙山时期的陶器以及制陶原料中的粘土原料的种类和来源进行相关探讨,利用ICP-OES对出土的陶器、坯料,以及遗址附近采集的土样进行了化学成分测试,并使用SPSS软件对分析结果进行了降维处理和主成分分析。结果显示:坪头遗址不同质地的陶器陶土原料相同,只是在钙含量方面存在细微差异。制作陶器所用的粘土原料很可能取自附近的红色古土壤层。该遗址是古人在当地制作陶器的一个场所。     

Testing the provenance of Patayan pottery at Las Colinas: chemical and petrographic analyses of phyllite-temper fragments

Mobile Patayan foragers of the interior desert of southwestern Arizona were makers of Lower Colorado Buff Ware ceramics. These containers were sometimes traded to Hohokam irrigation agriculturalists at the western margin of the Hohokam territory. By A.D. 1100, the distribution of Patayan Buff Wares shifted to the east, penetrating the Hohokam heartland. Some theorists have suggested the ceramic distribution implies a migration of Patayan people, who joined agricultural communities in the Hohokam core area. One way to assess this idea is to identify the production of Patayan material culture within the Hohokam territory. We test for the local manufacture of Lower Colorado Buff Ware at the Hohokam village of Las Colinas, where Patayan pottery was found in abundance, and a Patayan enclave has been inferred. Using petrographic analysis and SEM-EDS assays of the phyllite temper fragments in the Patayan wares, we conclude that the Patayan pottery was made elsewhere and was not fabricated with local materials at Las Colinas.     

Revisiting the Exploitable Threshold Model: 14th century resource procurement and landscape dynamics on Perry Mesa,Arizona

Abstract

This study presents a revision of Dean E. Arnold’s (1985, 1993) Exploitable Threshold Model, which attempts to explain the selection of raw materials for pottery production. Arnold’s model posits that potters’ preferences for materials are largely determined by the linear distance to individual resources. We argue, however, that potters’ choices are, at least in part, determined by spatial relationships among the necessary resources rather than the distances to them. This study of 14th century pottery production on Perry Mesa, Arizona demonstrates that potters selected materials based on the co-occurrence of readily available sources of temper, clay, and fuel. Lack of water and fuel sources on the mesa top compelled local residents to eschew the use of readily available basaltic sands to temper their plainware pottery. Instead, Perry Mesa potters selected granitic sands from the river valley nearly 300 vertical meters below their settlements.     

Evidence of Iberian Bronze Age ‘Boquique’ Pottery in the Balearic Islands: Trade,Marriage or Culture?

Summary.   This paper deals with the recent discovery of Iberian 'Boquique' Bronze Age pottery on the Balearic Island of Mallorca. It marks the 'maritime' spread of this distinctive pottery into a geographic area not previously recorded. It should therefore be of particular interest to mainland investigators and others concerned with its geographical distribution as well as those dealing with long-distance trade and possible kinship links during the period. The find is further supported by the 'micaceous' and 'quartz' composition of the pottery clay fabric, since mica is not known on the island as a component of local clays. The presence of Boquique pottery with 'micaceous' clay properties is demonstrated by microphotographic slab and thin sections as well as chemical clay analysis. This suggests that the pottery was imported, either as a trade item or as personal possessions.
Along with recent evidence of earlier trade in exotic 'elephant' ivory and other items during Bell Beaker times, where the Boquique pottery appears to be a late intrusive element into local Beaker contexts ( Waldren 1998 ), this new evidence represents the first material sign of cultural maritime interaction (Boquique in the present case), either as demographic extension or commercial exchange of these cultural items into the area.
Furthermore, contextual radiocarbon dating surveys strongly indicate a date of 1700–1400 BC for the pottery, in accord both with recent Iberian mainland dates as well as the local archaeological sequence in which it was found.     

PLAIN POTTERY AND SOCIAL LANDSCAPES: REINTERPRETING THE SIGNIFICANCE OF CERAMIC PROVENANCE IN THE NEOLITHIC

This paper focuses on plain, stylistically unvaried pottery from three Late Neolithic sites from the Mondego Plateau, Portugal, and investigates ceramic production and exchange among small‐scale prehistoric societies by means of thin‐section petrography and chemical analysis (INAA). The results show that the majority of the pottery was made with widely available, granite‐derived sedimentary clays, but petrographic differences between fabrics indicate collection at multiple locations within these deposits. Variation in chemical composition is consistent with site‐specific sourcing areas, while comparison with data from earlier sites in the Mondego and surrounding mountains suggests that such sources were geographically restricted within the plateau. In contrast, the small percentage of vessels produced with residual clays of metamorphic and intermediate igneous origin, which outcrop over 10 km and 30 km from the archaeological sites, demonstrates that plain pottery did circulate during the Neolithic beyond the funerary sphere. This is the product of the routines of mobility and social networks of Neolithic groups across the wider landscape, which involved the exchange of ‘mundane’ vessels. Finally, the study demonstrates that micro‐regional provenance studies can provide significant insights into prehistoric social landscapes if the data are interrogated beyond simplistic classifications of local and non‐local.     

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.     

Rice chaff in ceramics from the archaeological site of Sumhuram (Dhofar,Southern Oman)

The identification of the chaff used as temper in ancient ceramics represents a possible source of information about the area of origin of the pottery. This paper studies the occurrence of rice (Oryza sp.) chaff in potsherds from the archaeological site of Sumhuram (Dhofar, Sultanate of Oman). The information gathered at the site offers insight into commerce routes and networks to which the town belonged in the first centuries AD. The analysis of the plant material in the pottery and potsherds can also furnish interesting data on the ancient technologies of pottery production.     

Implications of Petrographic Temper Analysis for Oceanian Prehistory

Petrographic examination of prehistoric Pacific potsherds in thin section allows robust distinctions to be drawn between indigenous temper sands derived from islands where sherds were collected and exotic temper sands derived from other islands, except that calcareous temper sands of reef detritus are undiagnostic of origin. Ceramic transfer or movement of ceramic raw materials from island to island can be detected because small islands serve as virtual point sources of noncalcareous terrigenous sands, and local island geology is controlled by systematic and well-known geotectonic patterns. Prehistoric Oceanian pottery was made locally on multiple islands, rather than being dispersed from a discrete number of ceramic centers, but limited ceramic transfer was widespread within nearly all island groups. As temper analysis is independent of ceramic typology, sherd tempers in common with obsidian artifacts and other manuports provide unambiguous physical evidence for migration, trade, or exchange within and between island groups.     

The forest or the trees? Behavioral and methodological considerations for geochemical characterization of heavily-tempered ceramic pastes using NAA and LA-ICP-MS

In this paper, the utility of LA-ICP-MS for instrumentally separating clay and temper within pottery samples is examined through a well-known case study that has been previously characterized through NAA and petrography. Coarse Orange pottery is composed of kaolinitic clays heavily tempered within volcanic ash from the basalt-rich Tuxtla Mountains of southern Veracruz, Mexico. We attempt to address the following topics with analyses on this pottery: 1) can LA-ICP-MS replicate the same groups previously identified by NAA and petrography; 2) can instrumental isolation of the clay fraction within the pottery replicate known patterns in raw clay source geochemistry in the Tuxtla Mountains; 3) can data for both the clay and volcanic ash fractions of each pottery sherd be combined to simulate the bulk INAA data? The results demonstrate that the clay fraction of the pottery sherds can be isolated. Furthermore, the LA-ICP-MS data for the clay fractions display nearly identical chemistry to available NAA data for raw clay samples collected from geological contexts in the region. Instrumentally isolating the clay fraction in this case eliminates the homogenizing effects of adding a common temper and increases the chemical separation among groups making it easier to identify clay procurement strategies for each specimen. However, focusing only on the clay fraction ignores significant tempering variation. Attempts to simulate the bulk NAA by combining LA-ICP-MS data for clays and temper was reasonably successful in reestablishing the tempering variation lost by exclusive focus on clays, but such an approach could not replace the more precise data generated from NAA and petrography.