The role of interdisciplinary science in the study of ancient pottery

Abstract

In the context of the modern world, the term ceramics suggests a very versatile group of materials capable of being designed to have particular physical and chemical properties and to fulfil a wide range of functions, functions that traditionally have often been fulfilled by other types of material.¹ While suitably designed ceramics may hold the key to overcoming many of humankind's future technological problems, it is interesting to reflect on how much ceramics can also tell us about our past. Future technological innovations in ceramics will influence and be influenced by wider aspects of human culture; so too it may be expected that there was a similar relationship between ancient ceramics and the past societies that made them. In archaeology, ceramics hold an important and varied role as a key to understanding many aspects of the development of human civilisations. This paper aims to explore some of the ways in which ceramics have been studied by archaeologists, and to illustrate some of the many contributions interdisciplinary science has made to the study of ancient pottery.     

陶质文物科技保护研究现状

为了提升陶质文物科技保护水平,本研究从陶质文物病害认知、制陶工艺研究、保护机理研究、保护修复案例等方面进行文献综述,回顾了国内外陶质文物科技保护的历史与现状,分析了目前陶质文物科技保护中存在的问题:陶质文物本体形成的物理化学基础研究尚不深入,预防性保护缺乏预测陶质文物病害方面的研究,缺乏科学规范的保护修复效果评价体系,未来应深入地研究陶质文物保护技术基础理论,开发出考古发掘现场成熟的系统的综合保护应用技术,并将陶质文物保护修复材料研究、保护修复技术标准化、规范化研究方面深入下去。     

Iron technology of the ancient megalithic communities in the Vidarbha region of India

The megalithic period in India is notable for the emergence and development of iron metallurgy and the appearance of new burials known as megaliths. A number of iron objects from megalithic sites in the Vidarbha region of India, dating to the first half of the 1st millennium BC, have been examined for their microstructures and carbon distributions. The artifact assemblage consists mainly of edged or pointed tools and weapons, along with some domestic implements. Results show that the technology applied in their manufacture is characterized by the use of low carbon iron of bloomery origin and the application of surface carburization as the primary means of steelmaking. The functional parts of the objects examined were made mostly of steel with their mechanical properties finely adjusted through a combination of quenching and tempering. Of particular importance are certain fan-shaped plates which we believe were produced and circulated as intermediaries to meet a wide range of consumer needs. It appears that the Vidarbha megalithic communities shared a fully developed and well-standardized iron technology of substantial flexibility. While exceptions to this general trend were found in some unfinished or used objects, these do not suggest the presence of an inferior technological status. This paper raises questions as to the origin of such a developed technology, and will discuss the probable spreading of several key technical ideas which bear striking similarities to those noted in the early iron traditions of Korea.     

Bronze technology of the ancient megalithic communities in the Vidarbha region of India

Metallographic examination was carried out on forty-nine copper and bronze objects from five megalithic sites located in Vidarbha, India. The artifact assembly consists of horse ornaments, kitchenware, bangles, rings, small bells and the hilt of an iron dagger. Results show that the technology involved is characterized by the use of bronze alloys containing approximately 10% tin based on weight and the application of forging as a key method of fabrication. No deliberate addition of lead was observed. Arsenic was detected, but very rarely and only as an insignificant minor element. The consistent selection of such specific alloys indicates that the megalithic communities in this particular region had established a fully developed and standardized bronze tradition optimized for the production of forged items. Their advanced technological status was also noted in a special technique applied to two forged high-tin bronze bowls. Such a unique bronze tradition, dedicated to sheet metal technology, was most likely a practical choice made by these people to take advantage of the changing role of bronze. Specifically, with the introduction of iron, bronze seems to have become a more prestigious material that could serve as an indicator of the appearance of a more rigid socio-economic stratification within the megalithic communities of the Vidarbha region.     

论布依族文献古籍的抢救与保护

贵州布依族民族历史悠久,文化丰富多彩。布依族文献古籍主要是以汉字记音和自创的表意方块字来记载的。由于没有形成统一规范的文字体系,不同地区的布依族文献古籍的书写记载方式各不相同,只有掌握使用这些文献古籍的布摩先生能够识读。人们对这些文献古籍的价值认识不足,其搜集、整理和保护只停留在学术研究的层面。许多保存民间的文献古籍随着时间的推移,流失现象非常严重,必须引起高度重视。     

First ancient bovine DNA evidence from India: difficult but not impossible

Ancient DNA isolation from the tropical countries has been shown to be very difficult in the past. Here for the first time we have been successful in isolating ancient DNA from Indian cattle samples. We were able to obtain DNA and sequence the partial mitochondrial D-loop in 3 of the 15 bovine fossil samples ranging in age from 2000 BC to 1000 AD, and were able to further identify the most recent sample as being of Bos indicus origin. Our results on ancient DNA extraction from India will encourage other researchers in this field to carry out further studies of ancient DNA from Indian bovine samples. Our results represent the first successful extraction and amplification of bovine ancient DNA from India, and thus may pave the road for a better understanding of demographic and historical processes of cattle domestication that has taken place in this region.     

The archaeological study of neighborhoods and districts in ancient cities

The spatial division of cities into residential zones is a universal feature of urban life from the earliest cities to the present. I propose a two-level classification of such zones that archaeologists can use to analyze preindustrial cities. Neighborhoods are small areas of intensive face-to-face social interaction, whereas districts are larger areas that serve as administrative units within cities. I review comparative historical data on neighborhoods and districts and outline archaeological methods for their identification and analysis. Illustrative cases are drawn from Mesopotamia and Mesoamerica, and I conclude with a review of the major top-down and bottom-up social forces that generate and shape neighborhoods and districts in preindustrial cities.     

Deficiencies and challenges in the study of ancient tuberculosis DNA

We explore the standards of research and reporting needed to justify the destructive analysis of archaeological human bone for biomolecular studies of ancient tuberculosis (TB). Acceptable standards in osteological interpretation have been met in some biomolecular papers, but there are also cases where insufficient care has been taken in distinguishing between pathognomonic lesions and those that are ‘consistent with’ a diagnosis of TB. Some biomolecular studies have failed to recognize that archaeological bones might be contaminated with environmental mycobacteria whose DNA could give rise to false positives in polymerase chain reactions directed at members of the Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex. The difficulties of applying spoligotyping to ancient DNA have also been underestimated and conclusions drawn from such analyses are often weakly supported. Assumptions that mycobacterial DNA preserves better than human DNA, and that contamination with modern DNA is less of a problem, has led in some cases to a laxity in research standards with insufficient attention paid to the need to authenticate ancient DNA results. We illustrate our concerns by reference to a recent paper reporting biomolecular detection of ancient TB DNA in skeletons from the eastern Mediterranean Neolithic settlement of Atlit-Yam. We are unconvinced that the skeletal evidence presented in this paper gives sufficient indication of TB to warrant destructive analysis, and we are concerned that during the biomolecular part of the project inadequate attention was paid to the possibility that results might be due to laboratory cross-contamination or to amplification of environmental mycobacterial DNA present in the bones.     

古陶瓷科学技术研究在科技考古中的三例应用

利用多元统计分析方法研究了从杭州古中河南段采集的月白釉瓷片,浙江临安天目山地区发现的黑釉瓷片和景德镇历代青花瓷片的胎、釉化学组成和青花色料的变化规律。从而讨论了杭州古中河南段采集的瓷片可能就是凤凰山下万松林附近的修内司官窑制品;指山临安天目山地区新发现的窑群和黑釉瓷才是名副其实的天目窑和天目瓷;发现了元代以及明初洪武和永乐朝青花瓷所用的料可能是来自西域的进口料,而宣德青花瓷所用的色料多数可能是国产的粘土矿。     

A technological study of ancient faience from Egypt

The chemical compositions and microstructures of some 35 faience objects from Egypt spanning the period from the Middle Kingdom through to the 22nd dynasty are determined using analytical scanning electron microscopy. Replicate faience beads glazed in the laboratory using the efflorescence and cementation methods are similarly investigated. In efflorescence glazing, there appears to be preferential efflorescence of soda over potash, and in cementation glazing, preferential take up of potash over soda into the glaze. These data are then used to try to infer the raw materials and methods of glazing employed in the production of the ancient faience. The glaze/glass phases present in the faience differ significantly in composition from that of New Kingdom glass. This could be due either to the use of different plant ashes or to changes in the composition of the plant ashes during the production of faience and/or glass. Although it is only rarely possible to determine with certainty whether ancient faience was glazed by efflorescence, cementation or application, the observed microstructures provide an indication of the approach adopted to achieve desired performance characteristics such as strength.