从青铜爵的来源探讨爵柱的功用

爵是夏、商和西周时期重要的青铜礼器之一。爵柱的功能为何是许多青铜器研究者和鉴赏者经常提出的问题。本文根据对史前陶鬶的研究,认为爵、斝皆源于陶鬶,青铜爵的柱是其祖形——“原始管流陶鬶”的流根处的“鸡冠形装饰”的演化,代表了“鸟冠”的意义。     

南方地区若干典型遗址出土早期陶器工艺比较分析

古代保留下来的遗存中陶器最为丰富,承载着我国先民们生产、生活的各类丰富信息本工作是在以往中科院上海硅酸盐研究所和景德镇陶瓷学院等单位对我国早期陶器相关科技研究的基础上,在国家自然科学基金的支持下,结合近年来相关考古机构对我国南方广西桂林甑皮岩、江西万年仙人洞、浙江浦江上山等若干典型遗址出土早期陶器的科技研究积累,对各遗址制陶原料的选取和加工、陶器成型及烧成方法等一系列我国早期陶器制作的工艺特,点、技术内涵等进行了比较分析,以期对我国南方不同文化区系早期陶器的演变和发展有更加深入、全面和客观的认识。     

湖南桃源出土战国彩绘陶器的科学分析

为研究湖南桃源县战国楚墓出土彩绘陶器的组成结构及保存现状,采用能量色散X射线荧光光谱法(EDXRF)、扫描电镜-能谱法(SEM-EDS)、X射线衍射法(XRD)和激光拉曼光谱法(LRS)等手段对陶器胎体成分、表面彩绘、金属涂层等进行分析检测。结果表明:这批彩绘陶器胎体成分相近,为普通易熔黏土。彩绘陶器表面的红色颜料为朱砂(HgS),黑色颜料为炭黑(C)。在彩绘陶壶、陶鼎和陶敦表面发现金属涂层装饰,通过扫描电镜能谱和X射线衍射分析,确定涂层为单质锡,属于锡涂陶的范畴。同时红外光谱测试显示锡层内面棕黑色物质为生漆,可能混合其他胶结材料。以上结果为研究战国时期彩绘陶器,特别是锡涂陶的制作工艺及发展提供了新的资料。     

汉代陶俑彩绘颜料表征分析

为了建立汉代彩绘工艺、彩绘颜料等方面的数据库,为跨地域横向对比研究及彩俑的中长期保护和博物馆展出提供科学依据,本研究利用MINLTA CR-300色度仪、X—Rite Spectrodensitometer密度仪、XTL系列显微镜分析方法,对汉代陶俑彩绘6种颜料层61个样品的色度数据和5件陶俑残片颜料密度值的分布范围和表面显微结构信息特征进行了系统的分析测试。在大量色度数据的收集分析基础上,构建球体色度容差评估模型。球体色度容差评估结果表明,黑色样品保存较为完好,橙红色色度腐蚀现象严重,橙红色陶俑样品较其他样品分布均匀。颜料密度分析表明,橙红色陶俑腿残片保存状况相对较好,表面的颜料层较均匀且致密。显微分析发现,5％B72乙醇体系对表面颜料加固中,B72加固剂的分散性好,颜料表面无明显变化,在陶俑彩绘颜料保护过程中,B72-乙醇体系是可以选择的。     

Minero-petrographic characterization of fine ware from Cales (South Italy)

79 samples of black glazed pottery, Terra sigillata, fine common ware, and production indicators were recovered in the archaeological site of Cales and investigated via a multi-analytical program (polarized light microscopy, thermal analyses, XRPD, XRF, FESEM, FESEM-EDS). Among the materials, finds of important production indicators, represented by welded pieces of black glazed pottery and spacers, attest a local production. Polarized light microscopy shows that the inclusions consist of feldspar, quartz, mica, calcite, and lithic fragments of both volcanic and sedimentary nature. Additional information about the mineralogical assemblage comes from the XRPD that revealed the presence of neoformed Ca-silicates, indicating equivalent firing temperatures ranging from 750 to 1050°C. All the samples show a Ca-rich character and an extreme compositional homogeneity, including the production indicators. The comparison with some Ca-rich Campanian clay raw materials shows a greater affinity with the Mio-Pliocene marine clay sediments of the Apennine sector, which include local clays. This allowed us to formulate the first hypotheses about clay sources used to produce fine pottery during the third century BCE to the early imperial period in Cales.     

Molecular evidence of changing foodways across the Mississippian transition at the George Reeves site (11S650)

ABSTRACT

The George Reeves site (11S650) is a multicomponent village on the bluffs in the central American Bottom, Illinois. The site was occupied from the Late Woodland Rosewood phase through the Mississippian Lohmann phase. Pottery use and dietary variation between the Late Woodland and Emergent Mississippian occupations at the site were explored through stylistic analysis, pottery residue analysis, and compound-specific carbon isotopic analysis of pottery residues. Although more samples should be analyzed, diet and pottery use at George Reeves seems to have been varied, with maize present by cal AD 900–1000, but comprising a relatively small portion of lipid residues in pottery. Residue analysis indicates a C₄ presence in 5 of 16 sampled pots from the early Emergent Mississippian deriving from either maize or from meat from animals consuming maize. Pottery residues were mixed, showing C₃ and C₄ plants as well as meat and fish or shellfish. One residue showed a high incidence of C₄ contribution, most likely from Portulaca oleracea (common purslane), as well as large amounts of fish or shellfish and another C₃ plant. Residue from a ceramic pipestem indicates that maize may have been smoked, probably in the form of maize silk mixed with other nontobacco plants.     

The Morphology of a Working Place Linked to the World: The Railway Workshops of Jundiaí (Brazil, 1892–1998)

ABSTRACT

Material sources have done little to contribute to research on Brazilian railway history (except for heritage studies and history of architecture). This interdisciplinary case study focuses on archaeological evidence to reflect on topics not often discussed in Brazil: the physical and functional configuration of the workplaces related to railways; the changing of these spaces through time due to the evolution of technology; and their characterisation as highly globalised sites. In doing so, we take the railway workshops of Jundiaí (São Paulo) as a study sample and analyse it under the light of the expansion of industrialisation from the World's great powers to its outlying economies.     

A case for lead-glaze experimentation by late eighteenth-century Catawba using portable X-ray Fluorescence (pXRF)

ABSTRACT

Recent research has demonstrated that Catawba ceramic practices changed abruptly and dramatically after 1759 following a devastating smallpox epidemic and subsequent community relocation. Pottery from the historically documented Catawba town of Old Town and others indicate potters adopted new techniques and styles as they adjusted to new economic and social conditions, including copying European vessel forms, experimenting with new ceramic paste recipes, and utilizing new decorative motifs. The identification of four lead-glazed sherds on otherwise Catawba-looking pale-bodied paste raises the possibility that Catawba potters may have also experimented with lead glazing. This paper presents the results of an elemental analysis of nearly 70 ceramic samples using pXRF and multivariate statistical techniques to identify patterns of production within pale-bodied colonowares. The results indicate that the glazed pottery fragments were made with elementally similar clay used by Catawbas in the Twelvemile Creek locality. I argue that in addition to modifying nearly every aspect of their ceramic repertoire, at least one Catawba potter experimented with lead glazing, providing further insights into the emergent Catawba pottery trade.     

Ceramic form and function in the Neolithic Gulf. A view from Bahra 1

This paper discusses the possible functions of ceramic vessels in the Neolithic Gulf, based on new data from the Ubaid-related settlement of Bahra 1 (Kuwait). Two pottery groups identified at the site—Ubaid Ware and Coarse Red Ware—are found in great numbers and variety of forms which provides grounds for a reconsideration of the role of pottery vessels in the societies of the Gulf. Analysis of this material reveals a more varied function of pottery vessels compared to that suggested in earlier studies. It was also possible to define the function of certain pottery vessels in more detail, both in their economic and social context.