Clay Pots Research Articles

Representing Theoretical Physics Research in and on Ceramics

Abstract A theoretical physicist and potter, the author presents his practice that fuses these two sides of himself. His art aims to circumvent the regular pitfalls of scientific public engagement, replacing a didactic approach with sensory stimuli from tactile objects, eliciting curiosity for science. The author presents the origins of his practice and focuses on several series of ceramic pots. He explains the design of their form and decoration, exemplifying the interconnections between physics, mathematics and some of his artistic influences. The paper concludes with a discussion of his experience presenting the work and its reception.

Tsukemono (Japanese pickles) and Their Traditional Vegetables

Research Article| August 01 2021 Tsukemono (Japanese pickles) and Their Traditional Vegetables Aya H. Kimura Aya H. Kimura Aya H. Kimura is a professor of sociology at the University of Hawai‘i-Mānoa. Her books include Radiation Brain Moms and Citizen Scientists: The Gender Politics of Food Contamination after Fukushima (Duke University Press, 2016, recipient of the Rachel Carson Book Award from the Society for Social Studies of Science). Search for other works by this author on: This Site PubMed Google Scholar Gastronomica (2021) 21 (3): 13–19. https://doi.org/10.1525/gfc.2021.21.3.13 Views Icon Views Article contents Figures & tables Video Audio Supplementary Data Peer Review Share Icon Share Facebook Twitter LinkedIn MailTo Tools Icon Tools Get Permissions Cite Icon Cite Search Site Citation Aya H. Kimura; Tsukemono (Japanese pickles) and Their Traditional Vegetables. Gastronomica 1 August 2021; 21 (3): 13–19. doi: https://doi.org/10.1525/gfc.2021.21.3.13 Download citation file: Ris (Zotero) Reference Manager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search Dropdown Menu toolbar search search input Search input auto suggest filter your search All ContentGastronomica Search A festival for tsukemono, Japanese pickles, is held every year in August at a shrine at Kayatsu Shrine. Priests, people from the industry, and regular participants offer prayers and then make a procession to Kōbutsuden (tsukemono pavilion), a place dedicated to tsukemono. There, participants make tsukemono, putting salt and vegetables that have been ritualistically cleansed into the ceramic pots to marinate. After several months, the resulting tsukemono is then offered to the Atsuta Jingu shrine as a sacred tribute. The tsukemono (also called kōnomono) made at this festival is perhaps the simplest kind—vegetables added to salt and naturally fermented. But many other kinds of tsukemono can be produced. There are a variety of ways to marinate (in miso, sake lee, rice bran, etc.) and a variety of foods to pickle (cucumber, eggplants, plums, leafy greens, etc.). A wide variety of tsukemono have emerged in Japan as localities have made use... You do not currently have access to this content.

BENTHIC COMMUNITY DIVERSITY AT MARINE ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITE, PULAU BIDONG, SOUTH CHINA SEA

An artificial structure on the seafloor will affect the structure of the benthic community. This structure may include a sunken ship or a century-old building that becomes an underwater heritage site. Benthic communities at underwater archaeological sites have been studied around the world, though it is lacking in Malaysia. This study aimed to determine the benthic community composition and diversity in sediment and on an artifact (small ceramic pot) at the marine “Bidong shipwreck” archaeological site. SCUBA divers collected samples (sediment and artifact) from an 18 m depth archaeological site in October 2017. Then, all samples were fixed with 10% buffered formalin and preserved in 80% ethanol prior to identification analysis. Most benthic organisms were identified until class taxon, except for class Polychaeta until family. A total of 2711 benthic organisms which belonged to eight phyla, and 17 classes were recorded, of which 638 are polychaetes. In the archaeological site, Syllidae was the most abundant family in the sediment, and the family Nereididae dominated in artifact while Capitellidae was dominant at the control site. Shannon-Weiner diversity index showed variation and ranged from 1.5 to 2.1, while the evenness index value ranged from 0.56 to 0.77. The benthic community in sediment on both sites were more diverse and even compared to the artifact. Simultaneously, Jaccard’s similarity test discovered that the benthic community’s composition in sediment at the control site was highly similar to the archaeological site (0.80) comparatively to the artifact (0.65). It is suggested that the benthic community at the archaeological site has reached an equilibrium state similar to the control site. The scouring process may influence the lower benthic community composition on the artifact than sediments in its surroundings. These findings provide an overview of benthic community’s post-disturbance resilience and reveal a marine archaeological site’s ecological status.

Geochemical composition, mineralogy, geotechnical characteristics of some clay deposits in parts of the southern Niger Delta, Nigeria

Clay soil samples from the Afo-Okpella and Okpekpe in parts of the southern Niger Delta were analyzed for their geochemical composition, mineralogical and geotechnical characteristics. X-ray fluorescence analysis, x-ray diffraction analysis and index property tests were carried out to determine elemental composition, mineralogical nature and geotechnical attributes of the clay. The XRF reveals that SiO2 and Al2O3 are the predominant oxides. The XRD analysis shows that kaolinite is the predominant clay mineral with varying amount of quartz also traces of illite, smectite. The geotechnical index test shows that the clay soil samples studied also contains considerable amounts of silt-size particles (18%-70%) which makes them unsuitable in their raw state for use as fillers, raw materials in the paint industries. The clays were generally of medium to high plasticity and medium to high compressibility, however the classification of degree of expansion as regard to percentage linear shrinkage places the entire clay bodies studied in the critical degree of expansion. The study reveals that they are good for the production of quality bricks, ceramics and other industrial usage such as rubber, paper and paint industries.

Blowin’ in the wind: The beginning of primary metallurgy in the Early Bronze Age Aegean

AbstractOur understanding of Early Bronze Age copper smelting in the Southern Aegean has improved dramatically in the last two decades through a combination of fieldwork, laboratory analyses and experimental reconstructions. The current model which has emerged from these various studies centers on a perforated furnace stack that is used in conjunction with ceramic pot bellows. This study undertakes a critique of the current model and through a series of experimental reconstructions and the analysis of results suggests that the current model has conflated various strands of evidence and resulted in a confused model. It is argued here that primary copper production in the Early Bronze Age Southern Aegean was more likely a two‐stage process that did not rely on the simultaneous use of natural draught and bellows. Along with other examples of wind‐powered furnaces, the working of the Aegean perforated furnace is reconsidered and a new model proposed along with a consideration of the wider implications.

“Females are always dominated and disregarded by males, just because they are female”: the continuation of patriarchal norms for young trafficked women in Nepal

This article provides insights into the cultural aspects of sexual violence against young women trafficked into the sex industry in Nepal. Participant observation, participatory clay body mapping workshops and group interviews using photography were used to explore the reproductive body of six formerly trafficked women aged 14-22 years. Intimate partner violence against women, domestic violence and violence against women were important issues raised during the research process. Societal and familial patriarchal norms are the root causes of violence against women in Nepal and can be traced back to the Hindu legal code, the Muluki Ain of 1854, which was enforced for over 100 hundred years. Our findings indicate that tackling violence against women is complex for Nepali trafficked women because of its multiple forms and sources.

Features of heat and mass transfer at drying of ceramic products with overglaze paints

The basic results of researches of process of a heat exchange are instanced and parsed at drying glasour ceramic colors. Character of change of importance number of Rebinder is established at drying colors and dependence of intensity of a heat dissipation on velocity of air is spotted.
 The main results of researches of heat and mass transfer process at drying of overglaze ceramic paints in a stream of drying agent are resulted and analyzed. The nature of the change in the value of the Rebinder number for drying paints is established and the dependence of the heat transfer intensity on the air velocity is determined. Analysis of the temperature coefficient of drying and Rebinder's number determined the directions of heat consumption in the drying process of overglaze ceramic paints.
 It is established that the heat flux density depends on the temperature and velocity of the coolant and does not depend on the chemical composition of the paints.
 It is shown that the heat transfer coefficient depends on the velocity of the coolant. Compared with heat transfer during laminar flow around the plate during drying, the intensity of heat transfer increases by 75%.

Assessment of Household Water Quality from Selected Storage Vessels used in a South-Western Rural Community, Nigeria

Water is an important requirement for life but its contamination via natural and anthropogenic activities is of great concern. This study determined some physicochemical parameters of drinking water from the main source (borehole), and selected storage vessels in Abimbola, Ayedaade Local Government Area, Osun State, Nigeria. About 10 household water samples were collected randomly from the 70 households in the village. The major water storage vessels used by the villagers were clay pots. Only about one-fifth of the households used plastic containers. All the physico-chemical parameters assessed were within permissible limits of the World Health Organization and Standards Organization of Nigeria’s drinking water guidelines except for Lead and nitrite. Furthermore, water stored in clay pots had significantly higher levels of Nitrate (p=0.04), Nitrite (p=0.04), Sulphate (p=0.04), Lead (p=0.03), Iron (p=0.04), and Manganese (p=0.04) than those stored in plastic containers. Results suggest that the type of storage vessels used could influence the physicochemical quality of the water stored in them. Also, basic water quality monitoring needs to be conducted routinely to ascertain and maintain high quality water supply per time.

Lithuanian Riddles of the Pot as Allegories of the Human Life

Further analyzing the rather widespread international phenomenon – the so-called series of suffering in the riddles – this article focuses on the Lithuanian riddles of the pot, namely: ‘When I was young, I used to sit in a golden chair, when I grew old, even the dog does not eat my bones’ and ‘I was made like Adam from clay and annealed in the furnace like the three young people in Babylon. I was sold like Joseph to Egypt by his brothers. I drive a fiery chariot like Elijah. From my insides, the whole family eats, but when I die, they throw my bones over the fence (do not bury them).’ The analysis is based on all the variants of these riddles (both the published and the manuscript ones), their international parallels, and texts belonging to other genres. Despite the common answer to these riddles – pot – and its typical semantic field based on reality, the artistic expressions of these two riddles have little in common: they significantly differ in terms of structure, wording, and semantic. Thus, their recordings are reasonably attributed to different types in the current card file catalogue. The two riddles only share the common motive of bones at the end, which however has different context of the artistic expression and slightly different meaning. Except for some isolated cases and contaminations, the motives like dog does not eat my bones and they throw my bones over the fence (do not bury them) can be discerned only in these two riddle types respectively. The motive dog does not eat my bones is encountered in almost all the available variants of the first riddle and has the meaning of ‘being useless, idle’. However, the motives they throw the bones over the fence or do not bury them, found in the second riddle, also semantically include the aspect of disrespectful treatment of the deceased and neglecting of the proper funeral rites. Perhaps the main objective of this motive is prompting the listener towards the right answer and suggesting that the answer in question is not a human being. The first riddle seems to be of the Baltic origin, as it includes the typically Baltic motive of the golden chair and the common Baltic-Slavic expression dog does not eat (my) bones. Similar motives are encountered in the wedding songs, where they probably suggest the corresponding semantic field, which is narrowed by the pot as an answer to mean blossoming and withering of fertility. This classical riddle is likely to speak of the human life in general, albeit reducing it to the phases of valued youth and useless senility.The significantly more widespread version of the second riddle in Lithuania includes Biblical motives and has most probably found its way from the East, where it had been “Christianized” by a person well versed in the Old Testament and perhaps belonging to the Byzantine culture. Some variants of this riddle do not include Christian motives; such variants are few in Lithuania but abundant among the Eastern Slavs. Although such versions without Christian motives may be of common origins, however, the proportions of the materials suggest higher probability of the Slavic origin of this riddle. Attributing of these riddles to the series of suffering is also somewhat ambivalent: while the first riddle emphasizes the spiritual suffering, the totality of the variants of the second riddle may be rightfully summarized as the description of the pot’s life; descriptions of the suffering being more frequent in the riddles including the Christian motives. Both riddles tacitly compare the clay pot to the man, allegorically describing the shifts occurring in the human life, the inevitability of change and the instability of status. While reminding the perspective of eternity and the direction of the human life towards death, they allegedly fulfil the function of Memento mori and engage in a visual discussion with the Biblical phrase “from dust to dust”.

Eave and swarm collections prove effective for biased captures of male Anopheles gambiae mosquitoes in Uganda

BackgroundTraditional malaria vector sampling techniques bias collections towards female mosquitoes. Comprehensive understanding of vector dynamics requires balanced vector sampling of both males and females. Male mosquito sampling is also necessary for population size estimations by male-based mark-release-recapture (MRR) studies and for developing innovations in mosquito control, such as the male-targeted sterile insect technique and other genetic modification approaches. This study evaluated a range of collection methods which show promise in providing a more equal, or even male-biased, sex representation in the sample.ResultsSwarms were found at all study sites and were more abundant and larger at the peak of the wet season. Swarm sampling caught the most males, but when man/hour effort was factored in, sampling of eaves by aspiration was the more efficient method and also provided a representative sample of females. Grass-roofed houses were the most productive for eave collections. Overall few mosquitoes were caught with artificial resting traps (clay pots and buckets), although these sampling methods performed better at the start of the wet season than at its peak, possibly because of changes in mosquito ecology and an increased availability of natural resting sites later in the season. Aspiration of bushes was more productive at the peak of the wet season than at the start.ConclusionsThe results of this study demonstrate that eave aspiration was an efficient and useful male mosquito collection method at the study sites and a potentially powerful aid for swarm location and MRR studies. The methods evaluated may together deliver more sex-balanced mosquito captures and can be used in various combinations depending on the aims and ecological parameters of a given study.Graphical

Recycling mining and construction wastes as temper in clay bricks

In the last years, the ceramic sector started to focus on the exploitation of local georesources with circular economy solutions based on waste recycling. The present work aims to assess both the technological feasibly of waste recycling in the clay bricks manufacturing and the effect of different degreasers on the same clay body in order to disclose which factors control technological behavior. Non-plastic waste materials (e.i. mining and construction wastes) were added to a plastic clay and the brickmaking process was performed at the laboratory scale. The main technological properties of the semi-finished and finished products does not suffer any significant variations, indeed with the addition of mining and construction wastes were improved the plasticity reaching optimal values for the clay bricks extrusion.A clear disadvantage is found related to the decrease of mechanical strength, both in dry and fired products, ascribable to the convergence of microstructural factors. In conclusion, the different effects on the technological properties of clay bricks are correlated to the type of waste added as degreaser and the complex interplay of particle size distribution and mineralogical composition in ceramic matrix.

Spatial Structure and Chronological Development of the Prehistoric Salt-production Complex of Provadia-Solnitsata

The prehistoric complex of Provadia-Solnitsata is located close to the modern-day town of Provadia in Northeastern Bulgaria. The remains represent the oldest salt-production site in Europe (5600 – 4350 BC) from which emerged the earliest prehistoric urban settlement on the continent (4700 – 4350 BC). The complex occupies an area of approximately 30 hectares. The emergence and development of the site were closely related to the largest and in fact the only rocksalt deposit in the Eastern Balkans, the so-called Mirovo salt deposit on which the settlement sits. Salt production on the site was based on the brine (thick saline water) that flowed out of this salt deposit. Brine boiling in ceramic pots at Provadia-Solnitsata is the earliest example on record in Europe for the use of this technology in salt production. It was practiced on this site for longer than one millennium. The heat needed for the process was generated in advance in a special installation or alternatively, was directly provided by an open fire, in both cases by burning firewood. At the end of the Chalcolithic, a change of technology had to be introduced – the water from the brine was then evaporated in a large ‘basin’ by using heat from solar radiation. The development of the five parts of the complex is presented: the tell with deposits from the Late Neolithic and the Chalcolithic, a cemetery from the Early Bronze Age, a Thracian ‘ruler’s residence’ from the 2nd – 1st centuries BC and a very large tumulus on top; a salt-production center from the Late Neolithic and the Chalcolithic together with ritual facilities from that time; a Late Neolithic pit sanctuary and a cemetery from the Middle Chalcolithic over it; a pit sanctuary from the Late Chalcolithic; a cemetery from the Late Chalcolithic.

Development of robotic polishing/fettling system on ceramic pots

Current robot polishing techniques are available for objects with computer-aided design geometric models but not for objects without geometric models such as ceramic or clay pots. In this study, we developed a robotic polishing/fettling system to polish the molding defects of ceramic objects. The polishing force on the object surfaces is required to be constant to obtain better results. Thus, the proposed robotic polishing system was designed with a stepper motor, ball screw, and force sensor. The proposed system acquired a rough robot polishing/fettling trajectory and adopted a fuzzy proportional–integral–derivative controller to regulate the trajectory to maintain the desired contact force response from a ceramic object. We developed the temporary desired value technique to make the polishing force response close to the desired one. We validated the system on a six-degrees-of-freedom Staubli TX 40L robotic arm. Experiments were performed to test the effectiveness of the system. The robot trajectory responses showed that the proposed system performed well in tracking the desired force in the polishing/fettling process. We used a 3D microscope to verify that the molding defect of the ceramic pot was significantly removed to evaluate the polishing/fettling quality.

Effect of processing methods on functional, pasting properties of flours and sensory evaluation of “Amala” made from different yam cultivars

The effect of processing methods on the functional, pasting properties of flours and sensory evaluation of “amala” made from three different cultivars of yam were determined using standard analytical methods. The three cultivars of yam namely; Dioscorea caynensis “Amula and Lasinrin) and Dioscorea alata (Cote divoire) were processed using three different methods as following; (a) parboiling with steep water (omi-ogi) in aluminium pot and local clay pot (b) parboiling with clean water in aluminium pot and local clay pot (c) heating steep water omi -ogi and clean water separately at 60°C and blanching sliced yam with it in plastic bucket. The functional and sensory properties of the yam flour obtained from the three processing methods were determined using standard analytical method. Data collected were analyzed statistically to determine the Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) and the means. There were significant differences (P<0.05) in the result obtained. The bulk density, water absorption capacity, wettability, oil absorption capacity and swelling index of the yam flour ranged from 0.33±0.01 to 0.49±0.03g/ml, 7.50±0.44 to 0.50±0.44g/ml, 36.67±11.55 to 178.33±2.89secs, 1.47±0.23 to 7.40±1.06g/ml and 1.10±0.01 to 1.82±0.03g/g respectively. The peak viscosity, trough, breakdown, final viscosity, setback, peak time and pasting temperature of yam flour ranged from 1783.00±7.07 to 3682.00±2.83 cP, 1691.00±4.24 to 3533.50±3.54cP, 27.50±2.12 to 195.00±7.07cP, 2351.00±1.41 to 4332.50±3.54cP, 420.00±7.07 to 799.00±1.41cP, 7.03±0.04 to 5.10±0.14cP, 81.35±0.92 to 89.10±0.14cP respectively. The appearance, colour, taste, texture and overall acceptability of the “amala” ranged from 3.70±1.08 to 8.65±0.75, 3.70±1.03 to 8.60±0.82, 3.50±1.19 to 8.20±1.01, 3.35±1.04 to 8.50±0.95 and 3.35±0.75 to 8.60±0.75 respectively. The LLPSW (cultivar “Lasinrin” processed with local clay pot and steep water “omi-ogi”) had the highest water absorption capacity, LAPOW (cultivar “Amula” processed with aluminium pot and clean water) had the best overall acceptability. Water absorption capacity measures the extent of water retention in yam flour. It can be concluded that yam flour processed with LCPSW was the best flour from the above results on water absorption capacity.

Detection of Free-Living Amoebae and Their Intracellular Bacteria in Borehole Water before and after a Ceramic Pot Filter Point-of-Use Intervention in Rural Communities in South Africa.

Free-living amoebae (FLA) are ubiquitous in nature, whereas amoeba-resistant bacteria (ARB) have evolved virulent mechanisms that allow them to resist FLA digestion mechanisms and survive inside the amoeba during hostile environmental conditions. This study assessed the prevalence of FLA and ARB species in borehole water before and after a ceramic point-of-use intervention in rural households. A total of 529 water samples were collected over a five-month period from 82 households. All water samples were subjected to amoebal enrichment, bacterial isolation on selective media, and molecular identification using 16S PCR/sequencing to determine ARB species and 18S rRNA PCR/sequencing to determine FLA species present in the water samples before and after the ceramic pot intervention. Several FLA species including Acanthamoeba spp. and Mycobacterium spp. were isolated. The ceramic pot filter removed many of these microorganisms from the borehole water. However, design flaws could have been responsible for some FLA and ARB detected in the filtered water. FLA and their associated ARB are ubiquitous in borehole water, and some of these species might be potentially harmful and a health risk to vulnerable individuals. There is a need to do more investigations into the health risk of these organisms after point-of-use treatment.

The German-Chinese-Japanese Warship: Representations of National Identity and Cultural Significance of War in Art, c. 1885–1896

The history of the warship Zhenyuan/Chin’en 鎮遠 built in Germany for the Chinese navy and captured by the Japanese in 1895 during the First Sino-Japanese War is depicted in several different types of art works: not only multiple Japanese woodblock prints but also Chinese and Western illustrations show scenes involving this battleship. Combining these art works with historical accounts allows one to capture the significance of the ship as a symbol of national pride and identity of the different nations involved in its transnational history.

Bithynian snake bombs

Bithynian snake bombs

Experimental Analysis of Evaporative Cooling Water in Porous Clay Vessels Under Varying Ambient Conditions

Due to the ability of clay vessels to store and retain water below ambient temperature, it has become a basic commodity for water storage among the rural dwellers in the Sub-Sahara region and as an alternative to other cooling/refrigerating system. It therefore, becomes necessary to study and determine how effective and efficient porous clay pot serves as evaporating coolers. Evaporative cooling of water in six different porous clay vessels was studied under varying ambient conditions. In this study, water was stored in six porous clay vessels of different sizes and volumes. The weight, relative humidity, and ambient temperatures of water content in the porous clay vessels were measured bihourly from 12 noon to 8 pm for a period of 7 days. The result of the study revealed that the mass loss is affected by several factors such as ambient temperature, the surface area of the vessel, porosity and thickness of the vessel. From this study, pots with small water holding capacity (Pots D and E) experienced the fastest rate of evaporation. The relative humidity was based on the condition of the environment. This study concludes that energy demand can be minimized by applying evaporative cooling concept in households, offices, and industries. Thus, this paper provides an insight towards ways of conserving energy demand for cooling as there is no requirement of electricity to run the system. Hence, extensive usage of these sorts of cooling systems helps in providing greener environment.

Intentional clay-mixing in the production of traditional and ancient ceramics and its identification in thin section

Ethnographic and historical accounts have indicated that traditional potters intentionally mix two or more sources of clay in order to prepare composite pastes for pottery production. It has long been assumed that a such practice also took place in the past, but detecting evidence for clay mixing in ancient ceramic sherds has proved challenging due to thorough blending, as well as the existence of natural heterogeneity within clay sources. Very few detailed studies on clay mixing exist within the fields of ceramic petrography and ancient pottery technology, and both diagnostic criteria and descriptive terminology are therefore poorly defined. The present paper attempts to fill this gap in our knowledge by reviewing the methods of clay mixing from ethnographic sources as well as archaeologists attempts to identify it in thin section. By studying naturally heterogeneous clay under the polarising light microscope and experimentally mixing pastes according to the various methods reported ethnographically, the study attempts to identify possible lines of evidence with which to detect intentional clay mixing in ancient ceramics. These are then applied to archaeological ceramic sherds from a range of periods and geographic regions. The study reaffirms the difficulties in identifying intentional mixing, which can result in a diverse set of compositional and microstructural phenomena that may also occur naturally, and proposes additional criteria with which to distinguish these two processes. It also highlights the overlap between clay mixing and the technological practice of adding non-plastic temper to the clay body.

To be or not to be local: a provenance study of archaeological ceramics from Shahr-i Sokhta, eastern Iran

Findings from the archaeological site of Shahr-i Sokhta in eastern Iran include a wide range of undecorated, monochrome, and polychrome ceramics with gray, red, and buff-colored bodies that date back to a period spanning from 3200 to 1800 B.C.E. Given the large number and variety of ceramics unearthed from Shahr-i Sokhta, the provenance of these wares has remained a subject of controversy. Based on compositional data obtained from quantitative wavelength dispersive X-ray fluorescence (WDXRF) spectroscopy studies and petrographic observations, findings from this study provide information that can be used to determine whether the ceramics from Shahr-i Sokhta were manufactured locally or were imported from elsewhere. We show here that the chemical components of a large group of ceramics with gray, red, and buff-colored bodies are similar to those found in local clay sources and kiln wasters, suggesting local production of these wares. However, one group of red and gray-colored wares demonstrated entirely different chemistry, suggesting a different origin. In support of the quantitative WDXRF data, petrofabric analysis of the first group of buff, gray, and red wares revealed poorly sorted basaltic clasts similar to those found randomly distributed in the matrix of local clays. By contrast, the non-local gray and red wares exhibited fine-grained clay bodies with sorted distribution of fine-grained quartz within the clay matrix.