Number Of Sherds Research Articles

Ethnofabrics: Petrographic Analysis as a Tool for Illuminating Cultural Interactions and Trade Relations between Judah and Philistia during the Iron Age II

Recent excavations along the lower eastern slopes of Jerusalem yielded a number of sherds attributed to Late Philistine Decorated Ware. As this family of vessels is generally thought to derive from Philistia, petrographic analysis was conducted on the sherds, as well as on other vessels assumed to be locally made, which served as a control group. Late Philistine Decorated Ware sherds were found to belong to three distinct petrographic groups, two of which seem to originate in Philistia (i.e., the southern coastal plain and Judaean Shephelah), while a third group was found to be local to Jerusalem. The results also indicate that some vessels considered local to the area of Jerusalem were actually produced farther west. This article discusses the results of the petrographic analysis and the implications they have on understanding Judaeo-Philistine relations.

Buckley Sgraffito: a study of a 17th century pottery industry in North Wales, its production techniques and design influences

This article aims to establish the date of the production and range of early sgraffito wares at Buckley and to examine the derivation of the designs and illustrations on the vessels. An illustrated catalogue has been produced and a comparative study made of sgraffito wares elsewhere to place Buckley into a national and international context. The results show that early sgraffito production at Brookhill pottery, Buckley, was between 1640-1720. Of the excavated pieces, 62% were made between 1640-1680, and the number of sherds by vessel number is also greater within that date range. All the vessels are dishes. The form and designs on the remainder of the sherds, dated up to 1720, are no different from those dated to 1640-1680, which suggests a continuous period of production. The most common themes on the pots: tulips, leaves, mottoes, animals and birds: relate very closely to the designs featured on other objects made in the same period such as textiles, wallpaper, furniture and manuscripts. Some of the designs were available in pattern books for particular groups of objects, for example needlework and pastry decoration. There is an interesting sub-group of pieces with animal and bird motifs and mottoes on the rims. It is possible that the influence for these came from a resurgence of interest in the medieval bestiary texts and illustrations in the 16th and 17th centuries. The less specific designs such as circles, slashes and zigzags could have been personal expressions of the potters themselves. The sgraffito technique of decoration on pottery spread through trade from east to west, reaching Italy in the 12th and 13th centuries and filtering through to Britain via south-west France and northern Europe. Decorative styles found at Buckley occur in most production areas. These are plants, fish, birds and geometric patterns. Mottoes and inscriptions appear on pieces from four centres, including Buckley. The most common vessel forms throughout Europe are dishes and bowls. No Buckley sgraffito has been found outside Buckley itself, although Buckley black-glazed wares have been tentatively identified in the eastern states of north America and locations around the Irish Sea. The problem with ascribing this provenance is that similar wares were also produced in other areas such as Merseyside and Staffordshire. Further research is required to determine the distribution of all Buckley wares. This article will particularly interest: * Archaeologists interested in post-medieval material culture * Post-medieval pottery specialists * Design History specialists * Archaeologists working on excavations in North Wales Key points: * The first published catalogue of 17th century sgraffito wares in northern Britain * Explores the influence of 17th century designs in other materials on pottery production * Searchable image database of sgraffito sherds from Buckley

The Caddoan Ceramics from the Gray's Pasture Site (41HS524), Harrison County, Texas

This paper discusses the Caddoan ceramics recovered during the 1992 Northeast Texas Archeological Society Field School at the Gray's Pasture site (41HS524) on Clark's Creek, a few miles south of Hallsville, Texas and about 2 miles from the Sabine River floodplain. During the course of the excavations, an extensive Caddoan settlement was documented on a series of knolls on a broad terrace landform overlooking the Clark's Creek floodplain, and each of those areas contains Caddoan ceramics. Most notably, a dense concentration of Caddoan ceramics, as well as two burials with whole ceramic vessels, was encountered in the northwestern part of the site, and the majority of the ceramics are from this area. The four site areas include Areal (Unit 1) on a knoll at the northeastern part of the site, Area II on the terrace at the far eastern end of the site (Units 3 and 7), Area lll on the crest of the landform in the central and southwestern part of the site (Units 2, 5, and 6), and Area IV in the northwestern part of the site (Units 8, 8X, 10-16). Unit 4 belongs in Area III, and contained a number of sherds, but these artifacts are missing, except for one plain sherd. Unit 9, in the southeastern part of the site only had a few plain sherds. A total of 2352 sherds and four vessels comprise the Caddoan ceramic assemblage from Gray's Pasture. This includes 1740 plain body and base sherds, 61 plain rims, and 551 decorated rim and body sherds. About 81% of the sherds are from ArealV, with 9.3% of the sherds from Area III. There are 71 decorated rim sherds and 480 decorated body sherds (not including 11 red slipped sherds). The plain/decorated sherd ratio is 3.27 for the site as a whole, and ranges from 3.21 to 3.69 by site area. This is consistent with other pre-A.D. 1200 Caddoan sites in the Red, middle Sabine, and Neches-Angelina river basins, where such sites have plain/decorated sherd ratios that range between 2.97-4.80. Thirteenth and 14th century sites in these areas have plain/decorated sherd ratios of 1.30- 1.61, and Late Caddoan sites dating between ca. A.D. 1450--1650 have ratios of 0.56- 1.03. Through time, more Caddoan vessels are decorated, and vessels are more completely covered with decoration, rather than having the decoration confined primarily to the rim.

A Note on 'Ubaid and Mitanni Pottery from Tell Brak

The purpose of this short note is two-fold. First, to present the very unexpected evidence for Hajji Muhammad pottery at Tell Brak, an occurrence of some considerable interest to Mesopotamian prehistorians. Second, to publish three vessels from the Mitanni palace and a unique example of transcaucasian type of sufficient interest in themselves to merit their preliminary publication, however brief. A final report on the Mitanni buildings and their contents is envisaged after the completion of the forthcoming season. The Hajji Muhammad sherds are without context. Two deep soundings in Area CH have reached levels with predominantly ‘Ubaid pottery, but these levels are to be dated at the very end of the ‘Ubaid sequence. Unfortunately the earlier ‘Ubaid levels lie at inaccessible depths within the tell. Some pottery from the latest ‘Ubaid deposits is illustrated here, in particular a number of sherds with “eye” motifs, which provide a tempting argument for the existence of an ‘Ubaid Eye Temple at Brak. It must be emphasized, however, that at present we have no other evidence to support such a suggestion, although the outer wall of a possibly Early Uruk religious building in CH was identified in 1986 (Plate XXXI, a). Of the greatest interest are the three sherds illustrated below, together with a single example of the most common Hajji Muhammad type: a bowl with flaring sides and dense cross-hatching on the interior (Plate XLV, 5; cf. Oates and Oates 1976, 56). The Brak example comes from fill in the Eye Temple deposits, and is the only specimen of this very distinctive type found so far in Northern Mesopotamia.

Ceramic Evidence for Northern Intruders in Southern Greece at the Beginning of the Late Helladic IIIC Period

Three whole pots and sherds of thirteen other vases from early Late Helladic IIIC contexts at the site of Korakou are identified as non-Mycenaean on the grounds of fabric, shape, decoration, and surface treatment. It is argued that, although being alien to Mycenaean ceramics, these pieces were nevertheless manufactured locally. They are thus taken to be evidence of an intrusive population element whose ultimate origin is to be sought in Bulgaria or possibly Rumania, where the intrusive pottery has its closest published affinities in material of earlier date. Discoveries of comparable non-Mycenaean pottery in roughly contemporary contexts at the other southern Greek sites of Lefkandi, Perati, Athens, and Mycenae suggest that the presence of northern intruders at Korakou may be more than a local phenomenon. The close correspondence between certain classes of the intrusive Korakou pottery and particular wares found at Troy only in the VIIb 1 and 2 settlements points towards a parallel situation at Troy where one or more new population elements probably settled following the destruction of Troy VIIa. Connection of the intruders with disturbances in southern Greece at the end of LH IIIB and with the destruction of Troy VIIa is possible, but far from certain. No reliable estimate of the numbers of the intruders can be made on the basis of evidence at present available.

X-Ray Diffraction Analysis of Prehistoric Pottery

AbstractThis is a preliminary report on a quantitative method for grouping prehistoric pottery using x-ray diffraction techniques. Of the various analytical methods that have been applied to the analysis of pottery, x-ray diffraction techniques have been among the least used, and then usually to obtain qualitative information. Most analytic methods measure the relative abundance of chemical elements, but diffraction patterns give information on the crystalline substances in the pottery. In this study, attention is directed to the crystalline components of the temper rather than the clays or their derivatives. The method groups pottery according to the relative concentrations of such minerals as quartz, calcite, and the feldspars. Thus, success depends on reasonable consistency in the use of tempering materials by pottery makers at one time and place. I have examined a number of sherds from different sites in Iowa and Missouri supplied by Dale R. Henning, University of Nebraska. The results so far indicate that it is possible to group prehistoric pottery by a quantitative analysis of the x-ray diffraction pattern of the temper in the pottery.

Jættestuen Jordhøj

Jættestuen Jordhøj

Ware Groupings and Decorations of Woodland Ceramics in Illinois

This Study deals primarily with the pottery from a series of 8 Middle Woodland village sites in the central Illinois River valley (Mason, Tazewell, Fulton, Peoria, and Marshall counties in Illinois, see Fig. 62). Comment regarding 3 other sites is also included. All of these sites but one are either directly associated with Hopewellian burial mounds or have Hopewellian pottery and other artifacts scattered throughout the debris. There are numerous other sites known with material similar to these sites, but they are not included here due to the small number of sherds in each of these sites (for example, F°77, Fv88, and others reported on by Cole and Deuel in 1937).The purpose of this particular study is twofold. First of all an attempt is being made in this report to present indications of changes through time and style preferences in a rather well-known culture. It is hoped that these indications will help us to understand the temporal position of the different sites and to build up a body of information that will allow better understanding of the various cultural forms, in this particular case, pottery.

The God with the Winnowing-fan

Professor Rose is perfectly right in holding that there is no allusion to any Boeotian cult or ceremony in the pyxis figured on p. 21 of JHS LXIX. Vases of the fabric to which this pyxis belongs have for the last fifty years been regarded as Boeotian, and it seemed not unreasonable to search for the meaning of the representations on them in Boeotian life, and in particular in the customs and cults of the district inwhich three of them are reputed to have been found. However, shortly after Boeotian Haloa had been published, I saw in the museum at Corinth a number of sherds of this fabric which had been excavated in the Potters' Quarter there. They are to be published in a forthcoming volume of Corinth by Mrs. Stilwell, who tells me she is convinced that they are all Corinthian, and indeed the place of finding puts that beyond doubt. So all arguments based on the supposed Boeotian origin of the pyxis and its companion vases fall to the ground.

An Oneota Site in Missouri

The village site, which is the subject of this report, has been known for at least three-quarters of a century. Its large size, the abundance of surface materials, and the nearby presence of a conspicuous earthwork, combined to attract attention to the site. Prof. G. C. Broadhead, of the University of Missouri, explored the region in 1872, and gathered a number of sherds which form part of the present archaeological collection at the University. During the '70's and '80's there were quite a few pseudo-scientific excavations on the site, the published reports of which are more tantalizing than illuminating to the modern student. Fowke was there in 1907; and local amateurs have long made a practice of gathering specimens there, and sending them to scientific institutions.

III. The Surroundings of the Cave of Trapeza

A. Some 70 metres east of the cave, close to the south-east corner of the hill, a few fragments of an undecorated Middle Minoan I pithos and a fragment of a stone axe too small to give any idea of its type were found in a shallow deposit on a small terrace.B. In a cleft in the rock 40 metres east of the cave, dignified by the name of Τοῦ Γρυμάνη τὸ σπήλαιο, were found most of the pieces of a Neolithic vase (see below p. 16 and Plate V, 1), a handle of a fabric similar to ‘Trapeza Ware’, and a number of sherds, including the base of a tripod which could not be dated more closely than to the Early Minoan Period generally. A few Byzantine sherds also occurred.