Pieces Of Pottery Research Articles

The first microbeam synchrotron X-ray fluorescence beamline at the Siam Photon Laboratory

The first microbeam synchrotron X-ray fluorescence (µ-SXRF) beamline using continuous synchrotron radiation from Siam Photon Source has been constructed and commissioned as of August 2011. Utilizing an X-ray capillary half-lens allows synchrotron radiation from a 1.4 T bending magnet of the 1.2 GeV electron storage ring to be focused from a few millimeters-sized beam to a micrometer-sized beam. This beamline was originally designed for deep X-ray lithography (DXL) and was one of the first two operational beamlines at this facility. A modification has been carried out to the beamline in order to additionally enable µ-SXRF and synchrotron X-ray powder diffraction (SXPD). Modifications included the installation of a new chamber housing a Si(111) crystal to extract 8 keV synchrotron radiation from the white X-ray beam (for SXPD), a fixed aperture and three gate valves. Two end-stations incorporating optics and detectors for µ-SXRF and SXPD have then been installed immediately upstream of the DXL station, with the three techniques sharing available beam time. The µ-SXRF station utilizes a polycapillary half-lens for X-ray focusing. This optic focuses X-ray white beam from 5 mm × 2 mm (H × V) at the entrance of the lens down to a diameter of 100 µm FWHM measured at a sample position 22 mm (lens focal point) downstream of the lens exit. The end-station also incorporates an XYZ motorized sample holder with 25 mm travel per axis, a 5× ZEISS microscope objective with 5 mm × 5 mm field of view coupled to a CCD camera looking to the sample, and an AMPTEK single-element Si (PIN) solid-state detector for fluorescence detection. A graphic user interface data acquisition program using the LabVIEW platform has also been developed in-house to generate a series of single-column data which are compatible with available XRF data-processing software. Finally, to test the performance of the µ-SXRF beamline, an elemental surface profile has been obtained for a piece of ancient pottery from the Ban Chiang archaeological site, a UNESCO heritage site. It was found that the newly constructed µ-SXRF technique was able to clearly distinguish the distribution of different elements on the specimen.

Hunter-Gatherer Pottery and Charred Residue Dating: New Results on Early Ceramics in the North Eurasian Forest Zone

This article discusses 18 accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) radiocarbon dates from the peat bog sites Sakhtysh 2a, Ozerki 5, and Ozerki 17 in the Upper Volga region. The aim is to contribute to a better understanding of the emergence and dispersal of early ceramic traditions in northern Eurasia and their connection to the Baltic. With 1 exception, all dates were obtained from charred residue adhering to the sherd. A possible reservoir effect was tested on 1 piece of pottery from Sakhtysh 2a by taking 1 sample from charred residue, and another sample from plant fiber remains. Although a reservoir effect was able to be ruled out in this particular case, 4 other dates from Sakhtysh 2a and Ozerki 5 seem too old on typological grounds and might have been affected by freshwater reservoir effects. Considering all other reliable dates, the Early Neolithic Upper Volga culture, and with it the adoption of ceramics, in the forest zone of European Russia started around 6000 cal BC.

The Haban pottery from the Belgrade fortress: Archaeological contexts, chronology, decorative designs

Haban pottery, named after its makers, members of the Anabaptist reform movement, flourished in Central-European countries from the end of the 16th until the 19th century. It is tin-glazed earthenware marked by distinctive decorative expression dominated by floral patterns. Archaeological excavations within the area of the Belgrade Fortress have recovered some eighty pieces of Haban pottery from well-defined and precisely dated contexts. The pottery occurred in two separate phases of Austrian rule over Belgrade. The earlier lasted for only two years, 1688-90, while the later began with the Austrian capture of the city in 1717 and lasted for over two decades, until 1739. These finds make it possible to establish the chronology and repertoire of Haban pottery in Belgrade, contributing to our better knowledge of this distinctive category of earthenware.

Three Months among the Ghosts of Tinajas Altas

Three Months among the Ghosts of Tinajas Altas Gayle Harrison Hartmann (bio) When I was invited to participate in the Tinajas Altas Archaeological Survey, I spent some time considering the offer. It would mean three months working out of doors and sleeping in a tent, with a few days off from time to time so that I could drive four hours home to Tucson, do laundry, pay bills, and take care of other household chores. January to early April—not a bad time of year in the southern Southwest—although definitely below my comfort zone during some early mornings, with pre-dawn temperatures ranging from the high 30s to the low 40s. Food came from a camp kitchen (although we were to be the cooks), and a portable toilet was located downwind at the edge of camp. Water was available from a "water buffalo," a large metal tank supported by a small trailer. Heat in the evenings came from the time-honored source—a large campfire, using wood trucked from Tucson. Thus, the heat came with a clear conscience—no desert trees were being sacrificed. Not a bad prospect, I thought. And I was right. Along with five to six colleagues, I spent the late winter and early spring of 1998 camped near Tinajas Altas, working on an archaeological survey sponsored and funded by the U.S. Air Force with the cooperation of the U.S. Marine Corps. The goal was to document the remains of human activities, from prehistoric through modern times, on 5,456 acres of the driest and hottest desert in the Southwest. The area, near the southwest corner of Arizona (about four miles north of the international border with Mexico), receives between three and five inches of rain per year, most of which falls in the winter. [End Page 263] Some years, it doesn't rain at all. The summers are long and hot, with temperatures commonly exceeding 110 degrees F, making archaeological work difficult, but not impossible. Often, it seems that archaeological projects in southern Arizona end up being scheduled during the hottest months of the year. I felt very fortunate that this project was to be at a cooler time of year. Tinajas Altas, generally translated as "high tanks," are a series of natural, granite basins, one above the other, located in a steep defile in the east face of the Tinajas Altas Mountains (figure 1). Because they are located in this extremely arid part of the Sonoran Desert, the tanks— which collect water from rainfall and are nearly perennial—are a water source for the animals of the region. In the past, they were also a critical water source for humans. Click for larger view View full resolution Figure 1. Archaeologist Mary Charlotte Thurtle contemplating the lowest tank. For millennia, humans and wildlife have taken advantage of the water in these basins. Bits of evidence ranging from stone arrow points to pieces of pottery to tin cans tell us that people from different cultures and different eras have passed by. Native Americans, travelers to and from Mexico, and forty-niners on their way to the goldfields of California, for example, trekked along the infamous sandy track called the Camino del [End Page 264] Diablo that runs close to Tinajas Altas. A burial ground, more visible thirty years ago than today, at one time marked the graves or memorials of about sixty unfortunate travelers who arrived, mostly during the gold rush, only to find the water supply exhausted by previous travelers. Or, some of them may have died along the Camino, and their remains have been brought to the cemetery for burial. In recent years the area east of the tanks that used to be the cemetery has become the de facto parking lot for visitors to the tanks and has suffered considerable damage. From the time of statehood in 1912 until World War II these water-holes and millions of surrounding desert acres were property of the federal government. The large stand of organ pipe cactus in the eastern part of the region led it to become Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument. Another large section became the Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge, with...

The Ceramics of Tajul Shuhaizam Said

After years of doing ceramics, which include the standard pieces of pottery with a bulbous body, a handle, a spout, incised, then glazed, fired and finally exhibited, I beginning to understand that there should be more than one way to appreciate forms. A teapot, or instance, is supposed to contain hot water into which to drop a tea bag: the form and function way of looking at things. Now, I see form as something separate from function: form as form, whose functions are unclear. I would rather insist that the function is purely visual. The object stands by itself, embodying its own objectness, celebrating its own uniqueness, inviting any number of interpretations as to what it is. Using sponge cut into shape, and then dipped in liquidized 'eco clay', I experiments with a variety of bulging forms that resemble things in nature: twisted trunk, deformed rock, petrified embryo, encrusted mushrooms, and enlarged human organ. When the viewer confers such resemblances, I have been lured into participating with nature, just as I have done, prior to, or as I create, these bulges and humps. Whatever narratives that follow henceforth enrich the viewer's appreciation of a form as a thing-in-itself, one in which ideas begat other ideas, familiar as well as unfamiliar ones, the ordinary and the sublime weaving themselves as part of the subtext, the implicit message. I wants to see whether this is one way to expand the boundaries of what is acceptable in an art I has been so long tamed in recognizable shapes, glazed, smooth, and when held on a pedestal, untouchable.

Difference in radiocarbon ages of carbonized material from the inner and outer surfaces of pottery from a wetland archaeological site

AMS (Accelerator Mass Spectrometry) radiocarbon dates for eight potsherds from a single piece of pottery from a wetland archaeological site indicated that charred material from the inner pottery surfaces (5052 ± 12 BP; N = 5) is about 90 14C years older than that from the outer surfaces (4961 ± 22 BP; N = 7). We considered three possible causes of this difference: the old wood effect, reservoir effects, and diagenesis. We concluded that differences in the radiocarbon ages between materials from the inner and outer surfaces of the same pot were caused either by the freshwater reservoir effect or by diagenesis. Moreover, we found that the radiocarbon ages of carbonized material on outer surfaces (soot) of pottery from other wetland archaeological sites were the same as the ages of material on inner surfaces (charred food) of the same pot within error, suggesting absence of freshwater reservoir effect or diagenesis.

The Shaft Tomb of Menekhibnekau at Abusir – Season of 2008

Abstract During the autumn season of 2008, the epigraphic work and photographic documentation of the relief decoration in the burial chamber of Menekhibnekau (uncovered in April 2007) continued, together with the cleaning and conservation of its side walls. In cleaning the surface layers of sand on the eastern and southern sides of the main shaft, a number of items have been found, among them numerous fragments of a large basalt statue of a walking cow (representing the goddess Hathor), originally protecting a small figure (of Menekhibnekau?) standing in front of her. At the same time, examination of the embalmer’s cache adjoining the main shaft of Menekhibnekau continued. In addition to numerous large pottery storage jars and other pottery pieces, some of them inscribed with short texts written in hieratic, fragments of embalming instruments were also obtained. In a summarizing table, hieratic inscriptions discovered so far on the vessels in the tomb of Menekhibnekau at Abusir are listed.

Labraunda 2009. A preliminary report on the Swedish excavations

The 2009 campaign in Labraunda accomplished three goals: the termination of the excavations in the Byzantine fort on the Acropolis and in the Late Roman Tetraconch and the complete excavation of the impressive marble chamber tomb along the Sacred Way. In the Acropolis Fortress, evidence was found to support the military character of the Byzantine establishment: the rooms along the fortification wall were paved and had a rectangular shape, suggesting defensive rooms. In these rooms sling stones were found. Structures dating from the Hekatomnid period were further investigated this year, and a well cut into the gneiss bedrock was excavated. In the Tetraconch, the north apse was excavated down to bedrock and a coin from Constantius II (348–357/8) suggests an ante quem dating for this unique and sophisticated structure. The geophysical investigations indicated that a church is located on the terrace below the Tetraconch and a first sondage was conducted here. The large marble chamber tomb was completely excavated and emptied of its content. Small pieces of pottery indicate a date in the middle of the fourth century BC. The extensive geophysical survey was carried out at five different areas around the Sanctuary, in order to achieve a better picture of the entire Sanctuary, as the early excavations had involved only its central part. Evidence for several previously unknown structures came to light: possibly a temple on the East Stoa terrace and further bath buildings at the East Bath, as well as several unexcavated tombs.

Driven to Collect: The Norton Allen Collection of Tohono O'odham Pottery

Driven to Collect: The Norton Allen Collection of Tohono O’odham Pottery Diane Dittemore, Andrew Higgins, and Reuben V. Naranjo Jr. Norton Allen is perhaps best known as the man who—with his wife, Ethel, and father, Ernest—saved hundreds of Hohokam pots and other artifacts originating in the Gila Bend area from destruction by developers or diversion into the hands of private collectors. Less well known is that the Allens’ interest in Southwestern desert cultures also extended into collecting from historic pottery-making tribes including the Tohono O’odham of southern Arizona and the Paipai of Baja California (Griset and Ferg, this issue). After Norton passed away, Ethel gave ASM a collection of Tohono O’odham material, including thirty-two whole vessels, several dozen historic sherds, six wooden implements, and two obsidian points. This article focuses on the intact pottery pieces: what kinds are represented, how they integrate with ASM’s other O’odham pottery, what we can know about them, and what they might tell us about both the makers and the collectors. The Collection The Tohono O’odham pottery in the Norton Allen Collection represents a spectrum of sizes, forms, and clay and pottery types common to utilitarian O’odham pottery. There is only one black-on-red piece; this decorative type is primarily associated with market wares popularized around the turn of the last century (Fontana et al. 1962:107). The nearabsence of such pieces in the collection is not necessarily surprising, as Diane Dittemore has been the ethnological collections curator at the Arizona State Museum, University of Arizona, Tucson, for thirty-one years. She received an MA in anthropology from the University of Denver, with a focus on Native American material culture and museum studies in 1978. Andrew Higgins is the assistant ethnological collections curator at the Arizona State Museum, University of Arizona, Tucson. Reuben V. Naranjo Jr. is a PhD candidate in the American Indian Studies Program, University of Arizona. He holds a BFA and an MA in American Indian Studies. His passions and interests include American Indian and Mesoamerican ceramics and art. Journal of the Southwest 52, 2 and 3 (Summer-Autumn 2010) : 363–394 364 ✜ Journal of the Southwest the Allens did not for the most part appear interested in collecting tourist art, but instead favored utilitarian pottery. According to Ferg (2009), the Allens did, however, have an assortment of small, polished black-on-red pots that they liked to give away to friends and acquaintances, but they did not keep any for themselves. ASM was extremely pleased to receive this rich collection, but it is surprising that few pieces are well documented, especially given the Allens’ meticulous record-keeping for so much of the archaeological collections. A mere eight out of the thirty-two whole vessels and none of the thirteen decorated pots have any specific proveniences. At the time of the donation, Ethel was unable, with one exception, to remember any specifics regarding where, when, or how she and Norton acquired the pottery, only that they had acquired it mostly through purchase at various locales on the reservation. Where proveniences are known, it is because they were written directly on the bases of the pots. All but two of the documented pots are from the western part of the main Tohono O’odham Reservation: three from a cave cache in the Ajo Mountains, and one each from Gu Vo, Hickiwan, and the Sand Tank Mountains. The last piece, an olla, was a gift or purchase from Thomas Childs, an Anglo-American who lived in Ajo. The seventh documented pot is from Anegam, in the north-central part of the reservation. The eighth is from Ak-Chin on the Ak-Chin Indian Community. We do not know for certain the identities of any of the makers of the pots in the Allen Collection. They do not bear signatures or other identification marks, not surprising given their likely age and utilitarian nature. Norton and Ethel apparently did not ask the people who sold them the pots if they knew who made them, and the sellers may not have known given the apparent age of many of the vessels. The jar from Ak...

Practicing "Gentle Empiricism" -- The Nordoff Robbins Research Heritage

There is a empiricism that makes itself in the most intimate way identical with its objects and thereby becomes actual theory.GoetheOne must not make theories; they must turn up like an unexpected guest in the house, whilst one is busy enquiring into details.FreudContemporary pressures on music therapists to provide evidence for the benefits and effects of their work by using tried and tested research paradigms and methodologies risk negating fundamental music therapy practices. This paper interrogates and, by implication, critiques contemporary research methodology and practice in music therapy by tracing the origins of the specific research ethos present in Nordoff Robbins. Drawing on the work of Goethe and Steiner, Nordoff and Robbins developed a clinical practice based around a distinct qualitative approach. This involved focusing on a phenomenological understanding of their clients' needs and evolving a creative and flexible practice to meet those needs. As a research principle in itself, this type of knowledgebuilding presents a particularly strong challenge to the contemporary ever-increasing simplification and politicization of what counts as appropriate evidence of music therapy's value and the consequent distortion of the phenomenon of music's help for people and places.Part 1 of this exploration begins with the roots of the Nordoff Robbins research tradition, which can be traced to the intellectual milieu in which their early work developed. Steiner's anthroposophical tradition, which was in turn based on Goethe's scientific approach has been characterized as a qualitative science proceeding from a gentle empiricism. This stressed that research should always strive to save the phenomenon, - meaning that a phenomenon should not be reduced or replaced with an explanation that omits human experience and its involvement in any understanding. This research attitude is well demonstrated both with Nordoff and Robbins' early empirical explorations in music therapy, and, thereafter, in a tradition of Nordoff Robbins researchers during the last 20 years in a variety of clinical areas.In Part 2, a series of project examples shows the character of this research principle in action. In particular the examples illustrate the pursuit of a particular way of coming to know phenomena (epistemology) and a way of investigating them (methodology). We hope to show how the Nordoff Robbins approach recognises that the development of practice, theory, and research is a necessarily concurrent and reciprocally creative project of gentle empiricism.Part 1 : Goethe, Steiner, Nordoff and RobbinsGoethe's GoldfishJohann Wolfgang von Goethe finds himself in the mid-1 790s working for the Duke of Weimar and (reluctantly) part of a military expedition. He meets an old friend, Prince Reuss, an Austrian diplomat, who asks Goethe what he's working on at the moment, expecting him to outline a new novel or play. Armstrong (2006), a recent biographer, takes up the story:[Reuss] was very much surprised when Goethe broke into an impassioned lecture on colour. In a state of high excitement, Goethe told Reuss all about an observation he'd made the previous day at a neighbouring village. He'd noticed a group of soldiers sitting around a little pond, fishing in the exceptionally clear water. Goethe amused himself by watching the fish, noticing that their colours appeared to change as they swam about. Why did this occur? Was it that the colour of the skin was itself affected by the movement? Then Goethe noticed something else. A piece of pottery had fallen into the pool; it appeared to be red on the nearside and blue on the side further from him. As Goethe walked around the pool he saw that the colours from this bit of pottery didn't change position. The blue still seemed to be on the far side. So the colour effect couldn't be due to the colour of the pottery itself but must be brought about by the water acting as a kind of huge prism. …

Qu’est ce qu’une « belle » vannerie au sahara ?

Like so many objects made in the societies qualified as traditional, saharan basketry fulfil the numerous needs of daily-life and, in the same time, they are intended to bring an aesthetic pleasure to those who make them and those who use them. However, we must note that, unlike numerous other african productions such as pieces of pottery, weaving or even jewelry, basketry has rarely been studied by specialists of art anthropology or ethnology.In this text, we intend analysing the different aspects concerning the technicity about basketry through which aesthetic research appears in saharan basketry. We will analyse, too, the complex approach of embellishment of basketry artifacts, which is always an individual approach but which also fits into collective standards that govern the whole technical and craft activities in Sahara.

X‐ray techniques applied to surface paintings of ceramic pottery pieces from Aguada Culture (Catamarca, Argentina)

AbstractX‐ray diffraction (XRD), energy dispersive spectrometry (EDS), x‐ray imaging (XRI) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) techniques were applied to characterize and differentiate surface paintings of archeological pottery from the Aguada Ambato and Portezuelo styles (Catamarca, Argentina). Standard procedures are not always appropriate for such samples (paint layers are porous, nonplanar and discontinue). Image processing is necessary when chemical contrast is not discriminated. Soft x‐ray lines (e.g. Fe L) are more revealing because those detected come from shallower depths, clearly depicting the composition of the paint layer.These styles differ in mineralogy and chemistry suggesting that they are two distinctive entities not only on their designs but also on the materials chosen and the technology used. Aguada Portezuelo paints contain Ca (white), FeMn (black), FeMnCa (dark reddish) and FeCa (reddish). The white ones correspond to gehlenite, a firing product (possible firing temperature ≥900–1000 °C); calcite and CaO occur in cases of firing temperatures <900 °C.Aguada Ambato presents difficulties for paint discrimination; only EDS spectra show slight differences. White paint from Tricolor Ambato contains mainly Pb‐phases (hatchite, anglesite, plumalsite), reddish paint resembles the paste (∼Fe, hematite); reddish surfaces may have not been painted but polished. Black paint has scarce Mn–minerals. On Black Incised sherds no particular phase was identified suggesting possible organic pigments or resulting from the firing technique.The chemistry and mineralogy of the paste almost always overlap that of the paints; painted layer is irregular and partially worn by years of burial. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

La cerámica islámica a mano y/o torneta de El Castellar (Alcoi, Alicante)

El Castellar de Alcoi es uno de los asentamientos más conocidos de época andalusí del territorio valenciano, pero poco estudiado. El presente trabajo intenta dar a conocer aquellas cerámicas inéditas realizadas a mano y/o torneta. A través de estos materiales proponemos una hipótesis de trabajo sobre el origen andalusí del yacimiento.

Mathematical Modeling of Pottery Production in Different Industrial Furnaces

The traditional process for pottery production was analyzed in this work by developing a fundamental mathematical model that simulates the operation of rustic pottery furnaces as employed by natives of villages in Michoacan, Mexico. The model describes radiative heat transfer and fluid flow promoted by natural convection, phenomena that determine the operation of these furnaces. An advanced radiation model called the “Discrete Ordinates Model” was implemented within a commercial computational fluid dynamics software. Process analysis was performed to determine the effect of the design variables on the quality of the pottery pieces and on energy efficiency. The variables explored were: (a) Geometric aspect ratio between diameter and height of the furnace (D/H) and (b) Refractory thickness (L). The model was validated using experimental temperature measurements from furnaces located in Santa Fe and Capula, Mexico. Good agreement was obtained between experimental and numerically calculated thermal histories. It was found that furnaces with high aspect ratio D/H and with thick refractory bricks promote thermal uniformity and energy savings. In general, any parameter that increases the conductive thermal resistance of the wall furnace isolates better, and helps energy savings. Operating conditions that provide the smallest thermal gradients and lowest energy consumption are given.

Muluvanice Inscriptions at Poggio Civitate (Murlo)

Excavations at the Etruscan site of Poggio Civitate (Murlo) have uncovered a seventh-century B.C.E. building complex. Two of the buildings in the complex are securely identified: one is an aristocratic residence (OC1/Residence) and the other a multifunctional workshop (OC2/Workshop). The function of a third building in the complex, which has a tripartite floor plan (OC3/Tripartite Building), is uncertain. Excavators note that the internal structure of the building makes it tempting to interpret it as a religious structure. They are appropriately cautious in their assessment of the material remains recovered on the floor of the building, but they do not consider the muluvanice inscriptions on pieces of bucchero pottery found there. I argue that this evidence contributes to the debate about the function of the OC3/Tripartite Building, suggesting that it served as the public center of the site in its broadest conception.

It's not just a Holiday it's a Study Tour

T h e E a r ly Ye a r s o f t h e a h s s To u r s ( J a n e t C l a r k ) Fifty years of the ahss? The weekend Tours have been running for at least half of these years. My first one as Organiser was in 1984, and before that they had been operated by Evelyn Macaulay jointly with eafas. My last was to North West Ulster in 1996, so for 13 years they were pretty prominent in my life. In 1984 the tour to ‘Strathmore and the Mearns’ was for the Forth & Borders Group of the Scottish Georgian Society. By 1985 we were the ‘Architectural Heritage Society of Scotland’ but the Tour was still ‘Forth & Borders Group’. After 1990, it became the ahss National Tour. But all this was academic; the process of planning and organising remained much the same. Over the years I’ve forgotten much of the detail, but looking at the old notes brings back very vividly many of the best and worst moments. On the coach on the return journey, we’d start by asking people where they’d like to go next year. Some suggestions were more realistic than others, but over the years we covered the country pretty well. Having settled on the location, we’d have a recovery period over the summer and then start brainstorming. List every conceivable building – the RCAHMS was, and continues to be, the prime source of information; identify the owners – this was easier in the days of the Valuation Roll; write and sound them out. Offer to come and visit them in the autumn, playing down the fact that a coach-load of 45 people would follow in the spring. Most owners were very welcoming at this stage, and the ‘Recce Tours’ were great fun. I’m sure they still are. A huge amount can be packed into three days by a few people in a car, coffee and tea flow freely even if real meals are a bit scarce, hundreds of miles are covered, often late into the night, ideas and plans are bounced around, and the fun of meeting all these new people, explaining our mission and being so warmly welcomed is tremendous. You get to see many buildings never open to the public; this curiosity is one of the main attractions for people booking the Tours. At the same time you have to note mileages, estimate times for a coach, watch out for tight corners and narrow bridges. ‘How wide is a coach? We’ll measure the gateway with my belt.’ The travel can be hair-raising – coaxing the car back to life in a snowstorm on Drumochter – or truly magical – the perfect calm and luminous light on the ferry to Shapinsay. Back to reality and formulate an itinerary. Rule out the ridiculously impractical – ‘It’s definitely not worth going all that way just to see two pieces of pottery’; if possible establish a linking thread; be realistic about how long it takes to get 45 people on and off a coach; know the

Accidental Plains (?) Archaeologist: Archaeology in the Heartland

If not accidental, my entrance into the field of archaeology might be described as random. I grew up in a small town nestled among the truck farms of southern New Jersey. As with many kids, I had some interest in finding arrowheads and made occasional treks with my cousin to a site south of town on the Crick, the Cohansey River. As a young boy, many summers were spent at an uncle's farm prowling the countryside with the family dog. We would hike across a small levee or bank to an asparagus field adjacent to the marshes along Delaware Bay. Here innumerable pieces of fragmented pottery and an occasional projectile point could be found. If I knew what an archaeologist was and did, becoming one never crossed my mind. Most of my colleagues appear to have cho

THE DISCOVERY OF ANOMALOUSLY HIGH SILVER ABUNDANCES IN POTTERY FROM EARLY ROMAN EXCAVATION CONTEXTS IN JERUSALEM*

This is the first study on the differential distribution and concentrations of silver in ceramics recovered from archaeological excavations. The chemical compositions of 1174 pottery vessels from 38 Roman‐period sites in Israel have been determined. Unusually high and variable abundances of silver were discovered in pottery samples of all vessel types and chemical compositions from four distinct archaeological contexts dating to late first century bce to 70 ce Jerusalem. The large majority of the Jerusalem vessels could be distinguished by their silver abundances from all analysed pottery pieces recovered at rural sites outside Jerusalem, even when the pottery types and chemical compositions, except for silver, of pottery found within and outside Jerusalem were indistinguishable. The evidence is suggestive of a human origin for the high and variable silver abundances, and dispersion of the silver by aqueous transport. The differential silver concentrations found in excavated pottery from Jerusalem and other urban and rural sites suggest that attention to the distribution of silver in pottery from excavated contexts may be helpful for evaluating the nature and function of archaeological remains and patterns of urban contamination.

THE CULTURAL BIOGRAPHY OF A PHOENICIAN MUSHROOM‐LIPPED JUG

Summary. This paper is the biography of a single piece of pottery found in a tomb in Sardinia. The form is one that is common in Levantine sites in the Mediterranean in the Early Iron Age, but this single vessel, its history, context, and form, allows a greater story to be told: it points to a second wave of Levantine exploration and colonization – probably Tyrian – that built upon a Euboean–northern Phoenician initial phase in the eighth century BC.

The Cuiloni, the Patlache, and the Abominable Sin: Homosexualities in Early Colonial Nahua Society

The Cuiloni, the Patlache, and the Abominable Sin: Homosexualities in Early Colonial Nahua Society