Pottery Technology Research Articles

Organic residue analysis shows sub-regional patterns in the use of pottery by Northern European hunter-gatherers.

The introduction of pottery vessels to Europe has long been seen as closely linked with the spread of agriculture and pastoralism from the Near East. The adoption of pottery technology by hunter–gatherers in Northern and Eastern Europe does not fit this paradigm, and its role within these communities is so far unresolved. To investigate the motivations for hunter–gatherer pottery use, here, we present the systematic analysis of the contents of 528 early vessels from the Baltic Sea region, mostly dating to the late 6th–5th millennium cal BC, using molecular and isotopic characterization techniques. The results demonstrate clear sub-regional trends in the use of ceramics by hunter–gatherers; aquatic resources in the Eastern Baltic, non-ruminant animal fats in the Southeastern Baltic, and a more variable use, including ruminant animal products, in the Western Baltic, potentially including dairy. We found surprisingly little evidence for the use of ceramics for non-culinary activities, such as the production of resins. We attribute the emergence of these sub-regional cuisines to the diffusion of new culinary ideas afforded by the adoption of pottery, e.g. cooking and combining foods, but culturally contextualized and influenced by traditional practices.

Technical and technological features of the pottery in Mordovia

Introduction. The article considers to the features of pottery and brings the results of the research of pottery technology which was common on the territory of Mordovia. An in-depth, systematically organized culturological approach to the study of artistic ceramics and ancient ornaments on pottery allows the author to study a wide range of issues of ancient history, which until now have been resolved mainly on an intuitive level and not within the framework of cultural studies, if they were the subject of the attention of researchers at all. Materials and methods. The article discusses a specific aspect of the study of pottery ceramics, technological. The analysis is based on the historical, cultural and morphological principles of the study. It employed the documents stored in the Scientific Archive of the Research Institute for the Humanities under the Government of the Republic of Mordovia, as well as the ethnographic material of the S. D. Erzia Mordovian Republican Museum of Fine Arts, Mordovian Republican United Museum of Local Lore, Museum of Folk Culture of Mordovia. Results and discussion. An attempt to build a typology of pottery ceramics on the territory of Mordovia traces both the preservation of all-Russian functional, formal-morphological features, names of objects, and the emergence of new regional, local features, which was the result of adaptation and mutual influence of various ethnographic groups of the population. The design of this typology suggests the possibility of introducing additional levels when revealing new samples of clay utensils. Conclusion. In the economy of the ancient Mordovians up to the middle of I thousand AD a large role was played by various crafts. The appearance and development of pottery is inextricably linked with the productive activities of the Mordovians. For many centuries, dishes were made by stucco, and later by an exhaust method. Pottery ceramics played an important role in developing the basis of peasant farming and occupied a special niche in the ethno-economic structure of the peasants.

About Ancient Ceramic Traditions of the Population of the Northern Caspian Region

Introduction. The territory of the Northern Caspian region plays an important role in the study of the Neolithic of Eastern Europe. The main criterion of this period is clay pottery. One of the difficult issues is the time of the ceramic technology appearance. Methods and materials. The study of the pottery technology of the Neolithic population of the Northern Caspian region is carried out in the framework of the historical and cultural approach to the study of ceramics, according to the method of A. Bobrinsky. The technique is based on binocular microscopy, tracology and experiment in the form of physical modeling. The basis for identifying technological traces on ceramics is the comparative analysis of the vessels under study with the base of standards. It is made by means of physical modeling in field and laboratory conditions. The age of the Neolithic monuments was determined using traditional methods in radiocarbon laboratories in Russia and Ukraine, as well as using AMS at universities in Sweden and Finland. Analysis. Over the past 10 years, more than 68 radiocarbon dates on different materials such as charcoal, bones, organics from ceramics, charred crusts, humus have been obtained. They give the possibility to determine the time of appearance and spread of the earliest pottery in the Northern Caspian region. This is the middle 7th millennium BC. The chronological framework for the development of the Neolithic in the Northern Caspian region is ca. 6600–5500 BC. The paper establishes the main and specific features of ceramic traditions. Results.The technical and technological analysis allows to reveal the genesis, the features of dynamics and further development of pottery in this region. The complex of results obtained allows to attribute the Neolithic sites of the Caspian region to the earliest pottery areal in Eastern Europe.

Application of analytical techniques to the unveiling of the glazing technology of medieval pottery from the Belgrade Fortress

Medieval glazed ceramics, dated to the early 15th century, excavated at the Belgrade Fortress, Serbia, were investigated by combining optical microscopy, X-ray powder diffraction (XRPD), scanning electron microscopy with energy-dispersive spectroscopy (SEM-EDS), micro-Raman spectroscopy and multivariate statistical analysis. The decoration and style of the investigated ceramics were characteristic of workshops from different areas of the medieval Serbian State: Ras, Krusevac and Belgrade/Smederevo. Comparison was made with ceramic samples from the same period excavated at the Studenica Monastery, the hitherto earliest workshop discovered, which were used as reference material for the Ras area. Ceramics from the Belgrade Fortress were covered with a transparent, lead-based glaze. The majority of the glazes were produced by application of mixture of lead oxide and quartz to the clay body, whereas only two samples were glazed by application of lead oxide by itself. The brown colours of the glaze originated from Fe-based spinel, whereas copper and iron were responsible for the colouring of the green and yellow glazes. The obtained results revealed glazing technology taken from Byzantine tradition.

The Potter’s Wheel in Ancient Egypt at the Second Half of the 1st Millennium BCE: Foreign Influence or Technological Progress?

The article is devoted to ancient Egyptian pottery technologies at the second half of the 1st millennium BCE. The evidence for this study is representations of the potter’s wheel at scenes of the temples dated to 6th – 2nd BCE. All temples are situated on the territory of Upper Egypt. All wheels are divided in two type – the simple potter’s wheel and the kick-wheel. The main feature of the kick-wheel is flywheel in the lower part. The representations provide evidence that potters used various types of the simple potter’s wheels and the kick-wheels at that period. The simple low wheel is well-known since the Old Kingdom, whereas the kick-wheel first appears in the end of the 6th c. BCE. The pottery dated to 6th BCE – 2nd CE (for example the pottery found during the excavations of the Russian archaeological mission (the Centre for Egyptological Studies of the Russian academy of Sciences) at Memphis (Egypt)) has angular and precise grooves. The wheelmarks point that these vessels were thrown. However, it is difficult to determine the type of the potter’s wheel.

Древнейшая керамика Восточной Азии: актуальные вопросы исследования (материалы для учебного курса «Керамика как археологический источник»)

Purpose. The article presents a historiographical review of the problems of research of ancient ceramics from archaeological sites of East Asia in the chronological interval from 20,000–18,000 to 9,000 years ago. Results. The subject of discussion is the periodization of monuments with early ceramics, the problems of socio-economic conditions of the emergence of pottery technology, its functional role in ancient societies, reconstruction of technological skills and technical levels of pottery, morphology and decor. There are a lot of controversial issues and “blind spots” in this direction. However, the opening of sites with ancient ceramics in East Asia showed that here, on the Pacific (eastern) outskirts of the Eurasian continent, pottery making technology first appeared about 10,000 years earlier than in the Middle East. The invention of ceramics in this region of the world at the turn of the Pleistocene and Holocene should be considered as a result of a combination of natural and social factors. The example of East Asia shows that the relationship between the appearance of ceramic vessels and the development of agriculture, as a technology for food production, is universally, not a mandatory factor. Conclusion. The article discusses certain regional differences in the formation of skills in making the most ancient ceramic vessels of East Asia. It is assumed that the development of ceramic technology in the Japanese archipelago and in the mainland areas of East Asia took place independently. For the Amur region, there are two local cultural traditions – Osipovskaya and Gromatukhinskaya. According to materials from Northern China, there is a version of the existence of a common line in the development of ancient ceramics in the Valley of the Nonny River. There are similarities between the early ceramics of Northeast China, and the Gromatukhinskaya and Osipovskaya cultures of Amur. For the ceramics of South Korea also note similarities with the materials of the Russian Far East, Japanese and Chinese dishes.

Indigeneity and innovation of early Islamic glaze technology: the case of the Coptic Glazed Ware

This study investigates how the technology of Coptic Glazed Ware (CGW) – which is one of the earliest examples of Islamic glazed pottery – was developed, allowing for an insight into the mechanisms that contributed to the making of early Islamic material culture. The range of technologies of 20 CGW samples recovered from different sites in Israel was reconstructed, based on the characterisations by thin-section petrography, optical microscopy, and scanning electron microscopy energy-dispersive spectrometry. Our results show that the samples were originated from Aswan, Egypt. The procurement of kaolinitic clay from local deposits to form the ceramic body and slip, as well as the preference of painting as the principal mode of decoration, represents a continuation of the local fine ware tradition (Egyptian red and white slip ware and Coptic painted ware). The use of lead glaze was more akin to the Byzantine glaze technology. The CGW technology is further distinguished by the use of a diverse range of colourants and how the coloured glazes were prepared. Although individual elements of the CGW technology display influences from preceding and contemporaneous pottery technologies, it was not until the production of CGW that all these elements were combined together for the first time, highlighting the innovative character of the CGW technology. We argue that such innovation was born out of a strong local fine ware tradition that was embedded in the landscape of highly specialized craft production, while stimulating by a desire to establish new identities and new material representations by the Arab-Muslim newcomers.

Malgorzata Daszkiewicz, O. Munteanu, V. Iarmulschi, Pottery found at the Butuceni and Orheiul Vechi Iron Age settlements – results of archaeoceramological analysis

The aim of laboratory analysis carried out on pottery fragments recovered from the Poienești-Lucaşeuca (PL) site of Orheiul Vechi and the Getic site of Butuceni was to verify the hypothesis that there was a continuity in pottery technology traditions and the hypothesis that there was continuity in raw material use. In order to verify these hypotheses, i.e. to determine whether we are dealing with continuity or with changes in pottery manufacturing, two factors must be taken into account: know-how and raw material. This means that it is necessary to perform both technological and raw material analyses. For the purposes of this study the following methods were used: MGR-analysis, chemical analysis by WD-XRF, thin-section studies and an estimation of physical ceramic properties. The results of archaeometric analysis of pottery from the PL site of Orheiul Vechi and the Getic site of Butuceni did not substantiate the hypothesis that there had been a continuity in pottery technology traditions. The results of archaeometric analysis of pottery from the PL site of Orheiul Vechi and the Getic site of Butuceni did, conversely, confirm the hypothesis that there was a continuity in raw material use. At both sites and in both phases there is a marked emphasis on local production of ceramics using locally sourced raw materials.

The glaze production technology of an early Ottoman pottery (mid-14th(?)-16th century): The case of ‘Miletus Ware’

‘Miletus Ware’, considered as one of the first wares produced by Ottoman potters in western Anatolia, featured new typological and stylistic characteristics that suggested the introduction of new recipes and the use of new materials in the local repertoire. This study, conducted on archaeological samples of Miletus Ware from eight sites in Turkey and in the Crimea, supports this view. It focuses on the decoration techniques, through the analyses of glazes and underglaze decorations using SEM-EDS and Raman spectroscopy. The results show that, compared to what Byzantine and Beylik potters previously produced in western Anatolia, there were two main innovations in the Miletus Ware glaze production technology. First, its glaze recipe included new sodium-based fluxes. Second, some underglaze decorations as represented by the black and dark-blue-colored ones - obtained respectively through the use of pigments featuring magnesiochromite and cobalt - were produced with materials that had not been used in the region before.

Experimental investigation of ceramic technology and plant food cooking in Neolithic northern Greece

ABSTRACT The paper discusses aspects of cooking pottery technology and operation through observations made in a series of experiments, utilizing the results of archaeological ceramic analysis in Neolithic northern Greece. The first stage of experiments focused on the experimental manufacture of three types of cooking pots, following the Neolithic techniques, from raw material processing to firing. In the second stage the pots were used in cooking performances, using structures, fuel and contents identified in the archaeological record. The qualitative data generated allow for testing a series of archaeological assumptions on ceramic technology, particularly vessel building and firing, along with the effects of cooking on pots. Moreover, experimental cooking provided insight to the relations between the different participant parts, highlighting the pivotal relation of cooking pots to fuel and different cooking modes. This pilot study aspires to endorse ceramicists to refine protocols for future experiments and analyses on cooking technologies.

Building a step by step result in archaeometry. Raw materials, provenance and production technology of Apulian Red Figure pottery

Building a step by step result in archaeometry. Raw materials, provenance and production technology of Apulian Red Figure pottery

The development of Neolithic pottery technology in Eastern Jazira and the Zagros Mountains

The origins of pottery technology in Eastern Jazira and the Zagros Mountains can be seen as a process of several stages, from unfired clay and plaster vessels to the fully ceramic technologies of the Proto-Hassuna period. This paper reviews this process and presents a technological analysis of Proto-Hassuna ceramics to investigate the relationships between the pottery traditions at sites in Eastern Jazira and the western part of the Zagros Mountains.

The development of Neolithic pottery technology in Eastern Jazira and the Zagros Mountains

The origins of pottery technology in Eastern Jazira and the Zagros Mountains can be seen as a process of several stages, from unfired clay and plaster vessels to the fully ceramic technologies of the Proto-Hassuna period. This paper reviews this process and presents a technological analysis of Proto-Hassuna ceramics to investigate the relationships between the pottery traditions at sites in Eastern Jazira and the western part of the Zagros Mountains.

Earliest pottery in Eurasia continent

This paper presents an overview of the latest information about the beginnings of the technology of pottery making in the area of the forest-steppe belt in Siberia and the Russian part of Eastern Europe all the way to the Ural Mountains. From a continental point of view, a brief spatiotemporal diagram presents a completely different background of the beginnings of pottery in our lands and also in corresponding parts of Southeast Europe, where the origin of pottery has traditionally been linked to the Neolithisation of Europe. The earliest pottery technology in China dates back to 20 000 BP, followed by all the subsequent data from the Far East area to Lake Baikal. The earliest pottery culture, Jomon, which had been developing in Japan for more than ten thousand years, is not included here. In the Russian part of Eastern Europe, pottery technology starts developing only after 8 000 BP. Typologically uniform and mostly unchangeable development of beaker-shaped pottery, mostly with a pointed bottom, is common for both these areas. This development continues in Scandinavia and adjacent areas of the Baltic and in Atlantic Europe. In the central parts of Europe, similar shapes only occur sporadically in the earliest period. However, the earliest Eurasian pottery had influenced the development of later prehistoric periods. Numerous settlement groups on the Eurasian continents were characterised by two traditions that are archaeologically recognisable. In simple terms, one of the traditions was agricultural, the other conservative.

Керамика саргаринско-алексеевского могильника Каратугай

The article considers the results of studying the technology of pottery manufacturing at the Sargarinsko-Alekseevsky burial ground of Karatugay (Central Kazakhstan). By the method of A.A. Bobrinsky using a MBS-10 binocular microscope, 10 archaeologically intact and fragmented vessels have been studied. The information has been obtained on the characteristics of the material, the preparation of molding compound recipes, the methods of constructing the beginning and hollow body, surface treatment, and firing conditions. A set of basic pottery traditions has been defined (selection of raw materials – medium-iron plastic clay with a natural admixture of oolitic brown iron ore; molding mass recipe – medium / large wood pulp at a concentration of 1:5 + small medium-iron chamotte at a concentration of 1:5 + manure; capacitive program; constructing a hollow body in a patchwork-lumpy way), imported vessels have been identified, the sequence of burials has been established. It is shown that the population who left the site lived together with representatives of the Irmen culture.

New data on early pottery traditions in South America: the San Pedro complex, Ecuador

Abstract

Petrographic and chemical characterization of Middle Bronze Age pottery from Sicily: towards a definition of an Etnean production

The Middle Bronze Age in Sicily (fifteenth–thirteenth century BC) represents a crucial moment in the evolution of Prehistoric pottery production. However, the scarcity of specific petrographic and chemical studies has represented until now a serious interpretative handicap for archeologists. The recent study of two important Middle Bronze Age pottery complexes from the Etnean area (Grotte di Marineo di Licodia Eubea and Monte San Paolillo di Catania) has offered the possibility to add new significant data to characterize the manufacturing practices behind such production. A new assemblage of Thapsos pottery from the Middle Bronze Age site of St. Ippolito hill at Caltagirone can shed new light on the features of such Etnean production. This paper highlights the potential of the application of an array of techniques such as petrographic analysis of thin sections and chemical analyses via X-ray fluorescence spectrometry and electron microprobe analysis to better investigate production technology of Middle Bronze Age Sicilian pottery.

Ceramics making technology from the Eneolithic layers of Rakushechny Yar settlement

The paper contains the results of the technical and technological analysis of ceramics from the Eneolithic layers of the Rakushechny Yar settlement. It is located on the Porechny Island (the Don River, Rostov Region, Russian Federation). The methodological basis of the conducted research is a historical and cultural approach to the study of ancient ceramics, developed in Russian archeology by A.A. Bobrinsky. The methods of the research are binocular microscopy, trasology and experiment (physical modeling). 141 samples of ceramics (conditionally separate vessels) from layers 5-2 of Rakushechny Yar were subjected to a microscopic examination. The obtained technological information allowed us to reconstruct techniques and methods of Eneolithic utensils manufacturing at all stages of production - preparatory, creative and fortifying stages of pottery technology. Based on these data, the paper presents a general description of the Eneolithic pottery. A comparative analysis was made of the pottery technology of the Neolithic and Eneolithic population that inhabited the Rakushechny Yar site. According to its results, the similarities and differences of the Eneolithic and Neolithic pottery traditions are highlighted. Particular attention is paid to the question of the possible origins of new traditions, which became widespread during the Eneolithic. These include silty clays selection traditions, the introduction of artificial additives into the molding composition: crushed shell, bird fluff and sand.

Recent Publications on Archaeological Ceramic Analyses and their Contributions to the Study of Ancient Pottery Technology

Recent Publications on Archaeological Ceramic Analyses and their Contributions to the Study of Ancient Pottery Technology

An integrated typological, technological and provenance investigation of Late Hellenistic colour-coated pottery from Nea Paphos, Cyprus

The current paper contributes new evidence to the ongoing discussion of the location and organisation of production of Hellenistic colour-coated ware (CCW), through interdisciplinary investigation of morphological style, technology and provenance of relevant pottery from a Late Hellenistic deposit found in a well in the Agora of Nea Paphos on Cyprus. Through naked eye examination, four major macroscopic groups were identified based on vessel typology and fabrics. Subsequently, 53 representative samples were selected and analysed through a combination of refiring tests, chemical analysis, thin section petrography and scanning electron microscopy. The results indicated that the sheer majority of this pottery, despite some compositional and technological variability, reflects the use of similar raw materials compatible with the geology of Paphos. Therefore, during the Late Hellenistic period, most of the CCW consumed in Paphos were locally produced. The observed variation in the assemblage can be associated with several factors, such as natural diversity of raw materials, a number of co-existing pottery workshops, technological choices made by the potters and to a lesser extent post-depositional processes. This integrated research has a profound impact on studies of production and consumption of the Late Hellenistic pottery on Cyprus.