White Slip Research Articles

Cypriot Fabrics? White Slip Pottery and Élite Linen Clothes of the Late Bronze Age

Abstract In this article we will point to the similarity between the decoration on Cypriot White Slip (WS) I and II pottery and contemporary 15th–14th-century BCE “Syrian” elite garments shown in 18th Dynasty Egyptian tombs. Depiction of men and women in the tombs of Rekhmire (TT100), Sobekhotep (TT63), Menkheperraseneb (TT86), and Anen (TT120) show white clothes decorated with both vertical and horizontal elements, with dotted and wavy additions. Such elements find direct parallels in the WS I decorative “vocabulary.” We will examine the possibility that the Cypriot WS pottery imitates elite linen clothing produced during the international Late Bronze Age, some even on Cyprus, as indicated by the mention of “linen of Alashiya” (gad uru Alašiya) in Hittite inventory texts.

Characterizing the manufacturing practices of Late Bronze Age White slip ware from Bamboula-Kourion, Cyprus

White Slip Ware (WS) is one of the most recognizable Late Cypriot pottery types and was traded around the Mediterranean in the Late Bronze Age. This study examines the specific methods used to create the WS pots deposited in tombs at Bamboula-Kourion by considering the ware’s chaîne opératoire. Using a combination of ceramic petrography, x-radiography, infrared spectroscopy and electron microscopy, we reconstruct the production technology of WS I, II, and IIA vessels and add this fabric-based evidence to discussions of typology. This characterization of the production of WS ware vessels contributes to an understanding of community-level interaction at Bamboula and in the region around the Troodos and opens new questions about the continuities and changes in technical production knowledge that accompanied stylistic and typological shifts in LC pottery.

Multifactor Analysis of Landslide Mechanisms: A Case Study of Yongji Expressway, China

Based on deformation monitoring and stability results obtained from geological mapping, geological drilling, macrolaboratory, and microlaboratory tests, the sliding mechanism of landslide in Guzhang County of Yongji expressway was studied. The bedding slope landslide results from cutting slope along the central white mud clay slip, and by on-site investigation and deep displacement monitoring, the clay is determined as the landslide surface. Combining the experimental results and similar geotechnical engineering experience, by back-calculation, the parameters of the soft interlayer are calculated as C (5 kPa) and ϕ (8.5°). Based on X-ray diffraction (XRD) and X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy (XRF) test, the results are concluded that the chlorite in clay interlayer is easily water softened, excavation slope after long-term heavy rainfall chlorite clay interlayer softening. Sustained rainfall and underground water levels showed a positive correlation when the slope is sliding, and the heavy rainfall continued to accelerate slope sliding. Furthermore, the slope surface displacement and profound displacement increase quickly, and rainfall and slope displacement also showed a positive correlation.

The Bowl with Painting from the Russian Excavations in the Fayum Oasis (Egypt)

The paper focuses on a painted bowl discovered during archaeological excavations of the Centre of Egyptological Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences (CES RAS) on the territory of Deir el-Banat in the Fayum oasis (Egypt). The site is located on the south-eastern edge of the oasis. The excavation on the site yields necropolis, “nunnery”, paleolithic sites. The bowl was found on the territory of the “Southern necropolis”. It has wide, horizontal, everted rim, and high-footed ring base. There are two holes on its base, and there is a rope which had been inserted through them. Inner surface is covered with white slip and painted with black-and-red ornament. There are two bands on the rim, the space between them is filled with black-and-red wavy lines and drop-shaped elements. The black motifs are painted over the red one. The palm tree, triangle with hatching inside, and rectangular constructions with hatching and circles inside. The parallels of the bowl have been discovered on several Egyptian sites. They are dated to the 1st quarter of the 6th c. AD — 8th c. AD. A bulk of them (as well as a bowl from Deir el-Banat) were manufactured in Aswan region pottery workshops, which is indicated by kaolin clays found in said region. The morphological features and clay of the bowl from Deir el-Banat allow to establish the date of its production — between the 3rd quarter of the 6th century and the 1st quarter of the 7th century AD. Possibly, it is a product of Aswan region pottery workshops, brought in the Fayum oasis. This date correlates to the date of the pottery from Deir el-Banat (the Ptolemaic period — the Abbasid dynasty). Two holes and the rope on its base suggest its decorative function.

Archaeometric study of execution techniques of white Attic vases: the case of the Perseus crater in Agrigento.

The white ground crater by the Phiale Painter (450–440 BC) exhibited in the “Pietro Griffo” Archaeological Museum in Agrigento (Italy) depicts two scenes from Perseus myth. The vase is of utmost importance to archaeologists because the figures are drawn on a white background with remarkable daintiness and attention to detail. Notwithstanding the white ground ceramics being well documented from an archaeological and historical point of view, doubts concerning the compositions of pigments and binders and the production technique are still unsolved. This kind of vase is a valuable rarity, the use of which is documented in elitist funeral rituals. The study aims to investigate the constituent materials and the execution technique of this magnificent crater. The investigation was carried out using non-destructive and non-invasive techniques in situ. Portable X-ray fluorescence and Fourier-transform total reflection infrared spectroscopy complemented the use of visible and ultraviolet light photography to get an overview and specific information on the vase. The XRF data were used to produce false colour maps showing the location of the various elements detected, using the program SmART_scan. The use of gypsum as the material for the white ground is an important result that deserves to be further investigated in similar vases.

Multi-analytical investigation of decorative coatings on Neolithic Yangshao pottery from Ningxia, China (4000-3000 BCE)

Yangshao, well-known for its exquisite painted pottery, has long been considered as the most important Neolithic culture in China. Yangshao pottery excavated in Ningxia, a remote region, has never been scientifically investigated. In this study, the selected painted pottery samples from Ningxia were examined to characterise the decorative coatings using a multi-analytical approach. The white slip was likely made of kaolinitic clay. The black decoration on the surface was mostly jacobsite. Inclusion of manganese and iron oxides within the black decoration informed the process of jacobsite formation. Complemented by ab initio calculations, varying tones of black can be explained by the band gaps of different materials. An in-depth discussion on the formation of the detected materials will help gain insight into technical details involved in the craft of Yangshao pottery and therefore better understand the cultural diffusion of Yangshao from the core area to Ningxia.

Searching for the earliest use of limestone as a flux in Chinese high-fired ceramic glazes—evidence from Sr isotopic analysis of Chinese northern porcelain

Samples of northern porcelain wares dating to between the 6th and 13th centuries from the three most important northern Chinese ceramic kiln sites, Gongyi, Xing and Ding have been studied in this work. The Sr isotope and chemical compositions of the ceramic glazes of these wares have been determined. Based on the scientific results we have been able to suggest the raw materials used to make the glazes. Using Strontium isotopic analysis we have successfully shown that the earliest use of limestone as a glaze flux so far identified is during the period from the Sui to mid-Tang Dynasties (late 6th-early 9th century) to produce white slip glazed ware in the Xing kilns so it may have been ‘invented’ there.

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.

On the Origin of Küçükçekmece Iron Figurines1

Introduction The 2013 excavations in the Kucukcekmece Lake Basin (in the European part of Istanbul) unearthed two iron figurines (Fig. 1) that have been identified as votive statuettes of Early Hittite-Hurrian type dating to the second quarter of 2nd millennium BC (Aydingun 2013). During the next seasons, archaeologists found fragments of Hittite and Cypriote White Slip wares and a tin figurine nearby, which they interpreted as the traces of the Old Hittite presence in Thrace (Aydingun 2017b:...

Non-invasive scientific studies on the provenance and technology of early Islamic ceramics from Afrasiyab and Nishapur

Non-invasive methods including micro-Raman spectroscopy (μ-Raman), micro X-ray fluorescence (μ-XRF), fibre optics reflectance spectroscopy (FORS) and environmental scanning electron microscopy (ESEM) were used to study thirty-five ceramic shards from Afrasiyab and forty-seven potshards from Nishapur. These shards are dated from the ninth to the tenth century AD and include various types of underglaze and inglaze decoration. Non-invasive scientific studies indicated that tin oxide was employed as a white opacifier in both sites while silicates including quartz, olivine, diopside and feldspar served as opacifier in Afrasiyab shards thus demonstrating a technological connection with the pre-Islamic tradition of glaze opacification. The white slip of most of the wares excavated at Nishapur contained dehydrated pyrophyllite which may be indicative of local production. Furthermore, while a dense distribution of chromite was found in the black underglaze decoration of the so-called yellow staining black ware from Nishapur, a diluted chromite probably obtained from a different source was used in the imitated lustre wares from Afrasiyab. Mixtures with different proportions of manganese oxide and black haematite were utilised as the black colouring agents. Taking all of these findings into account, it is proposed that a consistent ceramic technology and production is represented by the entire set of the shards from Afrasiyab while different materials and technologies are evinced in the Nishapur ceramics.

On the potential of microbeam analyses in study of the ceramics, slip and paint of Late Bronze Age White Slip II ware: An example from the Canaanite site Tel Esur

Microbeam Analyses using EPMA, pXRF, LA-ICP-MS and FT-IR were conducted in this study of Late Bronze Age (LBA) White Slip II ware (WS-ware) imports at the Canaanite site Tel Esur (Tel Esur WS). The WS-ware is typically decorated with black-brown geometric patterns painted over a white slip layer. The study of the WS-ware provides useful information and a multi-analytical database regarding the composition, ceramic technology, raw materials, origin and cultural issues. The results demonstrate that the LBA potters select raw materials suitable for production of ceramics, slip and paint. The ceramic-body of the WS-ware was made of raw material that has been an appropriate selection to produce a hard and thin-walled vessel. For accentuating the black decoration over the dark reddish-grey ceramic-body, the latter was covered with white slip layer. The black decoration was made of ferromanganese-based pigment, which allows black decoration through firing of the vessels at an oxidizing atmosphere. The raw materials for the production of the ceramics, slip and paint were selected from Cypriot red basaltic clay of weathered basalt province, white hydrothermal clay of altered basalt zone and umber ore, respectively. The Tel Esur White Slip II ware is proved analytically to be imported from Cyprus.

Geochemical and Petrographic Analysis of Late Bronze Age Cypriot Ceramics (White Slip I and II and Monochrome) from Tell Atchana/Alalakh (Hatay) in the Amuq Valley

White Slip ware, both White Slip I and II, and Monochrome ware are Middle to Late Bronze Age Cypriot pottery types found across a large area of the Eastern Mediterranean region. A vast quantity of these wares has also been uncovered in Tell Atchana/ancient Alalakh in Hatay in southern Anatolia. We analysed a total of 56 White Slip (n = 36) and Monochrome potsherds (n = 20) from Tell Atchana using XRF, ICP–MS and petrographic thin‐section methods. The main aim of the study was to explore the compositional characteristics of the wares and to determine whether they are local imitations of the Cypriot White Slip and Monochrome wares or represent Cypriot exports to this region. The analytical results proved that White Slip I and II were produced from raw clay of mafic and ultramafic source rocks exposed in the Troodos Massif, available in the Limassol area of southern Cyprus and traded to Tell Atchana. Examples of Monochrome ware excavated in Tell Atchana were also imported to the region, most probably from east/north‐east Cyprus. These results demonstrate a close trading connection between Tell Atchana/Alalakh and southern Cyprus during the Middle to Late Bronze Age.

Cypriote Antiquities in Reading: The Ure Museum at the University of Reading and the Reading Museum (Reading Borough Council)

Cypriote Antiquities in Reading: The Ure Museum at the University of Reading and the Reading Museum (Reading Borough Council)

A Test of Time and A Test of Time Revisited: The Volcano of Thera and the Chronology and History of the Aegean and East Mediterranean in the Mid-Second Millennium BC

A Test of Time and A Test of Time Revisited: The Volcano of Thera and the Chronology and History of the Aegean and East Mediterranean in the Mid-Second Millennium BC

PIXE and IL analysis of an archeologically problematic XIII century ceramic production

At the beginning of the XIII century the archaeologists have found evidence of a singular, transitional, pottery technique limited to a small area around western Liguria (Northwest of Italy). Known as Ligurian Protomajolica (PML), it shows in the same ceramic body and on the same surface white slip and enamel together, addressing questions about the technical reasons of this unusual combination, its origin and evolution. To integrate previous morphological and mineralogical studies, we have analysed by particle induced X-ray emission (also with mapping) and ionoluminescence (IL) the ceramic body, slip and glaze composition of 56 samples, of which 25 PML’s. We have identified some PML’s compositional features which are distinct from those of other coeval or later productions from the same area. A few PML imitations are described. A plausible explanation of the origin of the PML’s, based both on the archaeometric results and the archaeological and historical knowledge, is presented.

Wpływ teatru włoskiego na przedstawienia figuralne na kaflach. Nowe źródła do studiów nad dekoracją kafli pochodzących z badań archeologicznych w Gdańsku

The purpose of the article is to present selected tiles obtained in the course of archaeological excavations in the southern part of Granary Island in Gdansk in 2006–2008. Of all the collection consisting of 7804 fragments, three items were subjected to detailed stylistic analysis. All of them had been made of ferruginous clay, burnt brick–red. They were covered with multicoloured glaze on white slip. On thier surface traces of use such as burning have been observed. It was assumed that figurative tile decoration originate from commedia dell’arte ; images of Zanni, depicted as very acrobatic, Harlequin or Pierrot and Harlequin or Captain. Incomplete decorations preservation and differences in descriptions of particular figures of the comedy made it impossible to identify the figures without any mistake. On the base of stylistic analysis the thesis of Italian theatre influence on figurative decorations was put forward. Due to the state of preservation of the material and present comparative base connecting the images on tiles and theatrical performances should be treated as an interpretative attempt taken up by the author. In 2 nd half of 16 th century Italian theatre marked its presence first and foremost in the area of Germany, France, but also Spain, England and Poland, in 17 th and 18 th century the comedians reached also as far as Russia. Preserved scripts, iconographical material (prints, painting) from the period of commedia dell’arte popularity let us suppose how big was the scale of those performances, persons-actors description, their movements and appearance. The variety of the sources preserved confirm the popularity of this kind of performances in Europe. Unfortunately, it was impossible to indicate the similarities to the described decorations either among other examples of stove tiles from Gdansk or other sites from Polish territories and neighboring countries. The product thematically and stylistically closest to the ones described above and initially interpreted as a tile comes from the town Velkě Němcice near Brno in Czech Republic. Utility objects (porcelain figures, glasses) decorated with motifs taken from commedia dell’arte do not depict direct analogies, either. Nevertheless, all of them indicate univocally that this subject was popular as decorative elements in applied arts, both in 17 th and 18 th century. Unique form of tiles described above suggests that their production had been made of a special order. Moreover they point at theatrical motifs penetration to tile production and using them to decorate the front of tile. The collection under discussion requires further recognition. Finds of stove tiles from Gdansk can not be univocally interpreted at present incomplete state of research on stove tiles with figurative images and due to insufficient published material describing the problem. Increase of new sources changing present comparative base can cause and initiate in future new research look and different interpretation of such production.

Analysis of Korea Buncheong ware by Bunjang (White slip) technique

Bunjang is one of the oldest and the best known traditional pottery technique in the Korean ceramic history, which still remains popular today. This research designed for understanding origin and changing history of Bunjang, Birth of Buncheong ware, Definition of Buncheong ware, process of Bunjang, Texture of clay, Glaze, and firing, form, decorative pattern, technique of Bunjang, CIngredients and Raw material: Proportion of raw materials. Bujang technique that can be called beginning of modern ceramic art in Korea, in this research, we can recognize the aesthetic value of Bujang and how modern ceramic artists are going to take advantage of Bunjang technique for their own use.

Lead isotopic analysis within a multiproxy approach to trace pottery sources. The example of White Slip II sherds from Late Bronze Age sites in Cyprus and Syria

Lead isotope analyses were carried out on fragments of White Slip II ware, a Late Bronze Age Cypriote pottery ware, and on raw materials possibly used for their production. Sherds originate from three Late Bronze Age sites (Hala Sultan Tekke and Sanidha in Cyprus and Minet el-Beida in Syria) and clays come from the surroundings of Sanidha, a production site for White Slip ware. X-ray fluorescence (XRF) and a Principal Component Analysis (PCA) are combined with Pb isotope analyses to further investigate the effectiveness of the latter method within a multiproxy approach for pottery provenance study. The pottery sherds from the three sites are compared between themselves and with potential raw material. Additional X-ray diffraction (XRD) and analyses using a scanning electron microscope (SEM) equipped with an energy dispersive X-ray detection (EDX) facility were performed on selected sherds and clays. This work confirms that the clay source used for pottery production in Sanidha derives from local weathered gabbro. It also shows that different origins can be proposed for White Slip II ware sherds from Hala Sultan Tekke and Minet el-Beida and that clays were prepared prior to White Slip II ware production. It finally confirms the effectiveness of Pb isotopes in tracing pottery provenance not only by comparing sherd assemblages but also by comparing sherds to potential raw materials.

The New Swedish Cyprus Expedition 2011. Excavations at Hala Sultan Tekke. Preliminary results

The main objective of the excavations of the Late Cypriote city of Hala Sultan Tekke is the investigation and determination of the complete occupational sequence of the pre-12th century levels. The groundpenetrating radar survey (GPR) led to the discovery and excavation of numerous rooms of a large Late Cypriote complex. During the second year of excavations at the site the expedition exposed a third phase of occupation (Stratum 3). A Stratum 2 compound, with extraordinarily wide walls was uncovered in the eastern part of the excavations. Intact vessels include Base-ring I and II, and White Painted VI, and Late Helladic imports. Other wares include: White Painted Pendant/Cross Line Style, Red-on-Black/Red, Bichrome Wheel-made, White Slip I and II, Monochrome, Base-ring I and II, Red Lustrous Wheel-made, White Painted/Plain-White Wheel-made, and White Shaved. Unique discoveries amongst the small finds are a haematite cylinder seal and a stone pendant figurine. The numerous tools related to textile production point to the manufacture of fabric on a larger scale.

TECHNOLOGY OF PRODUCTION OF GHAZNAVID GLAZED POTTERY FROM BUST AND LASHKAR-I BAZAR (AFGHANISTAN)

Fifteen fragments of glazed pottery were studied by scanning electron microscopy coupled with energy-dispersive X-ray analysis (SEM–EDS). The fragments, dated from between the 11th and the 12th centuries, are part of a group excavated at ancient Bust and Lashkar-i Bazar (southern Afghanistan) and belonging to the International Museum of Ceramics in Faenza. All the samples are characterized by highly calcareous bodies, and all of them but one is coated with a transparent lead glaze; the last fragment is, instead, coated with a turquoise opaque lead–alkali glaze. With three exceptions, the studied fragments show underglaze decorations featuring white, red, green or black motifs applied on to a white, red or black engobe; one of the remaining glazes is applied on to a monochrome white slip and the other two directly on to the ceramic body. Optical microscopy and SEM images show that engobes and decorations were obtained by deposition of differently coloured clayey slips, the composition of which was characterized by EDS analyses. In particular, black engobes and decorative motifs were obtained by recourse to manganese and iron compounds or to chromium, magnesium and iron compounds; it appears that both possibilities could be exploited for obtaining different decorative motifs on the same object.