Ceramics archaeological

Rice, P. M. (ed.) (1982), Pots and Potters Current Approaches to Ceramic Archaeology, Pennsylvania State Univ., Philadelphia. 

Mossbauer spectroscopy started mainly as a tool for the physicists. Quite early however, chemists realized its potential and today Mossbauer spectroscopy is widely used throughout such fields as nuclear and solid state physics, chemistry, biology, metallurgy, ceramics, archaeology, and even the fine arts. The extensive literature on Mossbauer spectroscopy is thus written by scientists from many different fields and is therefore somewhat difficult to read. 

Trace-element analysis, using emission spectroscopy (107) and, especially, activation analysis (108) has been appHed in provenance studies on archaeological ceramics with revolutionary results. The attribution of a certain geographic origin for the clay of an object excavated elsewhere has a direct implication on past trade and exchange relationships. 

It seems appropriate, therefore, to begin a survey of archaeological materials with a discussion of inorganic materials - from minerals and rocks, the most abundant materials on the planet, to those extracted, derived, or made from them, such as metals and alloys, glass and ceramics (Chapters 1-7). Organic and biological materials produced by, or derived from plants or animals are discussed next (Chapters 8-15). Finally, the atmosphere and the hydrosphere, which make up most of the environment that affects all materials and determines the way they decay, are surveyed (Chapter 17). 

Sampling archaeological materials for analytical purposes may sometimes be the most difficult stage in an analytical procedure (Bellhouse 1980 Cochran 1977). Since rock, ceramics, and cement are heterogeneous materials, obtaining a representative sample of them may be the most difficult step in a whole analytical procedure. 

Mossbauer spectroscopy is an analytical technique that, in archaeological ceramic studies, provides information on the condition and characteristics of the compounds of iron in pottery. Using the technique makes it possible to determine the relative amounts of the different (ferrous and ferric) ions of iron and hence to ascertain the firing conditions of the pottery at the time it was made. The technique involves irradiating a sample of pottery with gamma rays and then assessing the amount of radiation absorbed by the nuclei of the ions of iron within the pottery (Feathers et al. 1998 Bearat and Pradell 1997). 

Common ancient ceramic materials often found in archaeological excavations, such as fired brick and pottery, were made mostly from a mixture of a secondary clay and fillers. The nature, composition, and properties of clay have been already discussed the nature of the fillers, the changes undergone by the clay as well as by the fillers during their conversion to ceramics, and the unique properties of ceramic materials, are reviewed in the following pages. Attention is drawn also to studies that provide information on the composition and characteristics of ancient ceramic materials. 

Efflorescence. The solvent properties of water also causes efflorescence, a phenomenon whereby soluble or slightly soluble substances migrate from the interior of porous solids to the surface, where they precipitate. Efflorescence is an important factor in the decay and disintegration of many rocks, and of human-made porous materials such as ceramics, and even of some types of glass. On archaeological objects, efflorescence generally occurs mostly as a white, powdery, but sometimes consolidated accretion on the surface of the objects. Calcite, a form of calcium carbonate, is one of the most common substances to effloresce on archaeological ceramics. 

Bishop, R. L. and M. J. Blackman (2002), Instrumental neutron activation analysis of archaeological ceramics Scale and interpretation, Acc. Chem. Research 35(8), 603-610. 

Freestone, I. C. (2001), Post depositional changes in archaeological ceramics and glasses, in Brothwell, D. R. and A. M. Pollard (eds.), Handbook of Archaeological Sciences, Wiley, New York, pp. 615-626. 

Lindahl, A. and O. Stilborg (1995), Aim of Laboratory Analyses of Ceramics in Archaeology, Almqvist and Wiksell, Stockholm. 

Matson, F. R. (1981), Archaeological ceramics and the physical sciences Problem definition and results,. Field Archaeol. 8, 447-456. 

Neff, H. (ed.) (1992), Chemical Characterization of Ceramic Pastes in Archaeology, Monographs in World Archaeology, Vol. 7, Prehistory Press, Madison, WI. 

Van der Leeuw, S. E. and A. C. Pritchard (1984), The Many Dimensions of Pottery Ceramics in Archaeology and Anthropology, Univ. Amsterdam, Amsterdam. 

Vandiver, P. (1982), Technological change in Egyptian faience, in Olin, J. S. and A. D. Franklin (eds.), Archaeological Ceramics, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, pp. 167-179. 

Velde, B. and I. C. Drue (1998), Archaeological Ceramic Materials, Springer, Heidelberg. 

Whitbread, I. K. (1995), We are what we study Problems in communication and collaboration between ceramologists and archaeological scientists, in Lindahl A. and O. Stilborg (eds.), The Aim of Laboratory Analyses of Ceramic in Archaeology, Workshop Proc., KVHAA reprinted in Konferenser 34, 91-100. 

M.P. Colombini, F. Modugno, E. Ribechini, Organic mass spectrometry in archaeology evidence for Brassicaceae seed oil in Egyptian ceramic lamps, Journal of Mass Spectrometry, 40, 890 898 (2005). 

M. Regert, H.A. Bland, S.N. Dudd, P.F. van Bergen, R.P. Evershed, Free and bound fatty acid oxidation products in archaeological ceramic vessels, Proceedings of the Royal Society London B, 265, 2027 2032 (1998). 

Figure 4.11 Mass spectrum of an archaeological sample made of a mixture of beeswax and birch bark tar from a residue sampled on a ceramic sherd from the Iron Age site of Grand Aunay (Sarthe, France). The spectrum was obtained by Dl El MS on a GCQ Finnigan device equipped with an ion trap analyser. Adapted from Regert and Rolando, 2002 (see colour Plate 1)...

Mirabaud et al., 2007). Analytical methodologies were first developed and adapted on model samples of beeswax, animal fats and dairy products of different origins (cow, sheep and goat) and then transferred to archaeological materials sampled in the sedimentary matrix or on various ceramic vessels. 

M. Regert, S. N. Dudd, P. F. van Bergen, P. Petrequin and R. P. Evershed, Investigations of both extractable and insoluble polymeric components organic residues in Neolithic ceramic vessels from Chalain (Jura, France), British Archaeological Reports, S939, 78 90 (2001b). 

Evershed R.P., Experimental approaches to the interpretation of absorbed organic residues in archaeological ceramics, World Archaeology, 2008, 40, 26 47. 

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