Ceramic materials, ancient archaeological

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. 

Ceramic materials constitute some of the earliest artifacts of humankind. This is not surprising since ceramics are made of the stuff of the earth, the clay-like material that can be found almost anywhere. It is even less surprising when we consider that all ceramic materials are noted, once fired, for their durability, hardness and resistance to attack by heat and corrosive substances. And even less surprising when we realize that ceramic materials constitute the major finds in almost aU archaeological digs, even the most ancient—apart from stone-working, pottery manufacture is the oldest of aU manufacturing techniques. 

The focus of most archaeological ceramic studies has been on provenance or technology. There is also a growing body of specific evidence on how the pottery was used. Chapter 21 by Beck, Smart, and Ossenkop describe the organic tars used to line ancient Mediterranean amphoras. Chapter 21 includes a description of how the residues from amphora contents can be analyzed. As in most cases where unknown organic materials are encountered, the most powerful analytical technique is gas chromatography with mass spectrometric detection (GC-MS). This technique is expensive for the analysis of large numbers of samples. 

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