Pottery characterization

Majolica is an earthenware pottery characterized by a creamy light-buff-colored paste and an opaque white tin-lead glaze coating the entire outer surface of the vessel. However, the most outstanding feature of the majolica pottery perhaps lies in its decoration, being the subject of numerous studies by art historians. Majolica decorations are produced from metallic oxides that always are applied on top of the tin glaze. 

Neutron activation analysis (NAA) is a technique for the qualitative and/or quantitative determination of atoms possessing certain types of nuclei. Bombarding a sample with neutrons transforms some stable isotopes into radioactive isotopes measuring the energy and/or intensity of the gamma rays emitted from the radioactive isotopes created as a result of the irradiation reveals information on the nature of the elements in the sample. NAA Is widely used to characterize such archaeological materials as pottery, obsidian, chert, basalt, and limestone (Keisch 2003). 

Dudd, S. N. (1999) Molecular and isotopic characterization of animal fats in archaeological pottery. PhD Thesis, University of Bristol. 

The groups are not exhaustive in representing all possible clay procurement and manufacturing localities for pottery sampled in the archaeological survey. Approximately one-third of the initially considered sherds - those characterized by medium to fine quartz sand - were not amenable to independent grouping or to membership in the established reference units. 

Crystalline silica, or quartz, is an abundant mineral found in sand, rock, and soil. Respirable silica dust (particles <5pm) is a known occupational hazard of the dusty trades (e.g., pottery or china manufacturing, work involving sandblasting or abrasive grinding, some construction trades). High level exposure to respirable silica can result in the chronic, progressive lung disease silicosis, characterized by inflammation and fibrosis. 

For the reasons outlined above, outcrops of workable obsidian are relatively few in number and are restricted to areas of geologically recent lava flows. Most sources are therefore reasonably well known, and, because of these constraints, identification of new sources in the eastern Mediterranean region becomes ever more unlikely. This makes the exercise of characterizing archaeological obsidians an attractive proposition, since, unlike potential clay sources for pottery provenance, the existence of completely unknown sources can be (cautiously) ignored. This is, of course, subject to the requirement noted above for more detailed geochemical characterization of existing sources. 

Renfrew, C. (1977). Introduction production and exchange in early state societies, the evidence of pottery. In Pottery and Early Commerce Characterization and Trade in Roman and Later Ceramics, ed. Peacock, D.P.S., Academic Press, London, pp. 1-20. 

Clark, R. J. H., Curri, L., Henshaw, G. S., and Laganara, C. (1997). Characterization of brown-black and blue pigments in glazed pottery fragments from Castel Fiorentino (Foggia, Italy) by Raman microscopy, X-ray powder diffractometry and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. Journal of Raman Spectroscopy 28 105-109. 

Fazeli, H., Coningham, R. A. E., and Pollard, A. M. (2001). Chemical characterization of Late Neolithic and Chalcolithic pottery from the Tehran Plain, Iran. Iran XXXIX 1-17. 

Fleming, S.J. and Swann C.P. (1992). Recent applications of PIXE spectrometry in archaeology 2. Characterization of Chinese pottery exported to the Islamic world. Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research B 64 528-537. 

Mallory-Greenough, L. M. and Greenough, J. D. D. (1998). New data for old pots trace element characterization of ancient Egyptian pottery using ICP-MS. Journal of Archaeological Science 25 85-97. 

Ruvalcaba-Sil, J. L., Salamanca, M.A. O., et al. (1999). Characterization of pre-Hispanic pottery from Teotihuacan, Mexico, by a combined PIXE-RBS and XRD analysis. Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research B 150 591-596. 

Sabbatini, L., Tarantino, M. G., Zambonin, P. G., and De Benedetto, G. E. (2000). Analytical characterization of paintings on pre-Roman pottery by means of spectroscopic techniques. Part II Red, brown and black colored shards. Fresenius Journal of Analytical Chemistry 366 116-124. 

Mossbauer spectroscopy is a selective tool for the quantitative analysis and spe-ciation of a very limited number of elements. It has been mainly used to study iron compounds—e.g., ceramics, as it gives valuable information about iron-bearing oxide and silicate minerals. This technique has been applied to the identification of the provenance of clay and used raw materials—the manufacturing method employed in pottery and, to a lesser extent, to the characterization of pigments and weathering crusts formed on stone monuments [23]. 

ICP spectroscopy has been applied in quantitative elemental analysis in forensic examinations (57), and for such issues as the determination of source provenance based on these data for materials such as ochre (58) or other pigments. Speakman et al. (59) report on the characterization of archaeological materials with LA-ICP-MS, while others analyzed pigments successfully on pottery from the American Southwest (60), including the Mesa Verde region (61) among others. 

Use of inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (1CP-MS) coupled to a laser-ablation sample introduction system (LA-ICP-MS) as a minimally destructive method for chemical characterization of archaeological materials has gained favor during the past few years. Although still a relatively new analytical technique in archaeology, LA-ICP-MS has been demonstrated to be a productive avenue of research for chemical characterization of obsidian, chert, pottery, painted and glazed surfaces, and human bone and teeth. Archaeological applications of LA-ICP-MS and comparisons with other analytical methods are described. 

One of the potentially more productive avenues of research using LA-ICP-MS involves the characterization of paints and glazes used in the decoration of pottery. Just as bulk analysis of clays by INAA, XRF, ICP-MS, and other analytical methods have demonstrated to be a productive avenue of research for making interpretations regarding past cultural systems, chemical characterization... 

Characterization of 15th- 6th Century Majolica Pottery Found on the Canary Islands... 

The main objective of the present work is to study the provenance of majolica pottery found on important Gran Canaria Island archaeological sites that have been subject of archaeological research. Furthermore, by means of archaeometric characterization, the role played by the majolica produced in Seville that was documented historically as an import into the Canary Islands, is also assessed. Majolica from different production centers also is considered, thereby adding a complexity factor to the Canary trade relationships panorama in a historical period when, in theory, a very tight control existed over trade with the Americas. 

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