The influence of different tempers on the composition of pottery
The modification of the raw clay by the potter to produce a paste suitable for the intended purposes adds a layer of obfuscation to the problem of provenancing the original clay source by chemical fingerprinting. By preparing different pastes from the same commercially available raw clay and their chemical analysis by Instrumental Neutron Activation Analysis, an experiment under controlled conditions (tempers, mixing ratios, firing temperatures and sampling methods) sheds light on the influence of different tempers. The results show that two different sampling procedures (drilling and grinding) have almost no influence on the chemical fingerprint with the exception of the elemental concentrations of As, Zr, and Hf. This may be due to the volatility of the compounds (As) or the presence of zircon crystals (containing Zr and Hf) which are partly lost during drilling. Three different firing temperatures show no significant influence as well. The application of the modified Mahalanobis distance introduced by Beier and Mommsen in 1995 as a statistical filter and the introduction of a ‘dilution factor’ to the raw data show that the influence of quartz-dominated tempers can be filtered out of the data, resolving the underlying chemical fingerprint of the original clay source. At the same time, by mathematically removing the additional spread introduced by dilution, even subtle differences between similar pastes can be resolved by standard multivariate statistical means.
Raising the temper—μ-spot analysis of temper inclusions in experimental ceramics
Provenancing of ancient ceramics is a highly important scientific tool for archaeological studies. In general, ceramics are not made from the original clay as it is found in deposits. To produce the needed physical properties in the finished product, the clay has to be either tempered by adding sands or biological materials, or levigated, to remove the coarse fraction. Thus, the chemical composition of the finished ceramic differs from the composition of the original clay bed. To overcome this obfuscation, any information that can be gained about the temper is useful. In a small series, several pieces of ceramic were produced from known clay and tempers and the resulting ceramics analysed by neutron activation analysis (NAA). As many attempts to physically separate the temper from the clay matrix have failed, μ-spot analysis of temper inclusions was performed at the microbeam particle induced X-ray Emission (μ-PIXE) facility in Rossendorf and with laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectroscopy (LA-ICP-MS) at the Aberystwyth University in Wales. It could be shown that from a small number of measurements, a general impression of the temper used could be gained. Furthermore the μ-spot methods and the bulk data gained from INAA are highly comparable, extending the set of elements that can be measured. With this information, the influence of the temper on the bulk composition of the finished product can be estimated, which potentially adds crucial information to subsequent dilution calculations.
Phasenbildung in einigen keramischen Teilsystemen bei 600°C-1000°C in Abhängigkeit von der Sauerstoffugazität
Etude concernant la ceramique antique et son decor. Conditions de cuisson dans une atmosphere oxydante et redactrice en fonction de conditions d'equilibre de Boudouard +41,2 Kcal+CO 2 +C⇄2CO