Archaeometry 50, 2 (2008) 216231

doi: 10.1111/j.1475-4754.2008.00391.x

Oxford, 1475-4754 0003-813X Archaeometry ARCH Original XXX Ceramic M. *Received University S. Tite UK Articles production, 3 August of Oxford, 2007; provenance 2008 accepted 4 December and usea 2007 review Blackwell Publishing Ltd

CERAMIC PRODUCTION, PROVENANCE AND USE A REVIEW*

M. S. TITE

Research Laboratory for Archaeology and the History of Art, Dyson Perrins Building, South Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3QY, UK

The contribution of the physical sciences to the reconstruction of the production technology (i.e., processing of raw materials, forming, surface treatments and ring methods) for earthenwares, stonewares, porcelains and stonepaste bodies are summarized. The organization of production and the reasons for technological choice are considered. Provenance studies based on both chemical analysis and thin-section petrography are discussed, with the investigation of Minoan and Mycenaean pottery being taken as the case study. The approaches to determining how pottery vessels were used in antiquity are outlined. Finally, future developments in ceramic studies are briey considered.
KEYWORDS: EARTHENWARE, STONEWARE, PORCELAIN, STONEPASTE, SLIPS, GLAZES, PRODUCTION TECHNOLOGY, PROVENANCE, USE
University of Oxford, 2008

INTRODUCTION

Because, once produced, ceramics are virtually indestructible, they are found in quantity at the majority of archaeological sites dating from the Neolithic period onwards. Their study in terms of style has, therefore, always been central to the archaeological interpretation of a site, region and period, and in consequence, ceramics have been a major focus of archaeometric or archaeological science studies from their beginnings in the 1950s. The primary aim of the application of the physical sciences to the study of ancient ceramics is to contribute to the reconstruction of their life cycle from production through distribution to use, and then to help in the interpretation of this reconstructed life cycle in terms of the behaviour of the people involved. The groundbreaking volume by Anna Shepard (1956), entitled Ceramics for the archaeologist, is generally considered to have provided the starting point for such studies. The reconstruction of the production technology of ceramics involves determining, rst, what raw materials were used and how they were prepared and, second, how the ceramics were formed, surface treated and decorated, and red. Distribution or provenance studies try to establish, on the basis of their chemical composition and/or thin-section petrography, whether pottery was locally produced or imported, and if the latter, to identify the production centre and/or the source of the raw materials used. The scientic investigation of the use to which ceramic vessels were put involves principally the examination of the resulting surface wear, soot deposits on the surface and organic residues, both on the surface and absorbed into the body of the pottery. The subsequent interpretation of the ceramic life cycle involves the consideration of questions relating, for example, to the extent of craft specialization and mode of production, to the possible reasons for the technological choices made in production, and to the pattern
*Received 3 August 2007; accepted 4 December 2007 University of Oxford, 2008

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of exchange and trade. In attempting to answer these questions, it is necessary to take into account the archaeological context in which the ceramics were produced, distributed and used. That is, one needs to adopt the ceramic ecology approach, rst proposed by Matson (1965), which attempts to link pottery production to the environment in all its aspects (i.e., physical; biological, including human biology; and sociocultural). In addition, ceramic ethnoarchaeology, which involves the direct observation and study by archaeologists of variability in ceramic production, distribution and use among extant societies, has a potentially valuable contribution to make (Longacre 1991). From its rst volume onwards, the journal Archaeometry has contained papers reporting on pottery provenance studies based on the determination of chemical compositions (Emeleus 1958). Technological studies involving the ring of replicate Roman pottery kilns (Mayes 1961) and the determination of the pottery ring temperatures by means of thermal expansion measurements (Roberts 1963) followed shortly. Further technological themes included the study of surface coatings on earthenware (Maggetti et al. 1981); the production of glazed wares, including stonepaste bodies (Allan et al. 1973) and porcelains (Tite et al. 1984), as well as earthenwares; and more recently, in the context of technological choice, mechanical and thermal properties (Kilikoglou et al. 1998). Finally, in the context of use, papers on organic residues in pottery (e.g., Charters et al. 1993) have been published. The emphasis of Archaeometry has always tended to be on the publication of papers describing new scientic techniques or new applications that involve the acquisition of quantitative, rather than qualitative, data. Thus, the papers on pottery provenance have more often involved the determination of chemical composition rather than thin-section petrography. Similarly, those on production technology have tended to involve the determination of ring temperatures rather than the investigation of forming methods, and those on use, the analysis of organic residues rather than the study of surface wear.
PRODUCTION TECHNOLOGY

The history of ceramics begins with the production of earthenware vessels at around 10 000 bc in Japan and around 6000 bc in the Near East. With the introduction of wheel throwing in the Near East in the fourth millennium bc, the majority of the techniques (i.e., rening and tempering clays, the full range of forming methods, slip and painted decoration, kiln ring with controlled temperatures and atmospheres) required for the production of unglazed earthenware were known. Subsequent technological innovations included the production of glazed earthenware in the Near East, glazed stoneware and then porcelain in China and Europe, and stonepaste bodies in the Islamic world. Earthenwares The starting point for the technological study of earthenwares is the investigation of the selection and processing of the raw materials used in their production. Both non-calcareous and calcareous low-refractory clays, dened as containing less than about 5% and greater than about 10% lime (CaO), respectively, were used. In order to ensure that the clay was sufciently plastic for forming but that its drying shrinkage was not so great as to result in cracking, the as-received clays were frequently either rened to remove excessive quantities of non-plastic inclusions or had temper added to them. Typical sources of temper included sand, grog (i.e., crushed sherd), organic material (e.g., chaff), crushed int, shell or limestone.
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Forming methods The primary techniques for forming pottery vessels include modelling from a lump of clay by pinching, drawing or beating using a paddle and anvil; pressing or pounding into a mould; building up from coils or slabs; and throwing on a wheel. With training and practice, it is often possible to infer the method of forming used from visual examination of surface markings, cracks and joins, pore and temper distribution and orientation, and variations in wall thickness. However, as rst shown by Rye (1977), further information on the methods used can be obtained by investigating void and inclusion orientation using radiography. Radiography can also provide information on the way in which handles, spouts and rims were attached. Surface treatments The surface treatments of pottery vessels, which serve both as decoration and as a means of reducing their permeability to liquids, include burnishing and the application of mineral pigments, a slip or a glaze. The introduction of scanning electron microscopy (SEM) with attached analytical facilities to the examination of ancient ceramics during the 1970s provided a powerful technique for the investigation of these surface treatments. Thus, by the SEM examination of a polished section through the surface and body of a pottery sherd, burnishing and the application of a slip, both of which can produce a high-gloss surface nish, can be readily distinguished from each other (Middleton 1987). In the context of surface treatments, a series of papers on the examination of the high-gloss surface nishes on Greek Attic black- and red-gured ware, Campanian black coated ware and Roman terra sigillata pottery has been published in Archaeometry (Tite et al. 1982; Maniatis et al. 1993; Gliozzo et al. 2004). Using a combination of SEM, electron microprobe analysis and X-ray diffraction (XRD), it was conrmed that a three-stage, oxidizingreducingoxidizing ring cycle was used in the production of both the Greek Attic and Campanian wares. In both cases, the coating was produced by the application of a ne-textured, non-calcareous clay slip, containing up to about 15% iron oxide, to a coarser-textured clay body. After ring to the reducing stage, the black coating consisted of ne particles of hercynite and magnetite in an impermeable, well-vitried matrix, whereas the body remained porous. Therefore, during the nal oxidizing stage of the ring, the impermeable coating remained black, whereas the porous body was re-oxidized to a red colour. The high-gloss red coating on Roman terra sigillata was also produced by the application of a ne-textured, non-calcareous slip with high iron oxide content. However, in this case, a single-stage ring, with oxidizing conditions maintained throughout, was used, and the red coating consisted of ne particles of hematite in a partially vitried matrix. Glaze types The rst glazed clay objects were produced in Mesopotamia at around 1500 bc; that is, at about the same time as glass objects began to be produced in signicant quantities. Hedges and Moorey (1975) and Hedges (1976) published the results of the analysis, using a combination of optical emission spectroscopy (OES) and X-ray uorescence analysis (XRF), of a comprehensive range of glazed pottery from Mesopotamia spanning the period from about 1300 bc to ad 550. These results showed that the glazes were of the alkalilimesilica type, with soda contents greater than potash contents, and were, therefore, similar in composition to contemporary glass. Furthermore, there were no signicant changes in glaze composition during this more or less 2000-year period. Paynter and Tite (2001), by analysis of the glazes in cross-section in an analytical SEM, subsequently conrmed that Mesopotamian glazes and glasses were very similar in composition. They, therefore, suggested that glass production provided the technology required to produce an alkalilimesilica frit, which was then ground to a powder and applied to the clay body to produce a glaze.
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The next stage in the development of glaze technology was the appearance in Anatolia of transparent high-lead glazes, containing 4560% lead oxide, sometime during the rst century bc. From there, lead glazes spread throughout the Roman world, and then continued to be used extensively in the Byzantine and Islamic worlds, in medieval Europe and up to the present day in both Europe and the Near East. Information on the production technology of high-lead glazes, which involves the application of a suspension of either a lead compound by itself or a mixture of a lead compound with silica, is provided by De Benedetto et al. (2004) for the Roman period, and by Waksman et al. (2007) for the Byzantine period. As discussed in a review paper on the use of lead glazes in antiquity (Tite et al. 1998), the principal advantages of high lead over alkalilime glazes are easier preparation and application of the glaze suspension due to the insolubility of lead oxide, the reduced risk of crazing due to the lower thermal expansion of a lead glaze and the greater optical brilliance. Subsequently, as outlined by Mason and Tite (1997), tin-opacied glazes were introduced into Abbasid Iraq sometime during the eighth and ninth centuries ad, possibly inspired by the arrival of, and desire to imitate, Chinese whiteware imports. Tin-opacied glazes were then produced in Fatimid Egypt in the 10th11th century ad, where the glazes used were of the leadalkali type, containing 2535% lead oxide and 510% alkali (soda plus potash). From Egypt, the tin-opacication technology spread throughout the Islamic world, including to Islamic Spain, from where it reached Italy in the 13th century ad, resulting in the beginnings of Italian maiolica production. Firing procedures The estimation of the ring temperature used in the production of pottery, together with the relationship between ring atmosphere and colour, have been major themes in ceramic technological studies. The wide range of methods used in determining the ring temperatures employed in antiquity all involve establishing a relationship between the ring temperature and changes in either the mineralogy or the microstructure of the pottery (Heimann and Franklin 1979). The mineralogical changes can be followed using, for example, XRD (Maggetti 1982) and, for the iron-bearing phases, Mssbauer spectroscopy (Wagner and Wagner 2004). The microstructural changes, which involve the progressive sintering and vitrication of the clay matrix of the pottery, can be observed either directly by examination in section in a SEM (Maniatis and Tite 1981), or indirectly through changes in those properties that are dependent on microstructure. These latter include thermal expansion or shrinkage (i.e., dilatometry), which was one of the rst methods to be developed and reported in Archaeometry (Roberts 1963; Tite 1969). These techniques all provide a measure of heat input that is a combination of ring temperature and time. Thus, the effect on mineralogy and microstructure of a ring temperature of 900C for 1 h is similar to that of a ring temperature of 950C for a few minutes. Having obtained an estimate of the ring temperature, the next question is: What does this tell you about the method of ring? The two basic regimes for ring earthenware are an open ring with no permanent structure, such as a bonre, and ring in a closed and more permanent structure, such as a kiln (Gosselain 1992). Open rings typically reach their maximum temperatures in 2030 min, and this temperature is maintained only for a few minutes. In contrast, kiln rings, as a result of the much greater thermal mass and the separation of fuel from the pottery, typically take an hour or more to reach maximum temperature, and in the ring of earthenware, this temperature is typically maintained for some 30 min. Although the range of
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temperatures reached in open and kiln rings (typically 600950C) tend to overlap, the heat input for kilns will be greater due to the longer ring time and, therefore, the estimated ring temperatures will tend to be higher. A consequence of the very fast heating rates for open rings is that normally only coarsetextured pottery can be open red; otherwise, steam resulting from loss of absorbed and chemically combined water cannot escape, and the vessel will crack. In contrast, because of the much slower heating rates, both ne-textured and coarse-textured pottery can be readily red in a kiln. The ring atmosphere employed is normally apparent from the colour of the pottery. Thus, red or buff pottery indicates an oxidizing atmosphere, whereas black to grey pottery indicates either a denite reducing atmosphere, or insufcient ring time for the organic material within the clay to have been burnt out. Mssbauer spectroscopy, which provides information on the oxidation states of the iron in the pottery, can help in distinguishing between these two options for black to grey pottery. In addition, it can sometimes help to establish whether a ring was oxidizing throughout, or whether it was initially reducing and was then followed by an oxidizing stage (Wagner and Wagner 2004). Stonewares and porcelains As compared to earthenwares, stonewareswhich, in the context of China, include greenwares, or celadonsare made from more refractory clays, are red to signicantly higher temperatures, and have more vitried and harder bodies with lower porosity. Porcelains are similarly made from refractory clays, are red to even higher temperatures and have vitried, hard, low-porosity bodies. As compared to stoneware bodies, which tend to be grey to green in colour, porcelain bodies are white and, because of greater vitrication, are sometimes translucent. Stonewares were rst produced in China during the Shang dynasty (c. 17001027 bc). Subsequently, Yue greenwares were produced during the Six Dynasties (ad 265589), with the production of greenwares, or celadons, continuing until the Song dynasty (ad 9601279) and, in some regions, into the Ming dynasty (ad 13681644). Porcelain production began in north China during the sixth and seventh centuries ad, and in south China during the 10th century ad. A major theme in the scientic study of Chinese stonewares and porcelains has been identifying the different types of clays used in different parts of China (Guo Yanyi 1987). Wood (2000) has suggested that these differences reect the plate tectonic history of China, and the original nature of the North China and South China continental blocks that collided to form the Nanshan and Qinling mountain ranges. Thus, the stoneware and porcelain raw materials in north China are rich in true clay minerals and, therefore, are plastic for working and refractory in ring. In contrast, southern raw materials tend to be rich in quartz and secondary potassium mica. They are therefore less plastic and less refractory than the northern clays. Among the extensive literature on the scientic examination of Chinese stonewares and porcelains are three papers published in Archaeometry (Tite et al. 1984; Pollard and Hatcher 1994; Yap and Younan Hua 1994) that indicate the nature of the information that can be obtained. Thus, Xing and Ding porcelains from north China are both made using a kaolinitic clay with a high alumina content. In contrast, porcelains produced at Jingdezhen in south China during the Yuan dynasty (ad 12791368) were based on the use of porcelain stone, which consists of a ne aggregate of quartz, muscovite (potash mica), albite (sodium feldspar)
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and, sometimes, kaolinite. Initially, a kaolinized porcelain stone was used by itself but, subsequently, a porcelain stone containing a negligible amount of kaolinite was used, and to this, kaolin was added as a separate component (Tite et al. 1984). A further early study of Chinese porcelain was the analysis of the cobalt blue pigment employed for the underglaze decoration on Ming dynasty blue-and-white ware (ad 13681644) (Garner and Young 1956; Banks and Merrick 1967). The results indicated that cobalt low in manganese was used before ad 1425, whereas after that date cobalt containing signicant amounts of manganese was used. Since cobalt ores occurring in China normally contain a high proportion of manganese, whereas those occurring in Iran are manganese free, it is suggested that, at around ad 1425, there was a switch from the use of cobalt ore imported from Iran, to the use local ore. European porcelains From the 15th century ad onwards, Chinese porcelains were imported into Europe in increasing amounts, and the potential prots to be gained from a European porcelain industry were widely appreciated. The rst documented European porcelain was produced in Italy in about ad 1575, under the patronage of the Medici. Analyses of Medici porcelain bodies indicate that they were produced from a mixture of about 60% quartz, 25% white ring clay and 15% marzacotta, which is a sintered mixture of sand and alkali similar to that used in the production of Italian maiolica glazes (Kingery and Vandiver 1984). Therefore, Medici porcelain differs signicantly from clay-based Chinese porcelain and, instead, bears some similarities to Islamic stonepaste bodies, discussed below. Production of Medici porcelain involved ring the bodies to about 1100C, and because of the short ring range between maturing and melting, there was considerable loss of pieces, As a result, active production ceased after the death of the Grand Duke Francesco in ad 1587, and a hundred years or so elapsed before there were any further attempts in Europe to produce porcelain. The rst successful, and sustained, European porcelain production was established at St Cloud, near Paris, at the end of the 17th century ad. Like the Medici porcelain, this was soft-paste porcelain, with the body being produced from a mixture of quartz, alkali and clay, plus, in this case, limestone. The ring temperature was again around 1100C, but St Cloud porcelain was easier to produce than Medici porcelain, both in terms of plasticity during forming and increased ring range (Kingery 1986). Soon after, in ad 1708, the rst successful European hard-paste porcelain was produced at Meissen, by a research team under the direction of Johann Friedrich Bttger. The bodies were produced using kaolin and calcined gypsum with a ring temperature of about 1400C (Kingery 1986). After Bttgers death in ad 1719, the gypsum was replaced by a few per cent of feldspar, which was added as a ux, with a consequent reduction in ring temperature. In England, a diverse range of porcelain types, both soft-paste and hard-paste, were produced during the second half of the 18th century ad (Tite and Bimson 1991). These included glassy porcelain (early Chelsea and Longton Hall), which was similar in composition to that produced in France; soapstone porcelains (Worcester and Vauxhall), which employed the soapy rock (i.e., talc) from the Lizard peninsular; and bone-ash porcelain (Bow, Lowestoft and later Chelsea), which was characterized by the presence of calcium phosphate derived from bone. The rst hard-paste porcelain in England was produced at Bristol in ad 1768, from where production very soon moved to Plymouth. These hard-paste bodies were made from a mixture of quartz sand, China clay and China stone, both of which contain kaolinite and feldspar.
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A major technological innovation introduced by Islamic potters was the development of stonepaste bodies in which quartz sand or crushed quartz pebbles is the major component (Allan et al. 1973; Mason and Tite 1994). As described by Abul Qasim (Allen et al. 1973) in the early 14th century ad, stonepaste bodies typically consist of some 10 parts of quartz, one part of a white ring clay and one part of glass frit. The clay gives plasticity to the quartz body, thus facilitating forming, and together with the glass frit reacts with the quartz during ring to produce an interstitial glass that bonds together the quartz particles. The result is a hard white body, the precursor of which was ultimately faience, produced from the fourth millennium bc onwards in the Near East and Egypt, from a mixture of quartz and alkali ux but with no added clay. The production of true stonepaste bodies, comparable in composition to those described by Abul Qasim, rst occurred in Fatimid Egypt during the period ad 102575. Subsequently, the stonepaste technology was introduced into Syria and Iran during the late 11th12th century ad. As in the case of tin-opacied glazes, the introduction of stonepaste bodies was probably again inspired by a desire on the part of Islamic potters to imitate porcelains that were being imported from south China from the beginning of the 11th century ad. Subsequently, during the late 15th and early 16th centuries ad, Isnik ware was produced in Ottoman Turkey, in imitation of imported Chinese blue-and-white porcelain. Although a comparative latecomer, Isnik ware, with its high purity, its entirely colourless glaze, its very ne-textured slip, which provided an excellent base for the underglaze decoration, and its hard, dense, white body, represented the technological and artistic peak of stonepaste ceramic production in the Islamic world (Tite 1989; Paynter et al. 2004). Organization of production Having reconstructed the various aspects of pottery production, the next question that one must try to answer is: How was the pottery production organized and what was the extent of the associated craft specialization? Various typologies for the modes of pottery production have been proposed, of which that by Peacock (1982), for Roman pottery, is typical and has been much cited. Peacock dened a sequence involving increasing specialization and size of work unit that ranges from household production and household industry, through individual and nucleated workshops, to manufactory and factory. Except when direct evidence comes from the excavation of a pottery workshop, one has to infer the mode of production from the surviving pottery itself. Factors that need to be considered in this latter situation include the degree of standardization, the labour requirements and level of craft skill, the level of technology and investment in permanent facilities and equipment, and the pattern of distribution. Andrews (1997) has reconstructed the production technology employed for three types of late Iron Age pottery from the Auvergne region in France and then, through consideration of the raw materials, labour requirements and level of technology, he has attempted to infer the mode of production. The most sophisticated of the three types was painted pottery, decorated with red, cream, white, grey and black pigments or slips. Its production required a wide range of raw materials, a complex sequence of procedures for processing, forming and decorating, together with the associated investment in equipment (e.g., a wheel and kiln). He therefore argued that its mode of production was a nucleated workshop in which a team of specialist
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artisans was employed. In contrast, the production of the black burnished ware required only a single clay for both body and slip, with a wheel for forming as the principal investment in equipment. Because of the use of a wheel, production in an individual workshop, rather than household production, was proposed. Finally, the white-slipped agons exhibit evidence for assembly line production, suggesting production in a manufactory. Technological choice In order to understand the reasons for the technological choices (i.e., choice of clay and temper, forming method, surface treatment and ring procedure) made in pottery production, it is essential to appreciate that technology is embedded in the overall situational context (Sillar and Tite 2000). Regarding direct inuences on technological choice, we start by considering the more material inuences, such as the natural environment, technological knowledge and the economic system. These inuence technological choice, rst, via the availability of raw materials, tools, energy sources and techniques and, second, via the properties and performance characteristics that they possess in procuring, processing, forming, surface treatment and ring. For example, the plasticity, and the drying and shrinkage rates, of available clays greatly inuence the choice of processing techniques. Very plastic clay prone to substantial shrinkage may require the addition of temper, whereas less plastic clay may need to be rened or have wet dung added to improve its plasticity. However, these choices are co-dependent on the choice of forming and ring methods. Potters forming their vessels on the wheel usually prefer ne plastic pastes, a coarse fabric being both irritating to the potters hands and less responsive to the forming technique. But, in addition to drying more slowly and shrinking more, ner fabrics tend to be less tolerant of sudden changes in the ring temperature and benet from the steadier (controlled) ring that a kiln can offer. This is one of the reasons why there is a frequent (but not universal) relationship between the use of the wheel in pottery forming and the use of kilns to re the pottery. In addition to the material inuence, cultural inuences must be taken into account, since the two spheres are so thoroughly interdependent that it is impossible to consider one without the other. Thus, the availability of raw materials is dependent on the local environment and the technical ability of the potter to collect and process them, but it also depends on the potters perception of the clay as a suitable material for pottery making and the politics of who controls the resource. Similarly, choice of both temper and forming method may have some cultural signicance, or may express some aspect of group identity or social status. For example, Jones (2000) discusses how the choice of clay and temper in the Orkneys during the Neolithic period could have had ancestral and ideological signicance. Similarly, in ethnoarchaeological studies in southern Cameroon, close links have been established between the methods of forming used by the potters and their ethnolinguistic groupings (Gosselain and Livingstone-Smith 1995). Regarding indirect inuences on technological choice, the performance characteristics required by the pottery when in use are of primary importance. For pottery vessels used for transport and storage, the necessary performance characteristics are the ability of the vessels to retain their contents and to survive impact without cracking. Therefore, the relevant physical properties are strength and toughness. On the basis of strength and toughness measurements on calcareous clay test bars, red to 950C, Kilikoglou et al. (1998) established that the strength of the test bars decreased progressively with increasing content of quartz temper, and that, for
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a particular quartz content, strength also decreased with increasing size of the quartz particles. The reason proposed for the decrease in strength was the increased probability of crack initiation due to the network of microcracks resulting from the differential shrinkage/ expansion of the clay and quartz inclusions during drying and ring. Conversely, fracture toughness increased signicantly when the volume fraction of quartz temper was increased from 10% to 20%. In this case, the microcrack network results in an increase in the dissipation of energy through crack deection and bifurcation and, therefore, a decrease in the probability of crack propagation. However, there is no evidence that the opposing requirements for maximum strength and toughness were either a problem in producing effective transport and storage vessels, or a signicant factor in inuencing technological choice (Tite et al. 2001, 318). For the storage of water in regions where the climate is hot, the vessel walls additionally need to be permeable in order to achieve effective evaporative cooling. Therefore, the bodies need to be coarse tempered, and the surfaces unsealed. Conversely, for cooking pots, low permeability through the vessel walls is essential; otherwise, heat is wasted in evaporation of water from the surface. Ethnographic and ethnoarchaeological accounts indicate that potters achieved this low permeability by the application of a resin to the interior surface, or by progressively sealing the surface with food residues during use (Schiffer 1990). A further important performance characteristic of cooking pots is their ability to survive rapid changes in temperature without cracking. Steponaitis (1984) showed that, in the region around Moundville, Alabama, during the period from 1000 bc to ad 1500, the temper type used in cooking pots changed sequentially from plant bre to coarse quartz sand, then to ne quartz sand, then to grog and, nally, to coarse shell during the Mississipian period. He then argued that coarsely ground shell provides the most appropriate temper for cooking pots, and that the use of shell temper can be seen as the nal stage in a technological development aimed at achieving the ideal cooking pot. The rst advantage of shell temper was that the platy shell particles were more effective at stopping crack propagation than rounded or angular quartz sand or grog particles, and thus resulted in a higher thermal shock resistance. The second advantage was that because the thermal expansion of shell temper was signicantly lower than that of quartz, the bulk thermal expansion for a shell-tempered body was lower than that of a quartz-tempered body and, therefore, the stresses driving crack initiation during thermal shock were less. Tite et al. (2001), in a critical survey of published data, have argued that thermal shock resistance has played a denite role in the technological choices made in the production of cooking pots. Thus, in order to maximize the energy dissipation during crack propagation and minimize the risk of catastrophic failure, cooking pots routinely contain high concentrations of temper and were normally red at comparatively low temperatures. However, the extent to which shell or limestone temper was deliberately chosen, specically because of either the resulting reduced bulk thermal expansion of the body or, for shell temper, the increased effectiveness in stopping crack propagation, is less clear. In summary, it is apparent that there are many alternative clays, tempers and ring temperatures that can be used in production such that the resulting pottery adequately satises the strength, toughness, thermal shock resistance and permeability requirements in use. Thus, it is generally inappropriate to view ancient potters as struggling to cope with the various negative effects of their environment and, thus, needing to undertake a series of systematic experiments to establish the technological choices appropriate to achieving the performance characteristics required in use. Instead, the technological choices made will depend on the overall environmental, technological, economic, social, political and ideological context of production.
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In its rst volume, following on from the work of Sayre and Dodson (1957), Archaeometry contained a paper on the provenance study of pottery by means of minor and trace element analysis using neutron activation analysis (NAA) (Emeleus 1958). Subsequently, reports on pottery provenance studies have continued to be a signicant component of most volumes of Archaeometry. Thin-section petrography is less well represented in Archaeometry, although some important methodological papers (e.g., Whitbread 1986) have been published. Chemical analysis Initially, OES, NAA and XRF were the primary techniques used, with the last two continuing in use until the present day. OES was rst superseded by atomic absorption spectrometry (AAS) (Hughes et al. 1976), and more recently by inductively coupled plasma spectrometry with either OES (ICPOES) (Hatcher et al. 1995) or mass spectrometry (ICPMS). The latter (ICPMS) provides a sensitivity and range of elements analysed that competes with NAA. However, NAA retains signicant advantages in terms of easy inter-laboratory comparisons and rapid sample preparation (Speakman and Glascock 2007). Thus, NAA uses a powder sample, whereas ICPMS requires full acid dissolution of silicate-based pottery. Even so, because of the reduced availability of nuclear reactors required to activate samples, ICPMS is now tending replace NAA, and the future of NAA is becoming uncertain. Chemical analysis for major, minor and trace elements provides a compositional ngerprint for grouping together pottery made from the same raw materials and for distinguishing between groups of pottery made from different raw materials. Because of the variability in chemical compositions within an individual clay or temper source and the possible similarity in composition of different sources, provenance studies based on compositional ngerprinting involve the analysis of a large number of samples, which are then grouped together using statistical methods. Principal components analysis and cluster analysis provide the two primary statistical techniques for dening different compositional groups (Baxter 1994). In addition, Beier and Mommsen (1994) have developed statistical methods to bring together into a single group samples whose chemical compositions differ only because of the dilution effects of the presence of different amounts of chemically pure temper inclusions, such as quartz. In attempting to match these compositional pottery groups to possible clay sources, in order to establish whether they were locally produced or imported, one needs to consider both the prior treatment of the clay and the potential changes in composition during burial. Thus, in preparing the clay, the potters could rene it to remove non-plastic inclusions, they could add further non-plastic inclusions as temper or they could mix together more than one clay. In terms of changes in composition during burial, Freeth (1967) showed that major/minor elements such as sodium, potassium, magnesium and calcium can be readily leached from or deposited within pottery during burial in a range of environmental conditions. More recently, there have been several papers published in Archaeometry that have both conrmed and extended these results to include alteration of all alkali metal contents (i.e., Na, K, Rb and Cs). Buxeda i Garrigs et al. (2002) further established that, due to the formation of sodic zeolite, analcime, there is less leaching of Na for high-red pottery, whereas, due to the increase in the amount of glass phase, there is more leaching of K and Rb. Although Bishop et al. (1982, 296) argued that transition and rare earth elements, which are of particular importance in dening
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compositional groups, tend to be immobile, Schwedt et al. (2004) have recently shown that some alteration in the rare earth element content can occur during burial. Thin-section petrography Although, in the context of papers published in Archaeometry, pottery provenance studies based on chemical analysis predominate over those based on thin-section petrography, this latter technique has played a crucial role. First, when the non-plastic inclusions derive from distinctive igneous and metamorphic rocks, thin-section petrography of coarse-textured pottery provides a predictive method for identifying the source of the raw materials used in the production of pottery. Very occasionally, a particular key inclusion allows one to identify the precise source of the raw materials. This was the situation for a type of Neolithic pottery, known as Hembury ware, which is found within an area in south-west England, some 300 km across and stretching from Cornwall to Wiltshire. This pottery contains fragments of a metamorphized igneous rock known as gabbro, which, within the distribution zone of the pottery, is only found on the Lizard peninsula in Cornwall (Peacock 1969; Harrad 2004). It is, however, extremely rare to be able to identify a clay or temper source on the basis of a particular key inclusion. Instead, as undertaken for the Tonto Basin in Arizona (Heidke and Miksa 2000), more complete petrographic descriptions of the inclusions present in pottery under investigation, and their comparison with the petrography of sands collected in the potential source area, are normally essential. Within a more homogeneous geological region, dominated by sedimentary rocks, it is much more difcult to suggest source areas for the non-plastic inclusions, since the quartz sand, limestone, int and shell, which are typically present, are widely available. However, with knowledge of the local geology, the presence or absence of even these common inclusions does help to establish whether or not local production was a possibility. Furthermore, thinsection petrography forms a crucial component of an integrated methodology for pottery provenance studies, which is outlined below in the context of the study of Minoan and Mycenaean pottery. This project has been chosen for more detailed discussion because it illustrates both the development in approach from the 1960s through to the present day and the depth of information that can be obtained through long-term commitment to the study of pottery from a particular geographical region. Minoan and Mycenaean pottery The chemical analysis, using OES, of Minoan and Mycenaean painted pottery, current in the Aegean and beyond between about 1500 bc and 1200 bc, was one of the earliest large-scale pottery provenance studies to be undertaken. More than 1000 sherds from over 50 sites on Crete, the Greek mainland and throughout the eastern Mediterranean were analysed, and on the basis of the pattern of concentrations for nine elements, it was possible to characterize some 18 compositional groups (Catling et al. 1963; Catling and Millett 1965a). By comparison of the concentration patterns for pottery from the two major production centres (i.e., Minoan Knossos and Mycenaean Peloponnese) with that from other sites, it was possible to distinguish locally produced pottery from that imported from these two centres. The results showed that, during the period from 1400 bc to 1200 bc, the Mycenaeans were the dominant mercantile power in the eastern Mediterranean, exporting pottery to Melos, Chios, Cyprus, Rhodes, Syria (Tell Atchana) and Egypt (Amarna). However, as discussed further below,
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chemical analysis was less successful in establishing the origin of stirrup jars, which are found at various locations on Crete and the Greek mainland, including a large number at Thebes, and which frequently bear inscriptions in linear B script (Catling and Millett 1965b; Catling et al. 1980). Chemical analysis, with a change from the use of OES to AAS, continued to dominate Minoan and Mycenaean pottery studies through into the 1980s (Jones 1986), but then, in the mid-1980s, Ian Whitbread and Peter Day started to supplement chemical analysis with thinsection petrography. Subsequently, a fully integrated methodology involving provenance, technological and use studies was introduced (e.g., Day et al. 1997, 1999). The rst step in such an approach is to divide the pottery assemblage under investigation according to chronology, shape, size and surface decoration. These groups are then examined with a hand lens or lowpower binocular microscope, in order to assess, and further subdivide, on the basis of surface markings, surface treatment and types of non-plastic inclusions/temper. Thin-section petrography, chemical analysis and ring temperature determinations, from the microstructures seen in SEM, were then undertaken on selected sherds. Geological surveys of the area for clay and temper sources, together with ethnoarchaeological studies of present-day traditional potters were also undertaken. One outcome of the use of thin-section petrography was the resolution of the uncertainties regarding the origin of stirrup jars found at Thebes (Day and Haskell 1995). Petrography conrmed that, as predicted by chemical analysis, a high proportion were imported from western Crete, and were most probably the product of one workshop, or a group of nucleated workshops. Petrography also established that, of the remainder, some were produced in Thebes itself and some were imported from two separate locations in central Crete, whereas, on the basis of chemical compositions alone, the origin of these jars was unresolved, Thebes itself, the Argolid or central Crete each being possible. Second, this integrated approach helped in resolving questions relating to the movements of potters and the transmission of technology. Thus, it was established that the production technology of the Minoan-style pottery of EMIIBMMIA date found on the island of Kythera matched the contemporary technology in use in areas of central Crete (Broodbank and Kiriatzi 2007). Calcareous clays were used in both cases and the ring practices were similar, but the clay and temper used in the Minoan-style pottery found on Kythera matched those available on the island. It was therefore argued that Cretan social groups settled on the island, bringing with them their own potters. Similarly, Mycenaean-style pottery found on the Plain of Sybaris in southern Italy used calcareous clays, and was wheel thrown and kiln red to consistently high temperatures, but the clays had chemical signatures consistent with local production (Buxeda i Garrigs et al. 2003). Again, therefore, it seems probable that potters working in the Mycenaean tradition were permanently based in southern Italy. In contrast, in central Macedonia, calcareous clays were not always used in the production of the Mycenaean-style pottery, and the ring temperatures were much more variable. Thus, the Mycenaean inuence tended to be restricted more to style than to technology, suggesting production by local potters. Further, the integrated approach has also been used to reassess the evidence for specialization of pottery production in Crete during the Prepalatial period (Day et al. 1997). On the basis of the use of specic raw materials in the production of different types of pottery (e.g., cooking vessels, dark-on-white painted wares and storage jars), the large-scale and wide-ranging distribution over the island of pottery from identied production centres, and the technological skill employed in ring different types of pottery, it was concluded that pottery, as a specialized craft activity, was already well established by the Prepalatial period. This contrasted with the
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previously held view that craft specialization in pottery production did not start in Crete until the advent of palaces. Subsequently, Tomkins and Day (2001) showed that Early Neolithic pottery found at Knossos was produced at a number of locations up to distances of about 70 km from Knossos, which suggests production by specialists, rather than household production, even at this early date.
USE OF POTTERY VESSELS

The uses to which pottery vessels were put range from utilitarianfor example, for storage, food preparation (e.g., soaking, grinding), cooking (e.g., boiling, roasting), serving and individual eating or drinkingthrough to sociopolitical and ritual. The latter non-utilitarian functions include presentation as a gift, and use as a prestige object to display success or power. The rst step in investigating the use to which particular pottery vessels were put is a careful assessment of the archaeological contexts (i.e., houses, graves, religious contexts such as temples and altars) in which the vessels were found. One then needs to consider the dimensions and shape of vessels, which provide an indication of their capacity, stability and the ease of manipulation and removal of contents in use. Similarly, the nature of the surface decoration provides an indication of their potential role in sociopolitical and ritual contexts. Finally, one investigates the surface traces resulting from vessel usage such as surface wear, soot deposits on the exterior of the pottery, and organic residues either adhering to the interior surface or absorbed into the porous body of the pottery. Surface wear or attrition, in the form of scratches, pits and chips resulting from contact with a hearth, carrying, stirring, serving and washing, can provide evidence for the ways in which pottery was used (Skibo 1992). Perhaps more important is the presence of a carbon or soot deposit, which is the primary criterion for identifying a cooking pot. The analysis of the organic residues resulting from the original food contents of pottery vessels have been extensively studied during the past two decades (Heron and Evershed 1993). Although this aspect of pottery studies is more relevant to the investigation of past human diet, there is one study that has specically provided information on how the cooking pots were actually used. Charters et al. (1993) investigated the distribution of the bulk quantities of lipids over the interior, from rim to base, of different types of reconstructed late Saxon vessels from England. They showed that shallow bowls have accumulated only low concentrations of lipids, suggesting that they were not used for cooking. In contrast, jars have high concentrations of lipids surviving on the upper inner surfaces, whereas top hat vessels have lipids distributed fairly uniformly over the inner surfaces. On the basis of these distributions, it was suggested that jars were used for boiling food, with lipids rising to the surface of the liquid, and that top-hat vessels were used for roasting meat, fat from the meat coating the entire inner surface of the vessel.
FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

A primary requirement for the future is for an increasing proportion of ceramic studies to adopt the holistic approach, illustrated above for Minoan and Mycenaean pottery, in which production, from the procurement and processing of the raw materials through to ring the pottery, is considered together with provenance and use. In addition to the physical examination of the ceramics, such studies will need to include eldwork to collect samples of potential raw materials. Also crucial to the success of such studies is the examination, at least in visually in hand specimen, of complete pottery assemblages from archaeological sites under investigation.
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A further important development for the future will be to extend the comparison of the raw materials used in ceramic production with those used in the production of other types of artefact, and thus build up a picture of the interrelationship and transfer between different technologies. Possible topics in this context include comparison of the alkali uxes (i.e., plant ash and natron) used in pottery glazes, glass, faience and Egyptian blue; the source of the cobalt pigment used in ceramics, glass, faience and paintings; and the source of the lead used in lead glazes (Wolf et al. 2003), leaded bronzes and lead metal artefacts. In addition, ceramic production, provenance and use studies will need to make full use of new developments in instrumentation. Of particular importance will be new techniques that can reduce the detection limits for a wide range of elements, achieve a high throughput of analyses and minimize artefact damage. In this context, the high X-ray ux generated by a synchrotron radiation source will facilitate both XRF with low detection limits and high sample throughput, and high-resolution XRD, again with high sample throughput. Although their inhomogeneity, resulting from the presence of non-plastic inclusions, will limit its use for the analysis of ceramic bodies, laser ablation ICPMS for both elemental and isotopic analysis also has the potential to make a valuable contribution in the analysis of glazes and colorants.
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