Speaker
Dr
John Gait
(Fitch Laboratory, British School at Athens)
Description
This poster presents the preliminary results of an investigation of pottery forming techniques combining petrographic analysis of ceramic thin sections with two-dimensional and three-dimensional neutron imaging.
Within the context of archaeological and anthropological studies of material culture, it has become increasingly recognised that the manner in which artefacts were produced may have been influenced by a range of social as well as cultural factors, and as such may be as informative as more traditional typological or stylistic approaches to interpreting objects. With regard to pottery, the choice of primary forming techniques (e.g. wheel throwing, coiling, percussion-forming etc.) have tended to be regarded as conservative practices, being passed on through successive generations within a close social network. Consequently, pottery forming techniques may provide insight into past social and cultural dynamics that may be obscured by more overt stylistic changes, which themselves may be more readily influenced by external factors. However, in many instances, actual physical traces of primary forming techniques are not preserved, or are difficult to discern without causing significant damage to the objects in question.
In certain instances evidence of pottery forming techniques may be inferred from the orientation of particles or voids within the ceramic structure. In order to investigate the potential application of neutron imaging, and in particular three-dimensional tomography, as a non-destructive analytical tool for the investigation of forming techniques, two sherds of archaeological pottery that had previously been studied by thin section petrography, were analysed at the Budapest Neutron Centre. The sherds in question belonged to the Lower Nubian A-Group (c. 3700-2800BC) and C-Group (c. 2300-1600BC) cultures, and were known to contain a large proportion of fibrous-organic temper.
The results are presented as two three-dimensional models showing the internal structure of the sherds. This preliminary study has indicated that both inorganic and organic inclusions (whether carbonised or relic voids) can be detected using neutron imaging techniques, and with sufficient resolution to enable particle orientations to be discerned. The patterns of particle orientation observed in these models largely matches that inferred from earlier petrographic studies, in turn indicating the probable use of coil-building forming techniques. Neutron tomography may therefore represent an effective, non-destructive, means in which to investigate forming techniques in fibrous-organic-tempered pottery. Future analysis and interpretation of the data, together with analysis of experimental pottery, aim to further refine the technique.
Primary author
Dr
John Gait
(Fitch Laboratory, British School at Athens)
Co-authors
Katalin Bajnok
(Wigner research Centre for Physics, Hungarian Academy of Sciences)
Dr
Zoltán Kis
(Centre for Energy Research, Hungarian Academy of Sciences)
