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C.
In spite of this, calcite is found in a considerable variety. There are isolated particles
of calcite, rhomboedral fragments of large crystals of marble, pieces of limestone,
fragments of shells and a large variety of microfossils. For this reason, each occur-
rence of calcite in thin sections provides important information on the provenience
of clay and temper.
3.6. THE HIGH TEMPERATURE PHASES DIOPSIDE, CRISTOBALITE AND
MULLITE
With increasing ring temperatures, some constituents of ceramics become unsta-
ble and transform into high temperature phases. At 850
C. The
formation of cristobalite and mullite, which are rare in archaeological ceramics,
is difcult to observe under the microscope, but quite obvious in X-ray diffraction
diagrams. The observation of these transformations provide reliable evidence on
ring temperatures.
3.7. HEAVY MINERALS
Natural rocks contain a large number of accessory heavy minerals as minute inclu-
sions, notably zircon, apatite, garnet, tourmaline, titanite, monazite, and xenotime,
which have been extensively studied in petrography, since they provide essential
information on the formation of rocks and are quite characteristic for a certain type
of a magmatic or metamorphic rock. Though they are not rare in clays used for the
150 J. RIEDERER
manufacture of pottery since they resist weathering, they are often neglected in the
study of archaeological pottery, be it by thin sections as by other techniques, like
the separation of heavy minerals.
3.8. ORE MINERALS
In ancient ceramics ore minerals, like hematite, magnetite, or ilmenite are abun-
dant, but difcult to identify in thin sections, since they are opaque and their
optical properties cannot be detected under the transmission microscope. Until now
there are hardly any approaches to characterize them under reected light by the
techniques of ore microscopy.
3.9. EXCEPTIONAL COMPONENTS
In some regions locally occurring minerals are added to improve the properties of
pottery. One example is the use of graphite to produce a black pottery in southern
Germany, where this mineral occurs in large deposits in metamorphic rocks [19].
Prehistory graphite was used locally, but also traded over considerable distances
for use in pottery making.
3.10. VOLCANIC GLASSES
In some groups of Precolumbian Peruvian and Bolivian pottery tiny akes of glass
could be detected under the microscope together with other minerals from volcanic
rocks [20]. These akes are therefore thought to be a weathering product of vol-
canic ashes or tuffs which contained them as inclusions, rather than stemming from
the remains of the working of obsidian by man.
3.11. FOSSILS
As already mentioned, fossils are quite abundant in archaeological ceramics, since
marls have been frequently used as a raw material for pottery. All the light pottery
of Egypt is made from marl, which is rich in microfossils (Figure 4). They have
been studied in detail to nd out the quarries where marl was mined in antiq-
uity [21, 22]. But not only microfossils occur in ancient pottery. One also nds
fragments of shells, snails or spikes of sea urchins [11].
Clays in southern Germany, which were deposited in a very cold climate at
the end of the diluvial period, contain high amounts of diatomaceous earth. Since
pottery made of this clay in prehistory was traded over long distances, the identi-
cation of the diatom microfossils is an excellent tool to establish their provenience.
Roman amphorae found in southern Germany were found to contain micro-
fossils from Eocene limestones occurring in southern Italy. This shows that the
amphorae were not locally made, but brought from Italy to southern Germany [23].
THIN SECTION MICROSCOPY 151
Figure 4. Fossils and inclusions of plants in archaeological ceramics (4a4d inclusions of fossils,
4e4f inclusions of carbonized plants).
The study of microfossils also turned out to be of particular importance in studies
of sherds of amphorae from the coast of Sicily. There, in the shallow sea close
to Ognina, ships sank and lost their cargo of amphorae during centuries in antiq-
uity. The provenance of these amphorae could be accurately established by the
identication of microfossils [24].
3.12. FRAGMENTS OF STONE
The temper in pottery does not consist exclusively of isolated minerals but also
of fragments of stone which either escaped conversion into clay minerals during
weathering, or were added by the potters (Figure 5). Depending on the region of
origin, practically all known types of rock can be detected under the microscope as
a temper of pottery clay and this again provides an excellent possibility to localise
the deposits, either of the clay or of the intentionally added temper.
3.13. ARTIFICIAL TEMPER
There are a few groups of ancient ceramics which contain higher amounts of
crushed pottery or slags. This kind of temper is not very common, since it does
not have better properties and since common sand and natural temper is usually
available everywhere.
152 J. RIEDERER
Figure 5. Fragments of stone and articial temper in archaeological ceramics (5a granite, 5b basalte,
5c vitreous volcanic tuff, 5d sandstone, 5e fragment of pottery, 5f slag inclusion).
Since the clay for ceramic products usuall is prepared and shaped close to the
areas where it is baked, the ground might be covered with remains of the burnt
wood. This can explain the occasional presence of charcoal particles in pottery.
3.14. ORGANIC MATERIALS
In the manufacture of archaeological pottery it was quite common that straw or
fragments of plants were added to the clay in order to increase the porosity of the
sherd owing to the voids left behind after the combustion of the organic matter
during ring. Since these fragments are enclosed by clay, they are often carbonised
rather than oxidised completely, particularly when the ring was performed under
reducing conditions. In any case, the remaining voids retain the shape of the orig-
inal plant material. Hence studies of the void structure permits an identication of
the parts of a plant used, like leaves, stalks, seeds or roots. In some cases also the
type of plant can also be identied, like the grass from a dry region or the leaves
from trees in a tropical region.
4. The fabric of pottery
The characterization of the fabric of archaeological ceramics is as important as the
description of the mineralogical composition. The fabric rst of all comprises the
THIN SECTION MICROSCOPY 153
properties of the grains of temper and the description of the pore structure. The
main properties of the mineral inclusions, which largely determine the fabric of a
piece of pottery are the grain size, the number of grains of a certain type, the grain
size distribution, the percentage of temper and the orientation of the grains [9].
4.1. THE GRAIN SIZE
It is obvious that the grain size is a very characteristic property of a ceramic
object. In archaeological pottery the grain size may vary between grains below
0.02 mm, which are no longer clearly visible in the optical microscope and which
occur mostly in dense potteries like terra sigillata (Samian ware) to grains with
sizes up to 5 or even 10 mm. The latter are, for instance, not uncommon in ce-
ramics from northern Germany, which often contain large inclusions of feldspars
from weathered Scandinavian granites. For the description of the grain sizes the
petrographic nomenclature may be used, although it does not subdivide the ner
grain sizes, which form an important part of the temper of pottery. According to
the petrological nomenclature grain sizes below 0.1 mm are called dense, those
between 0.1 and 0.33 mm are called ne grained, those between 0.33 and 1 mm
small grained, those between 1 and 3.3 mm medium grained, and those between
3.3 and 10 mm coarse grained.
4.2. THE GRAIN NUMBER
The grain number is a valueable parameter, which is as useful for the characteri-
zation of pottery as the grain size. It describes the number of grains on a certain
area, usually one mm
2
. The grain number for pottery commonly varies between 1 to
2000 mm
2
. This considerable variability is a very descriptive gure to characterise
the properties of ceramics.
4.3. THE GRAIN-SIZE DISTRIBUTION
Normally the temper does not consist of grains of just one size. Rather, grains of
all possible sizes, between 0.01 and 1 mm may be detected in an average archae-
ological pottery under the optical microscope. For an accurate description, it is
therefore necessary to determine the percentage of grains in different size fractions,
for instance in the size ranges 0.010.05, 0.050.1, 0.10.5, 0.51, and >1 mm.
The size ranges have to be adjusted to the properties of the ceramic material; a ne
grained sherd, for instance, needs a more detailed subdivision in the ne range than
a coarse grained ware.
4.4. THE PERCENTAGE OF TEMPER
The quantity of coarser grains in the clay is quite an important criterion for the
technical properties of the ceramic material. As already mentioned, it is almost
154 J. RIEDERER
impossible to distinguish between an articial temper added by the potter or nat-
ural coarser grained constituents of a clay. But often the amount of temper is of
more interest than the question whether it was intentionally added or not. Usually,
the percentage of all grains larger than 0.02 mm, the size still clearly visible un-
der the optical microscope at usual magnications, is considered as temper. The
quantity of temper varies between almost none and amounts up to 75%. Since the
temper largely consists of transparent minerals and hence appears light under the
polarising microscope and contrasts well with the darker clay matrix, an automatic
measurement is quite reliable and may be more convenient than manual counting
techniques with a point counter or similar devices.
5. The types of pottery fabrics
Since the fabric of pottery is determined by three parameters, namely the grain size,
the grain size distribution, and the amount of temper, the structural properties of
ceramics cannot be depicted in a two dimensional diagram. However, a diagram of
only the grain number versus the amount of temper already describes the fabric
of ceramics quite well. For the discussion of the results of the thin section analy-
sis of ceramics, an array like that shown in Figure 6 may be useful. This array
shows the most common fabrics arranged in columns representing increasing grain
numbers from left to right, while the grain size decreases from top to bottom. The
columns are designated 14, the rows AF. One can use this array to characterize
ceramics by types describing the fabric: Type A1 in the upper left corner has few
and big grains, while at the opposite corner, F4 represents fabrics with a high
amount of small grains.
5.1. THE ORIENTATION OF GRAINS
Clays usually contain sheet minerals like micas, which often show a more or less
distinct orientation parallel to the surface of a piece of pottery, depending from the
technique of manufacture. This orientation can be measured or just be described
qualitatively as one of the characteristic features of pottery.
Since the orientation of minerals in rocks is of a primary importance for their
classication, techniques have been developed to record this property by means of
a turntable, mounted on the microscope. With this device, which permits to turn
a thin section in all directions, the optical axis of the mineral can be brought into
a vertical position. By that the orientation of a large number of grains in one thin
section can be plotted and treated with statistical methods, to nd out for instance,
which percentage of micas is oriented parallel to the wall of a ceramic vessel,
which reveals the technique of shaping a pot or the intensity of shaping the pot on
the potters wheel.
THIN SECTION MICROSCOPY 155
F
i
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r
e
6
.
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e
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a
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i
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156 J. RIEDERER
F
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.
THIN SECTION MICROSCOPY 157
5.2. THE PORE STRUCTURE
Like the grain structure, the pore structure also provides information on the man-
ufacture of ceramic objects [25]. The number of pores, their size, their shape and
their orientation again are properties which vary considerably and thus are fea-
tures which should be mentioned when archaeological objects are studied. The
properties related to pores can be treated quantitatively in a similar manner as the
properties of grains.
6. Conclusions
This short survey over the coarser materials that can be detected by means of
the polarizing optical microscope in archaeological ceramics shows that a wide
variety of natural and articial, inorganic and organic, materials occur as temper.
These materials rst of all reect the properties of the local geology of the place of
manufacture of the pottery, but also the potters habits, which largely determined
the use of particular kinds of temper and the addition of articial components, in
an effort to improve the properties of the clay and to impart particular properties to
the pottery. Thus the precise description of the coarse grained inclusions of pottery
contributes to an accurate and detailed characterization of the ceramic material.
The purpose of the study of ceramics by thin sections is the precise identication
of the components of the temper, the determination of quantitative properties, like
grain size or amount of temper, to dene the fabric of the ceramic, to study the
technique of preparing peculiar surfaces, for instance by applying paints or glazes.
A special advantage of microscopic techniques is the precise identication of the
nature of mineral compounds, even in a single grain. The identication of the kind
of temper provides information on the place of manufacture. The precise denition
of existing minerals is of importance for the interpretation of Mssbauer spectra,
since, apart from the amount of iron in a mineral, also its valence state and the
position of iron ions in the crystal lattice is known. Areas in a sherd where different
atmospheres developed during the baking process, and the relation between these
zones can clearly be distinguished. Further, under the microscope transformations
of minerals by temperature in the range of the baking temperature of pottery can
be observed, contribution by that to the technique of manufacture of a certain type
of pottery.
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158 J. RIEDERER
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