The issue of clay processing concerns both provenance and techno-functional ceramic investigations. In the former, the compositional/textural modification of clay alters the petrofacies expressed by the ceramic body and causes a change from the raw material in terms of bulk chemical and mineralogical composition and petrographical features as well. In the latter, identifying the signs of clay processing will provide information on the steps of the chaîne opératoire and on the technological choices made to adjust paste plasticity and to avoid failures in the following stages of manufacture. Several examples of clay processing were considered, encompassing deliberate addition of natural and artificial temper and clay mixing, other than fractioning and homogenisation to prepare the forming stage. The expected effects of mineral, vegetal and animal tempers on the paste and on the fired body were outlined. Finally, some analytical guidelines are provided to identify clay processing, using the most common analytical methods. Optical microscopy and electron microscopy provide the main contribution to identifying most of the processing practices on the clay, whereas bulk methods provide indirect evidence that may alone be insufficient to prove the occurrence of a specific transformation, as well as to detect homogenisation features. However, only a careful and multidisciplinary investigation of the ceramic body will help reveal the actions of the chaîne opératoire and to test archaeological models in a sound bottom-up perspective.

中文翻译：

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陶瓷技术：如何认识黏土加工

黏土加工问题既涉及起源，又涉及技术功能性陶瓷研究。在前者中，粘土的成分/结构改性会改变陶瓷体表现出的岩相，并导致原料的化学和矿物学组成以及岩石学特征发生变化。在后者中，识别粘土加工的迹象将提供有关沙恩歌剧院步骤的信息以及在调整糊料可塑性和避免在随后的制造阶段中出现故障方面做出的技术选择。考虑了粘土加工的几个例子，除了分馏和均质以准备成型阶段外，还包括故意添加自然和人工回火以及粘土混合。概述了矿物，植物和动物脾气对糊状物和被烧制物体的预期影响。最后，使用最常用的分析方法，提供了一些分析指南来识别黏土的加工过程。光学显微镜和电子显微镜为识别黏土上的大多数加工方法提供了主要贡献，而大量方法提供了间接证据，这些证据可能单独不足以证明发生了特定的转化，以及检测均质化特征。但是，只有对陶瓷体进行仔细和多学科的研究才能帮助揭示陶瓷的作用。Chaîneopératoire，并以自下而上的良好视角测试考古模型。