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Ceramic raw materials: how to recognize them and locate the supply basins: chemistry

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Abstract

Provenance studies of archaeological ceramics by analysis of their elemental composition are based on the assumption that clays can be distinguished, which were used for pottery manufacture in different workshops or production centres. The clay pastes used for the ceramic manufacture were prepared from natural raw materials extracted commonly in the vicinity of the production sites. Due to different geological contexts of local raw material sources, differences of their elemental compositions can be expected, which are propagated to elemental compositions of the ceramics. The general distinctiveness of natural raw material sources is presumed in the ‘Provenience Postulate’, which, though, has to be verified in each case study. For investigation of ceramics and raw materials potentially used for their manufacture, different practices of clay paste preparation have to be considered which might confine the direct comparison. In the present paper, the study of raw materials will be introduced as integral part of ceramic provenance studies. Issues, such as intra-source and intersource variation, elemental composition in context with clay type and accessory mineral, clay paste preparation, and methodological constraints will be discussed by means of raw material and ceramic data from Greece and the Greek islands.

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Data availability

Data sharing is not applicable to this review article as no new data were created or analysed in this study.

Notes

  1. For PCA and other methods of statistical analysis, see also Papageorgiou (2020), in this issue.

  2. For sampling strategy, see also Gliozzo (2020a), in this issue.

  3. For investigation of different types of coating, see also Aloupi (2020), Pradell and Molera (2020), and Sciau (2020), in this issue.

  4. For investigation of burnishing and polishing, see also Ionescu and Hoeck (2020), in this issue.

  5. For post-depositional alteration, see also Maritan (2020), in this issue.

  6. For clay paste processing and pottery moulding, see also Eramo (2020) and Thér, 2020, in this issue.

  7. While the median divides a data sample in lower and upper half, the deciles are the boundaries, which exclude the lowest and highest 10% of the concentrations, respectively.

  8. The individual compositions can be accessed in the ceraDAT database (ceradat.net).

  9. For clay mineralogy and geological survey, see also Montana (2020), in this issue.

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Acknowledgements

Part of the raw material studies in the Eastern Aegean Region were supported by the Institute of Aegean Prehistory (INSTAP) in the framework of the project ‘Geochemical Survey of Raw Materials in the Dodecanese in view of Pottery Production and Provenance Studies’. In general, we would like to acknowledge the assistance and advice by Greek potters concerning raw material surveys and technological studies of clay utilization.

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Institute for Aegean Prehistory (INSTAP) – Recipient: Anno Hein.

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  1. Institute of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology, National Centre for Scientific Research “Demokritos”, Agia Paraskevi, 15310, Athens, Greece

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Hein, A., Kilikoglou, V. Ceramic raw materials: how to recognize them and locate the supply basins: chemistry. Archaeol Anthropol Sci 12, 180 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12520-020-01129-8

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