M. S. Tite

Technological examination of Neolithic-Bronze Age pottery from central and southeast Europe and from the Near East

Abstract Scanning electron microscopy is used to examine sequences of pottery sherds from central and southeast Europe, Greece and the Near East spanning the period from the Neolithic to the Bronze Age, in order to obtain information on the ceramic technologies employed in antiquity. On the basis of the vitrification observed and the chemical composition, the types of clay and firing procedures (temperature and atmosphere) employed in the manufacture of the pottery are defined. Two under-lying trends in the associated ceramic technologies are thus identified. The first is based on the use of non-calcareous or “unstable” calcareous clays fired in a reducing atmosphere at temperatures below 800 °C and the second on the use of “stable” calcareous clays fired in an oxidizing atmosphere at temperatures in excess of 800 °C.

The analysis of platinum-group element inclusions in gold antiquities

The results of the analysis, using the energy-dispersive X-ray fluorescence spectrometer attached to the scanning electron microscope, of platinum-group element inclusions in a range of gold jewellery and coins from the Near East and eastern Mediterranean spanning the period from 3200 BC to AD 300 are presented. The fairly frequent occurrence of PGE inclusions in the jewellery and coins examined confirms that gold from placer deposits was extensively used in antiquity. All the inclusions analysed are of the iridium-osmium-ruthenium alloy type and no platiniridium inclusions were detected. The inclusions found within a single object frequently exhibit a wide range of compositions and therefore the composition of the inclusions does not normally provide a basis for characterizing the source of the gold. In particular the hypothesis that the Pactolus valley was an important source of gold which was used throughout the Near East cannot be confirmed.

Gloss and use-wear traces on flint sickles and similar phenomena

Abstract Using a scanning electron microscope, the high optical polish or gloss and other use-wear traces on the edges of sickle blades are characterized and compared with polishes on other artifacts and natural pieces. The photomicrographs of the surface features and cross sections of the sickle blades as well as laboratory simulation tests, show that the gloss does not form an additive surface layer. Instead, polish formation is considered to be the result of surface alteration caused by frictional mechanisms. Use-wear traces also suggest evidence of how and on what crop the sickles were used.

Cobalt blue painted pottery from 18th Dynasty Egypt

Abstract Cobalt blue painted pottery was produced in New Kingdom Egypt, with the heyday for its production being from about 1400 bc to 1200 bc. Previous scientific examination has established that the cobalt blue pigment was a CoAl-spinel, which it was suggested was produced from cobaltiferous alums from the Western Desert of Egypt. In the present paper, quantitative analyses of a range of cobalt blue painted pottery have confirmed the Western Desert as the source of the cobalt blue pigment but suggested that the cobaltiferous alums used for the pottery differed in composition from those used in the production of contemporary cobalt blue glass. The pottery bodies were produced using either non-calcareous Nile silt or calcareous clay. Before being painted, the Nile silt bodies were first coated with pale firing calcareous clay slip to which gypsum had probably been added.