Three soft stone technologies that characterize the Upper Paleolithic period are fired ceramic figurines, pigments prepared from colored minerals that often consist of or include clay, and, lastly, pottery vessels. The earliest synthetic material of which we have a permanent artifactual record was made at 26,000 cal BP (Klima 1959b, 1963), marking the beginnings of chemical technology and pyrotechnology and is the concern of the first part of this paper. A review is presented of Upper Paleolithic ceramic figurines at the group of habitation sites in Moravia that includes Dolni V.estonice, Pavlov, P.redmosti and Pet.rkovice. Dolni V.estonice, the only proven production site with the largest collection of ceramics, was the focus of the study because of the possibility of analyzing figurine fragments, kiln remains and raw materials that enabled reverse engineering of the technology. The size of the ceramic inventory and the presence of kilns argue for intentional production of ceramic objects and demonstrates that the relevant cultural practices over time involved repetition and both transmission and learning of a specific, patterned performance behavior of ceramic technology. The high fracture rate encountered and the resistance of the raw material to thermal shock, however, strongly suggest that what was important was not the final, durable product, but rather the process of making and firing and/or refiring of the objects, probably for ritual, ceremonial and political purposes. Similar additive fabrication methods and firing of local pluvial clay deposits was practiced at the site of Maina in Siberia at ca. 15,000 cal BP to make a singular ceramic figurine. At the southern end of the Urals is Kapovaya, a cave with images and a date similar to those at Lascaux and where a single small bowl that may be a fired ceramic was excavated. The second part discusses examples of ceramic processing technology without firing, if we understand ceramics as we define them today to include non-clay products made by processing of fine sub-10 mu m, equiaxed or platy particles. Fine clay and pigment particles behave similarly when processed. Clays and pigments were processed at the cave site of Lascaux where excavation of the floor produced evidence of selected, collected and imported naturally occurring mineral and sediment blocks as well as fabricated chalk-like sticks referred to as "crayons." These ground and fabricated blocks were used as manufacturing elements to apply red, yellow and black pigment to the cave walls at Lascaux. Stone `palettes' were excavated from the floor with in-situ powders that indicate grinding and mixing of clays and pigments. This mixing also occurred on the tips of crayons. The third part is focused on a third ceramic performance technology that preserved physical health of community members: the making and using of pottery vessels for cooking and storage, and a description of some problems involved in reconstructing the processing technology.

In the southern part of Kyushu Island in southern Japan and the small islands further south the earliest pottery found beneath the Satsuma tephra, which has been well dated to ca. 12,800 cal BP. Here we focus on Incipient Jomon pottery, 14,000/13,500-12,800 cal BP, from the Sankakuyama I site on Tanegashima Island. Previous visual analysis of the fabrics suggested that about half of the vessels were not locally made. In this study, we conducted both ceramic and raw material petrography and an electron microprobe study on samples of pottery. Our results indicate that pottery was mainly produced in situ, away from the coast, but that there is some clear non-local material which came from either Yakushima Island or Kyushu Island proper. Yakushima has no reported Incipient Jomon sites. There should be undiscovered sites on Yakushima if pottery circulated from there rather than Sankakuyama I residents embedding production in their logistical moves on Yakushima. Minor signatures of non-local geology in locally produced pottery are probably the result of volcanic eruptions and sea currents. Pottery production began when Tanegashima was disconnected from Kyushu and probably about to be separated from Yakushima. During the Incipient Jomon period, Tanegashima had become isolated. We conclude that pottery producers were hunter-gatherers who were mainly sedentary, living in a mild environmental with ecotone properties. They occasionally engaged in costly communication and exchange, which may have involved transporting pottery by watercraft and on foot, to buffer risks. Our study is among the first to investigate the pottery economy of the late Pleistocene and the decisions made by its producers and users in response to environmental variability and change. The research contributes to the debate on the origins of pottery and the Upper Paleolithic to Neolithic transition.

In this study, 106 ceramics dating from the 9-15th c. CE from southern Kazakhstan were analyzed by neutron activation analysis (NAA) and laser ablation - inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS) to characterize the extent of local production and trade in the region during the Early and Middle Islamic periods. The ceramics, both glazed (n = 39) and unglazed sherds (n = 67) from mostly bowl and jars shapes, were excavated from seven Medieval cities along the northern edge of the Tien Shan mountains. The glazed ceramics represent several different but common technological and artistic styles. While compositional analysis of the ceramic pastes by NAA and LA-ICP-MS demonstrates that there are three distinct compositional groups for the lead-glazed ceramics from the region, LA-ICP-MS data of the major, minor, or trace elements of the glazes do not distinguish those same compositional groups. Comparison of the glazed ceramic NAA data to over 1300 previously analyzed ceramics from Southwest Asia, Central Asia, and China indicate both an active local production of lead-glazed ceramics in Southern Kazakhstan, and trade of specialty and glazed ceramics into the region from Southwest Asia.

From the early eighth century CE Byzantine shops next to the Synagogue and Bath-Gymnasium Complex at Sardis, Turkey, were excavated from 1958 to 1969 more than 50 pounds, or about 350 panes of transparent flat glass sheets interpreted as window glass. Examination using optical microscopy showed little variation in size, shape, thickness, edge shape, tool marks, bubble and cord elongation and alignment. Microstructural and compositional variation of weathered surfaces and unweathered cross sections were studied using scanning electron microscopy with energy dispersive x-ray analysis (SEM-EDS). Differential thermal analysis (DTA) was used to determine glass transition temperature range. Three traditional window-forming methods have been described in the glass technology literature: crown, plate and cylinder. The Sardis glass is most similar to criteria expected for cylinder glass, but significant differences were documented. Consistently patterned characteristics evidence a developed technological practice. Replicative tests were conducted using various forming sequences. Wooden and ceramic two-piece molds were made to overblow one or both ends, and hot glass threads were used to thermal shock the cylinder ends and to make a vertical crack that allowed opening during a reheating and slumping operation. These reconstructed methods fit the observed microstructural and macrostructural characteristics of the glass sheets. Analysis of glass manufacturing methods in antiquity contribute to the historical knowledge of craft practices and to the interpretation of industrial debris excavated at markets and industrial workshops.

Epoxies are commonly used in art conservation as adhesives for artifact reconstruction and repair. However, with the development of colorless epoxies, it has become more difficult to detect repair work. Fluorescent epoxies would allow for easy detection of the epoxy joints by simple visual inspection under UV light while remaining unnoticeable under normal display lighting. Coumarins are natural dyes that can be added in very small amounts to make thermosets fluoresce. Depending on the functionality of the coumarin used, the dye may be physically encapsulated in the cross-linked polymer or it may be bound to the polymer through covalent bonds. In this paper, we examine the efficacy of coumarin (1) and coumarin 480 (2) as physically encapsulated dyes and 7-hydroxycoumarin (3) and 7-glycidyloxycoumarin (4) as covalently bound dyes in a commercial epoxy thermoset, Epo-Tek 301. All four dyes could be used to make the epoxy fluorescent, but coumarins 1 and 2 slightly reduced the lap shear strength of the thermoset and could be extracted with solvent. In contrast, coumarins 3 and 4 had little effect on the mechanical properties of the epoxy and only minute amounts could be extracted.

Decorative, polychrome ceramics from Corinth, Greece, produced during the 8th-6th centuries B.C.E. were luxury goods widely traded throughout Greece and the Mediterranean. Corinthian pottery is the first 5-color polychrome ceramic technology, having slip-glazes in distinctive white, black, red, yellow, and purple colors, and in a variety of surface finishes from glossy, to semi-matte, to matte. The firing temperature range, 925-1075°C, was determined experimentally to be to be higher than previously reported, similar to the Corinthian amphorae and other ceramic products. This firing range is higher than that of the better known, more prestigious Athenian Black-figure and Red-figure ceramics. In this study three examples of Corinthian and one example of Athenian Black-figure ceramics from the Marie Farnsworth collection at the University of Arizona were tested and compared to thirteen clays from Corinth. Analytical techniques included Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), scanning-electron microscopy with energy-dispersive spectroscopy (SEM-EDS), micro-Raman spectroscopy, and wavelength-dispersive electron microprobe (EPMA with BSE-SEM). Artisans in Corinthian workshops experimented to change the colors of the slips by varying the type and amount of iron-rich raw material, as well as the composition of the clay used as a binder and the amount of flux used as a sintering aid to promote glass formation. Corinthian artisans developed not only different recipes to produce the various colors, but also they were able to control raw-material particle size and composition to produce variations in surface luster (matte, semi-matte and glossy). This research suggests that Corinthian polychrome-slip technology was based on careful control of particle processing, of compositional control of raw materials and their admixtures, and of firing temperature. The behavior or practice of adding different ratios of pigments and glass-forming fluxes to form various optical effects implies a detailed knowledge of what happens when these are heated and fired. This is a process of experimentation focused on developing a distinctive craft practice, which produced a distinctive and highly valued material. The Corinthians developed a more complex, easily recognizable, and culturally distinctive ceramic technology that was intentionally established as a cultural brand, and probably as a luxury brand of high socio-economic value. This research deepens our understanding of the complex pigment processing and firing technologies employed in the production of Corinthian ceramics.

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A group of traditional pottery workshops in Sichuan Province, China, produce a unique coal-clay composite ceramic that is fired using a similarly unique kiln design and two-stage firing procedure not seen in any other ceramic tradition. Here we report on field and laboratory efforts to better understand this unusual ceramic material and technology, the functional advantages as cookware, braziers, and large storage vessels that include high strength and high thermal shock resistance, and the cultural context that supported the creativity and experimentation needed to develop such an innovative technology.

Ceramic tools were made in lowland Mesopotamia from about 4500 to 2750 B.C.E. At first hammers, adzes, axes and sickles were made. By about 3300-3100 B.C.E., only sickles were made. We reverse engineered the technology to show that local, salty montmorillonite clay and quartz sand were formed into a composite blade and handle from a biconical coil and fired to 1120-1170°C based on analysis of refiring tests. At 1200°C the montmorillonite clay transforms to glass, so the firing range was right on the edge of slumping the ceramic into a useless mass. To prevent plastic deformation of the clay about 25-33 vol% of quartz sand was added. The extensive glassy matrix phase enabled the best blades to be resharpened by pressure flaking. The compositions, phase assemblage, firing temperature range, material limits on processing, and properties have been characterized for 15 sickle samples from Nippur using Xeroradiography, SEM-EDS, EPMA, and analysis of refiring tests. Strength and hardness tests and toughness calculations were conducted on replicate test tiles made using clay from Pit M at Nippur, Iraq, and sand. Based on finds of small groups of well-fused sickles that were overfired and melted together and our experiments that demonstrated the difficulty of controlling peak temperature range and firing time for the somewhat variable raw material, the sickles probably were fired in small groups, of perhaps 10-15, in small arched, tunnel kilns that achieved high temperatures by facing somewhat predictable oncoming wind flows that provided natural draft. No evidence of workshops has been located, but, based on the archaeological finds at Nippur and our analyses, we propose that sickle-making may have been practiced as a local, seasonal, popular technology with tools being made by farmers or part-time specialists who fired in small, temporary tunnel kilns in fields or near settlements during the dependable seasonal winds. This research investigated the sickles as a well-engineered, but risk-prone ceramic manufacture that fulfilled an important a societal need, agricultural success. The technological choices of craftsmen were narrowed by raw material constraints, risk-taking, practice and workmanship to achieve desired properties and performance characteristics.

Unusual raw materials are used to produce Tibetan black pottery in Puma township of Derge County, Sichuan Province, China. Carbonaceous, calcareous pyrite-rich illitic lakebed clay is mixed in equal proportions with a ferruginous talc-chlorite steatite. A two-stage firing process results in a dark, lustrous surface. The large amount of talc imparts many useful functional qualities to this pottery; most significant are the low thermal expansion and good thermal conduction properties of talc that make these ceramics highly suitable for heating and cooking in this high mountain region. Although used in some modern ceramics, and even in modern stoves, talc is an unusual ingredient in non-industrialized ceramics. Procurement and preparation of this resource adds to the production time but its properties and performance make talc an excellent choice for the well-being and comfort of local Tibetan households.

A preliminary survey of the microstructures and compositions of representative ceramic styles using minimally invasive analytical techniques provides a method of gaining insight into the materials and techniques of ceramic production dating from the eleventh to twelfth centuries C.E. at the archaeological site of Aktobe and from the 14-15th centuries C.E. at Aspara in southeastern Kazakhstan, both walled cities on the Silk Road trading corridor. The case is made for local production based on the argument of technological style or patterning of practices. Seven ceramic sherds representative of glazed earthenware and stoneware traditions were selected for study from excavations of Y. Akimbek and others that are maintained at the Institute of History and Archaeology of the Republic of Kazakhstan in Almaty. Fragments from serving bowls, a cup and bottle were studied by optical microscopy (OM), scanning electron microscopy with energy dispersive x-ray spectroscopy (SEM-EDS), electron beam microprobe analysis (EPMA) and refiring tests of the bodies and glazes. This initial study aims to characterize the range of physical and chemical variability of ceramics either produced at or imported into Aktobe and Aspara. Most stylistic studies consider these ceramics to have been imported from the Silk Road trade routes that connected many Central Asian cities. The styles include an imitation lusterware bowl made with a ground chromite underglaze pigment, a copper turquoise and cobalt blue and black painted white slipped alkaline-glazed cup, two green lead-glazed copper bowls, an imitation three-color of Chinese sansai bowl, a four-color lead-glazed bowl with underglaze mottled red, gray and black painted slips on a white slipped background and a stoneware bottle. Comparison of the weight ratios of the glaze compositions to possible plant ash raw material sources is presented as a possible way of studying raw material variability; however, analysis is complicated by having two other possible sources that may have supplied fluxing agents, including, salts present in the clays and salts from evaporite deposits.

Between the fourth century B.C. and second century A.D., changes in climate, culture and commerce converged to extend networks of influence and intensify social stratification in communities situated along the Silk Road. The horse-riding nomads and agro-pastoralists of what is now Southeastern Kazakhstan were important actors in the unfolding of these events. The settlements and kurgan burials of the Saka and Wusun could be found dotting the alluvial fans north of the Tien Shan Mountains just a short time before Alexander the Great founded outposts in the Ferghana Valley and Chinese emissaries formalized relations with their periphery. In other words, the appearance of Iron Age Saka-Wusun sites anticipated the formation of the Silk Road’s northern branch and subsequently helped mediate long-distance relationships connecting East and West. Historical accounts appear to confirm the presence of the Saka and Wusun in this role, but there is much that remains unknown regarding relationships both within and across their communities. Typological variability in their material culture has fed speculation concerning their position within trade networks, but there has been very little in the way of materials analysis to test the validity of these assumptions. The ceramics recovered at Tuzusai near Almaty provide an excellent opportunity for examination of the impacts and implications of extended regional contacts throughout the region. Although no Persian or Chinese ceramic imports were identified, an extensive vocabulary of pot forms was locally produced. However, the pottery, particularly pitchers, drinking cups and bowls, and, especially with bright red surface decoration, is found in elaborate burial kurgans. The pottery is coarse, perhaps better called a “rock body” than a clay body, as very little clay is present. The frequency of sherds from the excavation (over 1000) and from surface survey is very low (e.g. 3 surface sherds for one-half days effort) compared with excavations in Southwest Asia or China. Rims are unusually worn. Thus, we suggest pottery was precious and high status, but difficult to make. A local survey of clay resources produced meager results. Tests showed that the finest sediments had perhaps 3% clay-sized particles. Among the adobe houses at Tuzusai is evidence of courtyard work areas for pottery production with fired remains of a possible firing pit or kiln and bone potting tools. Other courtyards were areas for dairying and spinning and some copper alloy and iron metal working. Our aim was to establish the life history, production sequences, status and uses of the pottery. Given our current understanding of local production resources and the technical difficulty associated with the production of thin walled forms using these materials, we suggest that these ceramics were high-status goods, many used in feasting activities, and valued not solely for their function in feasting activities, but for the labor and skill required to produce them. Study of the ceramics, clay sources, production methods, and decoration suggests greater social permeability of Saka-Wusun communities than was previously proposed and allows us to understand the formative dynamics of village along the Silk Road.