The Oxford Handbook of Archaeological Ceramic Analysis

by Hunt, Alice M. W

• ISBN13: 9780191767920
• ISBN10: 0191767921
• Format: eBook
• Copyright: 2017-01-10
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

The Oxford Handbook of Archaeological Ceramic Analysis draws together topics and methodologies essential for the socio-cultural, mineralogical, and geochemical analysis of archaelogical ceramic. Ceramic is one of the most complex and ubiquitous archaeomaterials in the archaeological record: it occurs around the world and through time in almost every culture and context, from building materials and technological installations to utilitarian wares and votive figurines. For more than 100 years, archaeologists have used ceramic analysis to answer complex questions about economy, subsistence, technological innovation, social organization, and dating.

The volume is structured around the themes "Research design and data analysis," "Foundational concepts," "Evaluating ceramic provenance," "Investigating ceramic manufacture," "Assessing vessel function," and "Dating ceramic assemblages." It provides a common vocabulary and offers practical tools and guidelines for ceramic analysis using techniques and methodologies ranging from network analysis and typology to rehydroxylation dating and inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. Each chapter provides the theoretical background and practical guidelines, such as cost and destructiveness of analysis, for each technique, as well as detailed case studies illustrating the application and interpretation of analytical data for answering anthropological questions.

Author Biography

Alice M. W. Hunt is an Assistant Research Scientist at the Center for Applied Isotope Studies, University of Georgia. Her Ph.D. in Archaeological Materials Analysis developed cathodoluminescence spectrometry of quartz as a method for differentiating raw material sources in fine-grained ceramics. Currently, her research focuses on developing analytical calibrations and protocols for bulk chemical characterization of cultural materials (ceramics, anthropogenic sediments, copper alloys, and obsidian) by portable XRF. Recent publications include "Portable XRF analysis of archaeological sediments and ceramics" in the Journal of Archaeological Science and a forthcoming monograph Palace Ware across the Neo-Assyrian Imperial Landscape: Social Value and Semiotic Meaning (E.J. Brill, Leiden).

Table of Contents

Introduction
1. Introduction to the Oxford Handbook of Archaeological Ceramic Analysis, Alice M. W. Hunt
2. History of Scientific Research, M.S. Tite
Research Design and Data Analysi
3. Designing Rigorous Research: Integrating Science and Archaeology, Jaume Buxeda i Garrigos & Marisol Madrid i Fernandez
4. Evaluating Data: Uncertainty in Ceramic Analysis, Roberto Hazenfratz Marks
5. Statistical Modelling for Ceramic Analysis, Gulsebnem Bishop
6. Data Recycling: Working with Published and Unpublished Ceramic Compositional Data, Matthew Boulanger
Foundational Concepts
7. Ceramic Raw Materials, Giuseppe Montana
8. Ceramic Manufacture: The Chaine Operatoire Approach, Valentine Roux
9. The Organization of Pottery Production: Towards a Relational Approach, Kim Duistermaat
10. 'Provenance' Studies: Productions and Compositional Groups, Yona Waksman
11. Mineralogical and Chemical Alteration, Gerwulf Schneider
12. Formal Analysis and Typological Classification in the Study of Ancient Pottery, Daniel Albero Santacreu, Manuel Calvo Trias, & Jaume Garcia Rossello
13. Fabric Description of Archaeological Ceramics, Ian Whitbread
14. Analytical Drawing, Prabodh Shirvalker
Evaluating Ceramic Provenance
15. Petrography: Optical Microscopy, Dennis Braekmans & Patrick Degryse
16. Ceramic Micropalaeontology, Ian Wilkinson, Patrick Quinn, Mark Williams, Jeremy Taylor, & Ian Whitbread
17. Electron Probe Microanalysis (EPMA), Corina Ionescu & Volker Hock
18. Isotope Analysis, Bettina Wiegand
19. X-ray Powder Diffraction (XRD), Robert B. Heimann
20. X-ray Fluorescence-Energy Dispersive (ED-XRF) and Wavelength Dispersive (WD-XRF) Spectrometry, Mark Hall
21. Handheld Portable Energy-Dispersive X-ray Fluorescence Spectrometry (pXRF), Elisabeth Holmqvist
22. Proton Induced X-ray Emission (PIXE) and its Applications for Ceramic Analysis, Marcia Rizzutto & Manfredo Tabacniks
23. Inductively Coupled Plasma-Mass Spectrometry (ICP-MS) and Laser Ablation Inductively Coupled Plasma-Mass Spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS), Mark Golitko & Laure Dussubieux
24. Instrumental Neutron Activation Analysis (INAA) in the Study of Archaeological Ceramics, Leah D. Minc & Johannes H. Sterba
25. Synchrotron Radiation, Alan F. Greene
Investigating Ceramic Manufacture
26. Ethnography, Kent Fowler
27. Experimental Firing and Re-firing, Malgorzata Daszkiewicz & Lara Maritan
28. Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FT-IR) in Archaeological Ceramic Analysis, Shlomo Shoval
29. Raman Spectroscopy and the Study of Ceramic Manufacture: Possibilities, Results, and Challenges, Jolien Van Pevenage & Peter Vandenabeele
30. X-radiography of Archaeological Ceramics, Ina Berg & Janet Ambers
31. Organic Inclusions, Marta Mariotti Lippi & Pasquino Pallecchi
Assessing Vessel Function
32. Formal Typology of Iberian Ceramic Vesels by Morphometric Analysis, Ana L. Martinez-Carillo & Juan Antonio Barcelo
33. Mechanical and Thermal Properties, Noemi Suzanne Muller
34. Assessing Vessel Function by Organic Residue Analysis, Hans Barnard & Jelmer W. Eerkens
Dating Ceramic Assemblages
35. Typology and Classification, Eugenio Bortolini
36. Direct Dating Methods, Sophie Blain & Christopher Hall