Pottery and Other Ceramics

Abstract

A wide variety of analytical techniques have been applied to archaeological pottery to address a diverse array of questions (Tite 1999); this chapter provides an overview of the applications. In addition to the composition of pastes, glazes, and slips, methods used to assess manufacturing techniques and firing conditions are presented. While instrumental neutron activation analysis (INAA or NAA) is extensively used for the analysis of the bulk composition of pottery (Speakman and Glascock 2007), several alternative approaches are presented. Particular attention is paid to methods capable of analyzing the composition of the paste or substances applied to the surfaces with little or no sample destruction.