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Technological Ceramic Studies

Frederick R. Matson

College Art Journal, Vol. 1, No. 2. (Jan., 1942), pp. 25-28.

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programs for such allied problems as those of school pedagogy, artcriticism, or city planning, I think that without any loss of his highstandards and with greatly increased human validity the custodianof the tower, now revealed as one of solid rock, will find the voices ofreal people in the long-unused studio both companionable andstimulating. Together they will have a worthy share in the main-tenance of liberal education in a dark hour.

Would Rome have fallen if liberal education had cared? WouldNazi Germany have grown to vicious adolescence if the culturedleaders had exerted themselves? Is the gold of the Incas less mean-ingful if a part of it is used to buy bread?Wells ollege

T E C H N O L O G I C L C E R M I C S TU D IE SY FREDERICK R MATSON

OTTEKY fragments are one of the archaeologists most usefulguides in unraveling the tangled skein of man s past. Through

the study of potsherds found in successive strata in an excavationthe changes in shape and decoration that. took place at that siteare traced. From the data thus obtained certain conclusions aredrawn with respect to the stability of traditional forms and designs,the development of specialized types of pottery, and the effect offoreign influences. Frequently diagnostic features can then be estab-lished by the archaeologist as characteristic of certain periods.

While such studies have produced valuable information, theyare in some respects incomplete. Perhaps they can be likened to ananalysis of one of the characteristic features of our culture, automo-biles, in terms of streamlining, color, body and dashboard decora-tion, the frequency with which new and old models appear on thestreets in different sections of a large city or an unincorporatedvillage at various times of the day, and the uses to which they areput. But if one does not also have some appreciation of the engineer-ing problems involved in the construction of cars and of the proper-ties and availability of the materials from which they are fabricated,he is not properly prepared to evaluate the position of the auto-mobile in our civilization.

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An analogous situation exists in ceramic studies. If one is to ap-preciate the significance of pottery in the life of a people andthrough it to gain a better understanding of the people themselves,one must consider the status of the potter in his community, thenature of the raw materials available to him, the importance of histechnical heritage of manufacturing processes, and the degree towhich he has improved upon them.1 For such a study one shouldhave a knowledge of technical ceramic processes and mineral~gy.~The specialist in this field, however, should also have some under-standing of archaeology so that in analyzing pottery he will beaware of the cultural aspects of his work.

Since the ceramic problems at no two sites are exactly the same,general rules of procedure cannot be established. The nature ofthe work to be done will depend upon recognition by the archaeolo-gist of problems whose solution can be aided by the technologicalanalysis of sherd materials. T he following are some of the questionsthat might be raised. Do the color differences which occur amongcertain wares in Mesopotamia indicate the use of more than onekind of clay? Is a slip present on the surface of the pottery? Wasall the gray Minyan ware of prehistoric Greece made a t one placeand distributed through trade? What is the technical relationshipbetween the black and red glazed wares of Hellenistic times? Canthe pottery found at a site be accurately defined in terms of its physi-cal properties so that it can be recognized if it occurs at anothersite? Concomitantly, are there any foreign sherds among those be-ing studied?

Since pottery manufacture is conditioned by the quality of theclays available, the technologist should obtain samples of the localclays as well as typical sherds. Briquettes made from these claysshould be fired so that the colors they develop at different tempera-tures in both clear and smoky kiln atmospheres can be determined.Such information will help indicate which clays were used in mak-ing the pottery and may also show what the firing temperatures ofthe ware had been. statistical analysis was made of the color varia-tion among 4000 pottery, lamp, and figurine fragments from Seleuciaon the Tigris. T he data were correlated with the ware classification,

T h e term potter is here used in a collective sense because in primitive ceramicsthe role of the individual as an innovator is negligible. New forms endure onlywhere the people see the advantage of the new ideas and adopt them.

It is impossible for an archaeologist to possess sufficient tra ining or experiencein all phases of his field, so specialists like the epigrapher , numismatist, dendro-chronologist, ethnobotanis t, and ceramic technologist are of assistance.

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the areas and levels from which the pieces came, and the evidenceobtained from the firing experiments. T he results showed that thepottery and lamps were fired in the same manner and had a highdegree of uniformity in color. The figurines, however, were morevariable in color, suggesting that they were not manufactured bythe same craftsmen. After Seleucia had been in revolt for sevenyears its ceramic products were fired at a lower temperature thanbefore the period of unrest. Th is suggests that fuel had become scarceand expensive, that the potters had been replaced by less skilled ap-prentices, or that there was a general slackening in the standards ofworkmanship.A microscopic study of the kinds and sizes of mineral impuritiesfound in the local raw clays and in the sherds may indicate whichclays were used for the pottery and whether they were first purifiedby the removal of the coarser rock and sand particles as in the Greekwares, or were tempered by the addition of an aplastic as in Ameri-can Indian p~ttery.~hin sections can thus help define the fabricand texture of the pottery at a certain site and indicate the degreeof uniformity or variation in the manufacturing techniques used inthat city throughout its life history. For instance, L. C. Riesch s andD. Horton s thin section studies of sherds from Tepe Hissar showthat the ceramic pastes there are essentially uniform; but in otherregions where there are major geological changes within short dis-tances that influenced the formation of the clay deposits, as in northSyria or parts of the Americas, the sherds from one site can showconsiderable variation in mineral content and in texture.

The minerals found in some sherds may be quite different fromthose seen in the majority of the pieces and in the local clays. Theseunusual sherds are probably from imported vessels and furtherstudy may indicate the region from which they came. The best ex-ample of such a study is the work done by Anna Shepard withthe pottery from Pecos, New Mexico, where she showed through thinsection analysis that during certain periods most of the pottery wasimported from other regions. The microscopic evidence led to im-portant conclusions concerning the trade relationships of this sitewith nearby areas.

There are other phases of technological work that can only bementioned here. The study of the manner in which pottery was

3 n studying microstructure of the sherds and clays thin sections 0.03 milli-meters in thickness are prepared on microscope slides. They resemble in appear-ance the tirsue sections used by histologists.

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manufactured and decorated is of importance, particularly at Neo-lithic and Bronze Age sites, and the sherds must be carefully ex-amined for the indications they may give of the development oftechniques of production such as the use of the potter's wheel. Th efollowing items can merely be listed with an indication of some ofthe areas in which their study is of technological significance: pig-ments (southwestern United States), glazes (China and the NearEast), glass (the Mediterranean basin), bricks (Rome), plaster andmortar (India, the Roman Empire).

Such work should aid in placing ceramic studies in their propercultural perspective and in tracing the history of the potter's art .Although some technical studies have been made over a period ofyears, the possibilities are far from fully developed. Th e techno-logical approach, however, must not be thought of as replacing thestudy of shape and decoration, but rather as supplementing it byfurnishing additional factual material upon which to build ceramichistory. Such analyses are in themselves of significance only as theyare integrated into the broader picture of man's activities, for ad-vance in the ceramic arts is part of the general cultural progressmade possible by technological developments in all fields.M us eu m of n thropo logyUniv ersity of Mic hig an

M U S I C A R T SU R V EY C O U R S ESB Y FR NKLIN M B I E B E L

THE art historian who ventures anything more than a mereanalogy outside his own field has long been suspected by hiscolleagues. If he contents himself with a vague reference to themedieval cathedral and Gregorian chants, that is permissible;but if he chooses to continue the analysis, he is immediately rele-gated to the ranks of those who describe architecture as frozenmusic. Should he be fortunate enough to escape the wrath of hisown colleagues, he is certain to encounter determined oppositionfrom the guardians of the related field who resent the partial and tothem unscholarly use of their material. An art historian, speakingon the Baroque, might well refer to related tendencies in the writ-ings of Shakespeare; this would doubtless please his auditors, butthe literary experts would give only a grudging approval.