CRAFTER: An Experimental Approach to Fire-Induced Alteration of Pottery Fabrics

CRAFTER: An Experimental Approach to Fire-Induced Alteration of Pottery Fabrics

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In doing an inventory of ceramic materials from archaeological excavations, it is a common practice to indicate their observable atmosphere of firing.This parameter refers to the presence of gases, especially oxygen, during the firing and cooling of pottery: if oxygen circulates freely, the procedure is said to be oxidising; if, on the contrary, the atmosphere of firing lacks free air, it is called reducing (Rice 1987: 81).The atmosphere of firing affects the physical properties of finished pottery, including hardness, porosity and wella color touch 77 45 shrinkage, but most visibly colour (Rice 1987: 81).

Nevertheless, the colour range of fabrics does not depend only on firing conditions, but also on the iron content of the clay and its distribution within it (Orton, C.et al.1993: read more 69).

In any case, the firing atmosphere of a piece of pottery can be classified as oxidising, reducing or alternating when inventorying.In principle, this should facilitate the task of reassembling broken archaeological objects and, as a consequence, their study as a whole.Recognising and classifying fragments based on similar physical properties, such as thickness, temper, fabric colours, etc.

, is an essential step toward determining which belong to the same individual object.However, this criterion can sometimes be misguiding, especially concerning colour.