Calcareous Microfossils in Bronze Age Aegean Ceramics: Illuminating Technology and Provenance*

Abstract

The calcareous skeletal remains of various microscopic organisms such as foraminifera and ostracods are a striking feature of thin sections of many archaeological ceramics from the Aegean Bronze Age. While the presence of these calcareous microfossils in pottery has been noted for some time, attempts to utilize them to further the aims of ceramic compositional analysis have been few in number. In the following paper, we take a first detailed look at the occurrence and utility of calcareous microfossils in archaeological ceramics. By presenting selected case studies from the Bronze Age of Crete, we demonstrate the potential of calcareous microfossils, especially the extremely small 'nannofossils' and the highly contextual geological information that they contain, in terms of the characterization and grouping of ceramics, the determination of their provenance and the reconstruction of ancient technology.

Ceramic micropalaeontology: the analysis of microfossils in ancient ceramics

“…Complete specimens of foraminifera ( Fig. 2b) (Davis, 1951;Quinn & Day, 2007), diatoms (Gibson, 1983;Håkansson & Hulthén, 1986;Jansma, 1990), silicoflagellates (Håkansson, 1997) and palynomorphs of several kinds (Magid & Krzywinski, 1988, Hunt, 1996Ghosh et al, 2006) have been liberated from small pieces of archaeological ceramics by mechanical and chemical treatment. The drawback of such an approach is that it is highly destructive and can therefore be applied only to sherds of lesser archaeological importance.…”

“…2c). A more convenient method of studying calcareous nannofossils in archaeological ceramics, however, is to prepare smear slides from the original artefacts themselves (Quinn et al, 1998;Quinn & Day, 2007) (Fig. 2d).…”

“…In a study of Middle Bronze Age ceramics from the site of Knossos on Crete, calcareous nannofossil analysis was combined with petrographic observations of thin sections to address the subject of paste preparation (Quinn & Day, 2007). The ceramics, a distinctive group of small containers or pyxides, were found to contain well-preserved Early Pliocene calcareous nannofossil assemblages, which are compatible with the lightcoloured microfossiliferous Early Pliocene marls of the Finikia Formation, in north-central Crete, as well as in other areas of Crete.…”

“…However, it has not been possible to confirm or disprove this theory based upon the petrography of the ceramics alone, as both Neogene deposits and sand are common throughout the area. In order to investigate the provenance of the South Coast fabrics in more detail, the microfossil assemblages were analysed from selected South Coast ceramic sherds of Myrtos Fournou Korifi and Myrtos Pyrgos, along with material from a number of other contemporary sites (Quinn & Day, 2007).…”

“…This paper details this little-known phenomenon of microfossils in archaeological ceramics and outlines a methodology by which they can be studied. By bringing together the disparate strands of micropalaeontological work on ancient ceramics and presenting some of the authors' own research from the Bronze Age and later periods of the Mediterranean (Quinn et al, 1998;Day et al, 1999a;Quinn, 1999;Quinn & Day, 2007), it is demonstrated that, when combined with stylistic, petrological and chemical data from ceramics, micropalaeontology can be used to further the aims of archaeological ceramic analysis -the determination of origin or provenance and the reconstruction of ancient ceramic technology. The direct application of microfossil analyses in this way forms a very promising area of applied research, which is called here 'ceramic micropalaeontology' (Quinn, 1997b).…”