Lime plaster in Neolithic Hama, Syria. A preliminary report

Abstract

As recent research has shown that lime-production and pyrotechnic predates ceramics in the Levant and Anatolia, samples of relevant material from Hama M dated to the earliest ceramic phase in the area has been examined. By means of x-ray diffraction we have shown that lime was utilized in two variations, a fine ware for vessel and textile plastering, and a coarse ware for floor and wall-plaster. Some of the implicit technological perspectives are represented.

Neolithic Adhesive from a T-shaped Ornamental Element Excavated at Site 14 at Kowal, Kuyavia, Central Poland

“…Lime adhesives are, besides clay and gypsum, the oldest group of prehistorically and historically known mineral binding materials. Calcareous binders, based on calcium carbonate (CaCO 3 ) calcinated to quicklime (CaO) and then, after its hydration, to lime putty [Ca(OH) 2 ], and after carbonization to calcium carbonate (CaCO 3 ) again (the so‐called lime cycle), was known to all ancient civilizations, including those of the Mediterranean—among others, in the area of Turkey, Syria and Mesopotamia, and in Palestine, Egypt, Crete and Portugal—and even in China and in Central America up to the time of the Aztecs (Gourdin and Kingery ; Thuesen and Gwozdz ; Endlicher and Tillmann ; Elert et al . ).…”