Studies of ancient pottery fragments from Dobrudja region of Romania using neutron diffraction, tomography and Raman spectroscopy

The systematic structural studies of some Byzantine ceramic fragments from Dobrudja region of Romania: Raman spectroscopy, neutron diffraction, and imaging data

“…Several near‐surface areas attributed to regions with higher neutron attenuation coefficient are visible well in the 3D model of the S_2 sample (Data S3). In addition to surface related contamination and glazing materials, similar as in S_1 sample, the inner areas can associate with the presence of calcite minerals (Abdurakhimov et al, 2021). We assume that differences in the neutron absorption are related to the firing defect during pottery manufacturing (Ghergari & Stâncel, 2012; Ionescu et al, 2007).…”

“…Typologically, the selected fragments come from spherical‐shaped amphorae (S_5–S_8), jugs (S_1–S_2, S_4, S_9, S_11–S_12, S_21–S_23), plate (S_3), pot with handles (S_10), pots without handles (S_13–S_19, S_25), and cauldron (S_24). From a point of view of functionality, the samples come from the kitchen dishes (pot without handles, cauldron), tableware (jugs, pot with handles and plate), and containers for storage and transport (amphorae, large amphora‐shaped jugs), which were used in everyday life, and most are thought to have been produced in West Pontic provincial workshops (Abdurakhimov et al, 2021; Bugoi et al, 2018; Burghelea et al, 2004). A sample comes from a household object, a spindle whorl (S_20).…”

“…A lot of useful data has already been accumulated on the study of Bulgaria (Borzakov et al, 2022; Pulchev & Pristavova, 2021), old‐Russian pottery and frescoes (Panova et al, 2020), and ceramics from Romania and others (Bugoi et al, 2019; Burghelea et al, 2004; Ionescu et al, 2007). There has also been progress in the study of ceramic fragments by neutron structural nondestructive methods like neutron tomography and diffraction (Abdurakhimov et al, 2021; Kockelmann et al, 2001). In this experimental route, the phase and mineral composition of ceramic and clay materials, spatial distribution of phases and inner components in the bulk of cultural heritage objects were studied (Kardjilov & Festa, 2017; Lehmann et al, 2007; Moraru & Szendrei, 2011).…”

“…A successful application of neutron methods is the studies of internal structural arrangement of several ceramic fragments of the ancient amphoras (Abdurakhimov et al, 2021) discovered in the Dobrudja region of Romania. Dobrudja is cultural and historical province of modern Romania, which bordered on the north and west by the Danube river and on the east by the Black Sea.…”

Crack Repair Model of Ancient Ceramics Based on Digital Image

“…With the passage of time, a large part of the exquisite ancient ceramics suffered from the damage of human factors or natural factors, and it is urgent to carry out the scientific restoration of this part of ancient ceramics. At present, there are very few professionals engaged in repairing damaged and cracked ancient pottery in China, less than 3,000 nationwide, and most of whom use traditional methods to repair [15]. Moreover, there are even fewer professional technicians who can use numerical information intelligence and other technologies to repair damaged ancient ceramics.…”