What kind of calcite? Disclosing the origin of sparry calcite temper in ancient ceramics

Maritan, Lara; Ganzarolli, Giovanna; Antonelli, Fabrizio; Rigo, Manuel; Kapatza, Angeliki; Bajnok, Katalin; Coletti, Chiara; Lazzarini, Lorenzo; Vedovetto, Paolo; Arnau, Alexandra Chavarría

doi:10.1016/j.jas.2021.105358

Cited by 13 publications

(5 citation statements)

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“…Carbonate temper is known to decompose between 600 and 800°C in an oxidising atmosphere (Shoval et al, 1993), and the same reaction occurs at temperatures 50°C higher in a reducing atmosphere (Heimann & Maggetti, 2019; Maritan et al, 2006). However, the calcite‐marble inclusions in the grey ware bowls from Aguntum and Lavant neither show textural changes (Maritan et al, 2021), nor do they display ‘reaction rims’ with the surrounding clayey matrix (Fabbri et al, 2014). Further to this, only small amounts of gehlenite have been found in the samples analysed.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The addition of calcite‐marble to grey ware is a long‐lived temporal and geographical tradition. This paste preparation technique was used for pottery from Mallorca, dated to between the Bronze and Iron Age (Albero Santacreu, 2017), cooking pots that are known as ‘Auerberg pots’, occurring in the study region between 50 bce and 50 ce (Flügel et al, 2004), as well as Early Medieval ceramics in northern Italy (Maritan et al, 2021), and present‐day cooking ware in the western Balkans (Carlton, 2019). Calcite‐tempered cooking ware is known to alleviate thermal stress, provided that its firing temperature, atmosphere and duration are well controlled.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Production technology and knowledge transfer of calcite‐tempered grey ware bowls from 2nd‐ to 5th‐century ceNoricum (Austria)

et al. 2022

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Aspects of 2nd-to 5th-century CE Roman production technology and knowledge transfer in southern Austria (known as Noricum) were examined. With no evidence for workshops identified in the study area, 44 grey ware bowls from two sites at Aguntum and Lavant were studied macroscopically, and combined with optical microscopy, X-ray powder diffraction, prompt gamma activation, neutron activation and scanning electron microscopy, in order to understand whether one (large) workshop supplied these bowls, or whether the bowls were produced by several (small) workshops nearby. Combined with information from the geological background, the results were used to tentatively indicate the production location. The results indicate that the grey ware bowls from Aguntum and Lavant were produced by local workshops nearby. The bowls were manufactured with similar clay sources, tempered with crushed calcite-marble rocks from the Tauern Window, their surface smoothed and burnished, and fired between 800 and 850 C in a reducing atmosphere of an open fire. This is taken to suggest that Roman potters, who were located at Aguntum and Lavant, shared strategies of raw materials selection, paste preparation, finishing and firing, and transferred technological knowledge through time.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Production technology and knowledge transfer of calcite‐tempered grey ware bowls from 2nd‐ to 5th‐century ceNoricum (Austria)

et al. 2022

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“…The literature data report many cases of ancient pottery tempered by carbonate inclusions, such as sparry calcite or fragments of carbonate rocks, speleothems and shells [20,33,34]. Sparry calcite, corresponding to rhombohedral in-shape crystals with cleavage planes, was found in the Veneto within veins from the Mesozoic and Tertiary limestones widely outcropping in the southern-alpine belt of the Veneto pre-Alps [35]. Speleothems are secondary deposits composed of Ca 2 CO 3 formed in karstic caves and characterized by a saw-tooth pattern with alternation of white and thin dark-brown laminae [36,37].…”

Section: The Earliest Foundry Of Pre-roman Padua and The Trade With T...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Production Technologies and Provenance of Ceramic Materials from the Earliest Foundry of Pre-Roman Padua, NE Italy

et al. 2023

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The earliest foundry site of Pre-Roman Padua, in the Veneto region (north-eastern Italy), provided evidence of craft activities and residential areas dated between the end of the 9th and 1st centuries BCE. Common and fine wares were found, most of them belonging to two main ceramic classes: (i) highly dark-colored bodies with silicate inclusions; (ii) carbonate-tempered pots. Macroscopic and petrographic (POM) descriptions and spectroscopy—mineralogical (XRPD) and geochemical (XRF)—analyses were carried out to define the provenance and technological choices (production recipes and firing conditions). The first ceramic class comprised diverse local/regional productions made with a common geo-resource, consisting in quartz-rich illitic clays, for which pit firing conditions generally under 850–900 °C were adopted. The purification of the starting base clays, the tempering of the clayey pastes with silica-rich grains and/or the polishing of surfaces were accomplished for fine wares. The carbonate-tempered pottery probably corresponded to an allochthonous ceramic class that might be used in the trade of specific contents. As such pots were made out of different illitic clays and under different redox conditions, they might correspond to diverse productions. The adoption of precise choices in very specific wares, not belonging to any of these two main ceramic classes, suggests the trade of fine wares in the Veneto during the First Iron Age.

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“…In this time, there is a growing interest in the investigation of deterioration and conservation of building stones [227][228][229][230][231][232][233][234]. The development of analytical techniques allows scientists to quickly obtain increasingly reliable results and non-destructive and portable diagnostic techniques have improved considerably and play an important role in the conservation of built heritage [235][236][237].…”

Section: Recent Workmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Forerunners on Heritage Stones Investigation: Historical Synthesis and Evolution

Freire-Lista

2021

Heritage

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Human activity has required, since its origins, stones as raw material for carving, construction and rock art. The study, exploration, use and maintenance of building stones is a global phenomenon that has evolved from the first shelters, manufacture of lithic tools, to the construction of houses, infrastructures and monuments. Druids, philosophers, clergymen, quarrymen, master builders, naturalists, travelers, architects, archaeologists, physicists, chemists, curators, restorers, museologists, engineers and geologists, among other professionals, have worked with stones and they have produced the current knowledge in heritage stones. They are stones that have special significance in human culture. In this way, the connotation of heritage in stones has been acquired over the time. That is, the stones at the time of their historical use were simply stones used for a certain purpose. Therefore, the concept of heritage stone is broad, with cultural, historic, artistic, architectural, and scientific implications. A historical synthesis is presented of the main events that marked the use of stones from prehistory, through ancient history, medieval times, and to the modern period. In addition, the main authors who have written about stones are surveyed from Ancient Roman times to the middle of the twentieth century. Subtle properties of stones have been discovered and exploited by artists and artisans long before rigorous science took notice of them and explained them.

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What kind of calcite? Disclosing the origin of sparry calcite temper in ancient ceramics

Cited by 13 publications

References 77 publications

Production technology and knowledge transfer of calcite‐tempered grey ware bowls from 2nd‐ to 5th‐century ceNoricum (Austria)

Production technology and knowledge transfer of calcite‐tempered grey ware bowls from 2nd‐ to 5th‐century ceNoricum (Austria)

Production Technologies and Provenance of Ceramic Materials from the Earliest Foundry of Pre-Roman Padua, NE Italy

The Forerunners on Heritage Stones Investigation: Historical Synthesis and Evolution

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