Ancient Old World pottery : materials, technology, and decoration / Walter Noll and Robert B. Heimann.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Noll, Walter, 1907-1987, author.

Heimann, R. B. (Robert Bertram), 1938- author.

Standardized Title:

Alte Keramiken und ihre Pigmente. English

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Pottery--Research.

Pottery.

Slips (Ceramics).

Pottery, Ancient.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (329 pages) : illustrations, maps

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Stuttgart, Germany : Schweizerbart Science Publishers, [2016]

Summary:

Ancient ceramics are a mainstay of archaeological assemblages, second to nothing in their sheer number of finds at almost all sites and in all cultures pertaining to the last ten thousand years, and as such unsurpassed in their information potential. The authors summarise the development of ceramic technology throughout the Old World during Neolithic/ Chalcolithic/Bronze Ages. They base their study on mineralogical and chemical analyses of typical pottery fragments collected by the first author, Walter Noll during the last quarter of the past century. Readers and reviewers of the original German edition have often suggested the need for an updated English edition ofthis important work, finally undertaken by Robert B. Heimann. Chapters one to four comprehensively describe - in a very readable way - the principles of ancient ceramic technology largely based on Walter Noll?s own work, demonstrating the chemical, mineralogical and materials science background of this subject matter. Chapter 5 discusses the results of Noll?s analytical work on a limited number of ancient ceramic objects from Mesopotamia, Anatolia, Iran, Sistan, the Indus Valley, and Egypt to complement the scientific foundation laid down in the first chapters.

Contents:

Cover

Title

Copyright

Preface I (Robert Heimann)

Preface to the German edition (1991)

Preface II (Thilo Rehren)

About the authors

Table of contents

Chapter 1 Introduction

1.1 The janiform nature of ceramics

1.2 In the beginning, there were ceramics

1.3 Ceramics - the first pyrotechnology?

Chapter 2 Methods of investigation

2.1 Instrumental analytics

2.1.1 Chemical compositions

2.1.2 Phase content

2.1.3 Micromorphology and texture

2.2 Reconstruction of the manufacturing process based on material analyses

2.2.1 Chemical and phase composition

2.2.2 Detection of forgeries

2.2.3 Antique sources and pictorial documentation

2.3 Contemporary pottery techniques as interpretive tools

Chapter 3 Ancient ceramics

3.1 Fundamentals of ancient and modern ceramics

3.2 The ancient ceramic material

3.2.1 Chemical composition

3.2.2 Phase composition

3.2.3 Texture

3.2.4 Colour

3.3 Contemporary autochthonous ceramics as proxy for ancient materials

3.4 Clays of contemporary autochthonous pottery

3.4.1 Crete

3.4.2 Mainland Greece

3.4.3 Mesopotamia

3.4.4 Egypt

3.4.5 Roman Rhineland

3.5 Reconstruction of green clay processing methods

3.5.1 Preparation of clays

3.5.2 Forming

3.5.3 Decoration, application of handles, drying

3.6 The ceramic firing process

3.6.1 Ceramics as a heterogeneous system out of equilibrium

3.6.2 The influence of the gas atmosphere

3.6.3 Phase formation in calcareous clays

3.6.4 Phase formation in non-calcareous clays

3.6.5 Development of ceramic texture during firing

3.6.6 Thermometry of the ancient ceramic firing process

Chapter 4 Décor, design, and pattern

4.1 Fundamentals

4.2 Ceramic painting

4.2.1 Iron oxide black/iron reduction technique

4.2.2 Manganese black/manganese black technique.

4.2.3 Carbon black/C-black technique

4.2.4 Iron oxide red/iron oxidation technique

4.2.5 Copper red

4.2.6 White pigments

4.2.7 Mixed pigments

4.2.8 Bi- and polychrome colours

4.3 Smoking

4.3.1 Carbon content

4.3.2 Nature of carbon

4.3.3 Methods of decoration by smoking

4.3.4 Distribution of C-black technique

4.4 Cold painting

4.4.1 The pigments

4.4.2 Adhesives

4.5 Metallic appliqués

4.5.1 Tin, tin alloys and lead

4.5.2 Gold and silver

Chapter 5 Regional ceramic developments

5.1 Mesopotamia (Neolithic to Chalcolithic)

5.1.1 The ceramic body

5.1.2 The painting (iron reduction technique)

5.1.3 The white 'slip'

5.1.4 C-black techniques

5.2 Anatolia (Neolithic-Chalcolithic, Phrygian)

5.2.1 The ceramic body

5.2.2 The painting

5.3 Iran

5.3.1 The ceramic body

5.3.2 The painting

5.4 Sistan, Indus Valley cultures

5.4.1 Sistan

5.4.2 Indus Valley cultures

5.5 Egypt

5.5.1 Role of pottery in ancient Egypt

5.5.2 The ceramic body and its raw materials

5.5.3 The coloured decoration

5.5.4 Specifics of ancient Egyptian ceramic technology

Plates

References

Subject Index

Location Index

Appendix I Important mineral phases present in ancient ceramics and detectable by X-ray diffraction

Appendix II Compositions of ancient ceramics, plotted in the ternary phase diagram SiO2/Al2O3/(CaO+MgO).

Notes:

Description based on print version record.

Includes bibliographical references and indexes.

ISBN:

3-510-65493-5