Colour Transformation and Textural Change in Biotite: Some Remarks for the Interpretation of Firing Technology in Greyware Pottery Thin-Sections
Firing is a crucial step in the production of pottery, as it irreversibly transforms the clay into ceramic. Clay sintering and subsequent vitrification occur during firing, together with other transformations undergone by specific minerals and rock inclusions according to their optical and physical...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2021-04-01
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| Series: | Minerals |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2075-163X/11/4/428 |
| _version_ | 1797537243679686656 |
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| author | Esther Travé Allepuz |
| author_facet | Esther Travé Allepuz |
| author_sort | Esther Travé Allepuz |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Firing is a crucial step in the production of pottery, as it irreversibly transforms the clay into ceramic. Clay sintering and subsequent vitrification occur during firing, together with other transformations undergone by specific minerals and rock inclusions according to their optical and physical properties, including their colour. Some of these are visible in thin-sections and might be interpreted as technological markers or contribute to the estimation of firing temperatures, although most of them are poorly documented. In this paper, we approach the transformations in colour, texture and optical properties that occurred in biotite inclusions from medieval greyware pottery. Our study considers a batch of 40 pottery samples from medieval Catalonia analysed by XRD. According to the estimated firing temperature ranges and atmospheres, we examined the behaviour of biotite at different temperature ranges from 700 °C to 1000 °C by means of optical microscopy, considering its size, shape and abundance, and compared these features to a wider assemblage of thin-sections from medieval earthenware. The results obtained are interesting, as they offer a valuable reference for petrographic studies on pottery. We discuss the potential of ceramic petrography as a way to perform more precise and refined sample selection for further analysis on archaeothermometry. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-10T12:12:23Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-3ff14cd182d94eb2a15389b13e3ccaac |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2075-163X |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-10T12:12:23Z |
| publishDate | 2021-04-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Minerals |
| spelling | doaj.art-3ff14cd182d94eb2a15389b13e3ccaac2023-11-21T16:04:49ZengMDPI AGMinerals2075-163X2021-04-0111442810.3390/min11040428Colour Transformation and Textural Change in Biotite: Some Remarks for the Interpretation of Firing Technology in Greyware Pottery Thin-SectionsEsther Travé Allepuz0Department of History and Archaeology, Universitat de Barcelona, 08001 Barcelona, SpainFiring is a crucial step in the production of pottery, as it irreversibly transforms the clay into ceramic. Clay sintering and subsequent vitrification occur during firing, together with other transformations undergone by specific minerals and rock inclusions according to their optical and physical properties, including their colour. Some of these are visible in thin-sections and might be interpreted as technological markers or contribute to the estimation of firing temperatures, although most of them are poorly documented. In this paper, we approach the transformations in colour, texture and optical properties that occurred in biotite inclusions from medieval greyware pottery. Our study considers a batch of 40 pottery samples from medieval Catalonia analysed by XRD. According to the estimated firing temperature ranges and atmospheres, we examined the behaviour of biotite at different temperature ranges from 700 °C to 1000 °C by means of optical microscopy, considering its size, shape and abundance, and compared these features to a wider assemblage of thin-sections from medieval earthenware. The results obtained are interesting, as they offer a valuable reference for petrographic studies on pottery. We discuss the potential of ceramic petrography as a way to perform more precise and refined sample selection for further analysis on archaeothermometry.https://www.mdpi.com/2075-163X/11/4/428XRDceramic petrographybiotiteearthenwarefiringbirefringence |
| spellingShingle | Esther Travé Allepuz Colour Transformation and Textural Change in Biotite: Some Remarks for the Interpretation of Firing Technology in Greyware Pottery Thin-Sections Minerals XRD ceramic petrography biotite earthenware firing birefringence |
| title | Colour Transformation and Textural Change in Biotite: Some Remarks for the Interpretation of Firing Technology in Greyware Pottery Thin-Sections |
| title_full | Colour Transformation and Textural Change in Biotite: Some Remarks for the Interpretation of Firing Technology in Greyware Pottery Thin-Sections |
| title_fullStr | Colour Transformation and Textural Change in Biotite: Some Remarks for the Interpretation of Firing Technology in Greyware Pottery Thin-Sections |
| title_full_unstemmed | Colour Transformation and Textural Change in Biotite: Some Remarks for the Interpretation of Firing Technology in Greyware Pottery Thin-Sections |
| title_short | Colour Transformation and Textural Change in Biotite: Some Remarks for the Interpretation of Firing Technology in Greyware Pottery Thin-Sections |
| title_sort | colour transformation and textural change in biotite some remarks for the interpretation of firing technology in greyware pottery thin sections |
| topic | XRD ceramic petrography biotite earthenware firing birefringence |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2075-163X/11/4/428 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT esthertraveallepuz colourtransformationandtexturalchangeinbiotitesomeremarksfortheinterpretationoffiringtechnologyingreywarepotterythinsections |