Ceramics Definition Archaeology

For example clay has chemically bonded water in it which will cause it to slake down disintegrate when a dried clay object is put in water.

Ceramics definition archaeology. Used to grind clay and glaze materials. In archaeology especially of ancient and prehistoric periods pottery often means vessels only and figures etc. Of the same material are called terracottas. It encompasses description of the arrangement size shape frequency and composition of ceramic material constituents.

Ceramic artifacts have an important role in archaeology for understanding the culture technology and behavior of peoples of the past. The scientific study of material remains such as tools pottery jewelry stone walls and monuments of past human life and activities see the full definition. In antiquity chert was one of the universally preferred materials for making stone tools obsidian was another. Technically ceramics are those things made from materials which are permanently changed when heated.

Abstract and keywords fabric description is fundamental to the characterization technological analysis and provenance determination of archaeological ceramics. They are among the most common artifacts to be found at an archaeological site generally in the form of small fragments of broken pottery called sherds. Introduction to ceramic identification our ceramic type collection and associated database are organized around the concept of ceramic type which is a concept typically used by historical archaeologists to identify classify and compare pottery. Ceramics objects often pottery made of fired or baked clay.

Processing of collected sherds can be consistent with two main types of analysis. Chert a fine grained sedimentary rock similar to flint that is white pinkish brown gray or blue gray in color. Ceramics are generally known as pottery but the term also refers to the manufacture of any product from a nonmetallic mineral by firing at high temperatures. The art or process of making useful and ornamental articles from clay by shaping and then hardening them by firing at high temperatures.

Pottery given that at this stage the size and character of the assemblage will not be known.