|
«Analytical methods of the Geosciences that have been steadily applied in the last decades in archaeological and historical investigations of ancient societies have yielded substantial contribution to answer various archaeological and historical questions. For this Ph.D. thesis research, two geological methods; petrographic (thin section analysis) and geochemical (X-ray fluorescence analyses) methods were applied to throw light on some archaeological questions related to a variety of selected ancient ceramics. The main goal of the study was to determine the provenance and production technology of three Early Bronze Age (ca. 2800-2000 BC.) ceramics (the so called Dark Rimmed Orange Bowl Ware (DROB-ware), Gray Ware, and North Mesopotamian metallic ware), from northeast Syria and southeast Anatolia and the Late Chalcolithic to the Middle Bronze Age (ca. 3500-1500 BC.) Kura-Araxes ware from Sos Höyük in eastern Anatolia.
In addition, five different Middle Bronze, Late Bronze/Early Iron Age (ca. 2000 to 800 BC.) ceramics (Gray Ware, Brown Ware, Black Burnished Ware, Brown Burnished Ware from Site Didi Gora and Early Iron Age Fine Brick ware from Udabno I in eastern Georgia), were investigated. A total of 174 ceramic samples were analyzed by X-ray fluorescence technique for determination of major and trace element composition. A total of 92 thin-sections of selected samples were prepared and their petrography and mineralogy examined. In addition, 63 geological samples (i.e. local clay samples from the study area) and 15 ceramic sherds of known origin, one recent pot fragment and tree ceramic waste products were also examined for geochemical and petrographic comparison. Dark Rimmend Orange Bowl-ware (DROB-ware): Petrographic and geochemical invest-tigations of the Dark Rimmend Orange Bowl-ware (dated ca. 2250-2000 B.C.) from northeast Syria and southeast Anatolia, suggest that they were manufactured from local clays exposed between Diyarbakir and Bismil in South East Anatolia and then traded to northeast Syria, and as far as south of Al-Hasakah. For their production, at least two different clay sources that occur in the mentioned area were used. At first the raw materials were lavigated. The vessels were made on a turntable, and then burned at a maximum temperature of 850°C under oxidizing atmospheric conditions. This aspect is marked by their typical orange color. The analytical data point to a standardization of the production of the Dark Rimmend Orange Bowl-ware. However, this conclusion needs to be verified by further archaeometric investigations. The Grey Ware: The archaeometric analysis suggest that the Gray Ware from northeast Syria (dated ca. 2600/2550-2000 BC.), that is characterized by burnished surface treatment was produced from local clay sources in northeast Syria. At least four different clay sources exposed in the vicinity of settlement areas were used. There are different procurement pat-terns of clay for production of Gray Ware. The fine variant of the Gray Ware was produced from a single clay source, whereas the coarse one was a product of different clay sources. The clay paste of the coarse variants of Gray Ware was sometimes tampered. The finished vessels were as a rule burned in reducing atmospheric conditions and at a maximum temperature of between 800-850°C. The analytical data show that the fineness of the ware, (grain size of inclusions) can be a criterion for the archaeological classification of the Gray Ware. The well burnished surface feature can also serve as a criterion of the archaeological classification. In contrary, the color of the ceramics that is a result of different burning conditions seems not to be a reliable criterion for their archaeological classification. North Mesopotamian metallic ware: The chemical analyses of the Early Bronze Age (ca. 2800-2200 B.C.) North Mesopotamian metallic ware show that this very interesting ceramic was produced from two very different clay materials, classified according to their CaO content as calcareous metallic ware and non-calcareous metallic ware. The analyses proved that the calcareous variant of the North Mesopotamian metallic ware was produced from local clays in northeast Syria. Geochemical analyses of the present work give first hand clues about the hitherto unknown location of the clay source of the non-calcareous variant of the North Mesopotamian metallic ware. The chemical properties of this group point out that the source rock of this special clay seems to be sedimentary rocks (like slate) that have acidic chemical affinity. Within the frame of this work, one clay sample collected from Uslu Köy situated in the area of so the called Pütürge-Massive, some 35 km south west of the Elazig; province in south east Anatolia, shows great similarity in its chemical composition to the non-calcareous Group of the North Mesopotamian metallic ware. Thus, for the first time giving clues that the clay source of this ceramic might be located in this region. This is at the least an evidence of the existence of clay deposits similar to the North Mesopotamian metallic ware in this region. But this result needs to be confirmed by extensive archaeometric investigations in the region. Kura-Araxes ware: Petrographic and geochemical investigations of the Kura-Araxes Ware (i.e. Proto Kura-Araxes ware, Black Burnished ware, Kura-Araxes ware, Dark Gritty ware and Drab ware) from Sos Höyük in eastern Anatolia (dated ca. 3500 to1500 B.C), revealed that they were produced from at least four different local clay sources in Sos Höyük and/or its vicinity. No specific clay source was preferentially used for a specific ceramic type or at a certain period. As a rule, the finished vessels were burned in reducing atmosphere at a temperature below 850°C. Archaometric data further show that there was no particular change in the production technology during the Late Chalcolithic to the Middle Bronze/Late Bronze Age in Sos Höyük. The production pattern (i.e. use of various clay sources, production technology) suggests that the wares were most probably produced for household use. The analytical data of the ceramic samples of the so called Martkopie-Bedeni Culture, the Bedeni ware, suggest that they were also locally produced. They show no different production technology from the Kura-Araxes ware. Although these results might indicate an adoption of the Martkopi-Bedeni ceramic tradition by the Kura-Araxes society, but it is more plausible that the Kura-Araxes and Martkopi-Bedeni population might have coexisted in Sos Höyük (and in the Pasinler region in eastern Anatolia in general). Ceramics from Didi Gora and Udabno I: Ceramics from eastern Georgia, from the Didi Gora and Udabno I settlements consist of Middle Bronze and Late Bronze/Iron Age (2000-800 BC.) Gray ware, Brown ware, Black Burnished ware, Brown Burnished ware and Early Iron Age Fine Brick ware. Analyses show that all selected ceramics were produced from different local clay materials in eastern Georgia. It comes out that, at least two different clay sources located between Pona and Bodbizchevi localities were used for ceramic production in Didi Gora. Here also no specific clay source was preferentially used for a specific ceramic type or during specific periods. The clay material was partly tampered with, most probably by the addition of sands from Alazani River during production. The finished vessels were usually burned in reducing atmospheric conditions and at temperatures between 700-850°C. The Fine Brick ware that clearly has different clay properties from Didi Gora ceramics were produced from other clay sources. Elemental composition of the clays exposed in Patardzeuli, Ikalto and Bodbiszchevi are close to the Fine Brick ware composition. But the clay samples form Bodbiszchevi show more similarity, especially in their Cr and Sr content, thus suggesting the clay from Bodbizchevi as the most probable source of Fine Brick ware raw material. Production technology of this ceramic type is very different than the Didi Gora. The raw material was levigated and clay paste was carefully prepared. The finished vessels were burned under oxidizing atmospheric conditions and at temperatures of below 850°C» (Author’s abstract).
PDF available for downloading at this link.
–
Marco De Pietri,
2024
|