Thin Section Analysis Ceramics

In this technique the specimen is sawed to 1 mm thick glued to a microscope slide and ground or sawed e g by microtome to a thickness x approaching 30 µm.

Thin section analysis ceramics. Thin section ceramic petrography is a versatile interdisciplinary analytical tool for the characterization and interpretation of archaeological pottery and related artefacts including ceramic building materials refractories and plaster. Archaeological ceramics analysis techniques include thin section petrography geochemistry scanning electron microscopy and organic residue analysis. The course consists of lectures and laboratory classes which follow daily themes. Key learning outcomes are an appreciation of the role of ceramic analysis in archaeology and specific skills in the interpretation of ceramics in thin section.

These include plaster mortar mudbricks and lithic implements. Thin section analysis can be carried out on ceramic assemblages in order to answer a variety of questions from the characterization or provenancing of a single ware or pottery type to a diachronic study of the ceramic material from an entire site or region. Digital image analysis of ceramic thin section. Focusing in particular on ceramic petrography the module provides in depth practical training on the principles of this versatile geoarchaeological approach and its role in the interpretation of pottery provenance and manufacturing technology.

The workshop will consist of a hands on short course on thin section petrographic analysis of archaeological ceramics together with hands on observation and testing of the structure optical microscopy chemical tests composition pxrf and properties of sherds and raw materials participants will gain skills in low cost but highly effective methods for identifying the mineralogical constituents of ceramic materials discerning variability in materials and relating that variability to. Green clay sand 13 pores 4 clay 83 natural distribution of sand grain sizes in a clay deposit natural distribution added sand high resolution film scanner scans entire thin section for image analysis. Thin section analysis identifies mineralogical characteristics of non plastic inclusions according to their optical properties as well as void shapes and locations surface treatments and particle. Isbn 978 1 9049 8233 3 london.