The pyrotechnological study on firing temperatures and paint pigments for pottery during the Chalcolithic periods in West Asia

2015 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 25370891
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Archaeology
• Research Institution: Kokushikan University
• Principal Investigator: Koizumi Tatsundo 国士舘大学, イラク古代文化研究所, 共同研究員 (80257237)
• Project Period (FY): 2013-04-01 – 2016-03-31
• Keywords: 実験考古学 / 土器焼成技術 / 元素分析 / 鉱物組成 / 焼成温度 / 彩文顔料 / 都市化

Outline of Final Research Achievements

This study presents the pyrotechnological analyses of pottery of the Ubaid to Uruk periods in the 5th to 4th millennium BC. The results from XRF, μXRF, SEM-EDS, XRD and TG-DTA analyses of sun-dried brick and sherd samples from Salat Tepe in the Upper Tigris region, southeastern Turkey indicate that firing temperatures for pottery during the Halaf-Ubaid Transitional to Late Chalcolithic periods may be separated into at least three groups. The first group is coarse plain pottery of the Late Chalcolithic period, that appears to have been fired at a little more than ca. 450℃. The second is painted pottery of the Ubaid period, fired at a high temperature ranging between 900 and 1000℃. The third is HUT painted pottery and gray burnished pottery from the earlier stage of the Late Chalcolithic period, the Early Uruk-related period, which seems to have been fired at a temperature higher than the coarse plain pottery, but lower than the Ubaid painted pottery: ca. 800 to 900℃.

Free Research Field

西アジア考古学