Fe3+ in pottery: Distinction of the use for cooking and production parameters

The estimated firing temperature and atmosphere in which a piece of pottery was produced can be identified by comparing the concentration of Fe3+ between the piece of pottery and clay with a similar chemical composition that were subjected to identical thermal treatments. This procedure was applied to modern pottery donated by indigenous people and to a set of archaeological pottery. The modern pottery that was used for cooking for two years exhibited higher Fe3+ concentrations than the clay that was fired at any temperature; thus, the parameters of production were not identified in this pottery. The same procedure can be used to identify the use of a piece of pottery as a pan. Of the set of 14 pieces of archaeological pottery examined in this study, 12 were able to have their production parameters identified, and 2 fragments were identified with Fe3+ concentrations that were higher than that of the fired clay, suggesting that these pieces were used as pans. The results of this study indicate that the concentration of Fe3+ can be used to determine if a piece of pottery was used for cooking; additionally, if a piece of pottery was not used for cooking, then the proposed method can identify the parameters of the piece of pottery's production. Crown Copyright (C) 2016 Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.