Ceramics in art and archaeology: a review of the materials science aspects

Analytical techniques developed in the field of materials science are now widely applied to objects of art and archaeology to gain information about the material composition and structure and hence to understand the way of manufacturing artefacts. Reciprocally, ancient artefacts studies show potential important contribution in the materials science field. This topical review will cover all these input and output aspects between materials science and ancient artefacts through the study of the first ceramics made by men e.g. potteries. To study these heterogeneous and complex materials, an approach based on the decomposition into sub systems of materials and the applications of traditional and novel analytical methods to scan the different scales of the material is not only mandatory but also innovative.