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Showing 2 results for Gray Pottery
Mehdi Karimi Mansoob, Yaghub Mohammadifar,
year 3, Issue 9 (12-2019)
year 3, Issue 9 (12-2019)
Abstract
Abstract
The two most prominent types of material cultures in eastern Zagros are Bronze Age black burnished pottery (3rd millennium BC) and grey Iron Age pottery (second and first millennium BC) that were dog out during archaeological expeditions are being investigated and reconstructed. The technique of firing these two types of pottery will be analyzed in the present study. The main objective of this research was to reconstruct the similar conditions and techniques of these two pottery class using experimental archaeological methods and practical reconstruction of traditional kilns. Along this route, the technical similarities and differences are discussed, relying on archaeological data and comparing it with reconstructed samples. In this regard, two samples of each of the Bronze Age and Iron Age potteries were reconstructed and samples were produced and refurbished by traditional kiln that utilize modern laboratory facilities and precise temperature-measuring devices and are heated in the firing process. The results of the try and error tests indicated that baking with chemical reduction and emergence of gray color is the most important common feature of difference of gray pottery with other pottery assemblages. The firing technique and the structure of the kilns are the most important factors in distinguishing the two types of bronze age and iron age pottery assemblages. What is certain is that with the evolution of the furnace structure, the heat generated from about 700 ° C in the gray Yanniq period of the Bronze Age has increased to about 1000 ° C in the Iron Age specimens, resulting in a higher firing quality as well as a complete and complete chemical reduction of the vessels. Practical comparison of the reconstructed samples showed complete conformity of their characteristics with the ancient specimens (Pisa Tepe, Tushmalan Tepe and Ahmadabad Tepe) and also revealed the secret of producing these two species of gray pottery.
Keywords: Eastern Zagros Central Regions, Bronze Age Pottery, Iron Age Gray Pottery, Experimental Archeology, Kiln, Firing and Reduction.
Introduction
In modern archeology, the scientific question is not what we know, but how we know it. This point of view is one of the most important and at the same time the simplest modern archeological approach to past phenomena (Alizadeh, 2004: 91). Therefore, the idea of reconstructing the conditions and the environment in analogy with what was reported in the reports and data was presented. In response to such ambiguities, it can be said that using more modern methods in research such as “experimental archeology” will increase the accuracy of the premises. Early sections of this study have followed up on existing data and library studies of past sources and reports; therefore, in the next section, reconstructing the conditions and environment consistent with the information provided, has been the author’s main goal. In this section, the “kiln making” and the experience of firing the pottery in these kilns were practically achieved, leading to new information on the evolution of the gray pottery production; Proved the assumptions to be true, so that by producing products that were quite similar to ancient data, the key role of the resuscitation process in the firing process and the important role of kiln design and structure in the specific type of firing were demonstrated However, in some sources (Majidzadeh, 1370: 9-7), general references to the reasons for the pottery being grayed out as interfering with elements such as oxygen, iron, and carbon, and in other research, the reduction process was the main reason ( Kambakhshfard, 2010: 296). Finally, it can be added that according to the comparisons and studies of the samples, the firing of the Iron Age gray pottery somehow evolved into conscious firing methods during the first millennium BC. Although in the early Bronze Age achieved to somehow the technique of reduction firing, but only in Iron Age pottery assembladges, the correct pottery reduction firing can be clearly seen.
Discussion
After the pottery kiln reconstruction operation and the success of the production of the specimens, only by a very simple comparison, the accuracy of the existing probabilities, which were the unknowns of the equation, can be easily ascertained; however, accurate and scientific recordings of the work confirmed these results. Based on these empirical findings for the Bronze Age gray pottery, although previous findings indicate that the potter accessed the firing process may be regenerated, it is due to the amount of carbon accumulated in the samples (carbonization) that is due to its proximity to heavy smoke and firewood. It can be said it was still not possible to control precisely the firing conditions by the potters.
According to existing reports and objective observations of the Bronze Age pottery assemblages, such pottery has much thicker bodies than the gray Iron Age pottery, and empirical indications indicate lower firing temperatures; There are some other features that have been ignored because of their relevance to the subject of this study, that is, firing techniques. As for its firing technique, most of the existing documents refer to the possibility of a ditched type kilns, which is not far-fetched from the evidence.
Reconstruction of the firing conditions of the Bronze Age pottery indicated that the kiln was probably a small-size oven shaped hole that provided a relatively primitive chamber for controlling fire and firing in the vicinity of heavy smoke from firewood and fuel. Reconstructed furnace firing sector were able to provide similar conditions for oven-kilns. In this oven shape kiln, pottery was quite similar to the Bronze Age specimens, especially the Yaniqe or Godin IV pottery, but due to physical limitations and initial quality and reduction facilities, they were never comparable to those found in the Iron Age.
In fact, despite efforts to create optimum conditions, these types of kilns are not capable of achieving a higher quality product such as gray ceramics of the Iron Age, even though due to the excessive energy loss of the maximum heat produced in the oven by about 700 Centigrade did not exceed that production of higher quality pottery in these conditions is almost unlikely.
As the kiln construction techniques expands and evolves, the reconstituted kiln will eventually move closer to the plan of the kilns in the Iron Age, and after a complete overhaul, the result also confirms this claim. In this kiln, reasons such as the separation of the firing chamber, the dominance of proper flame allocation to the vessels, the closure of the pipes and the non-collision of the pipes with the air, made it easier to obtain the appropriate chemical reduction conditions.
In fact, the gray color of the potteries reconstituted with the conditions of the Iron Age kilns are mostly due to the correct reduction and dependence of the carbon chemical interactions and the consumption and replacement of the oxygen present in the composite iron oxide in the ceramic body soil. The technical differences in these two species, which are mainly due to differences in the structure of the kiln structure, are evident in the firing quality of the bodies and the difference in the intensity of carbon accumulation and the color difference between the surface and the body depth.
Conclusion
After examining the documentation available in the time and location of interested research subject, it can be said that the gray pottery has two major variations, both of which have significant differences in terms of time of occurrence, originating culture, and specific production and reduction techniques. In terms of firing technique characteristics, it can be said that the only similarity between these two cultural products is the presence of a “different gray color” in the body of both types of pottery, which has brought them closer together because of the differences in the characteristics of the other species.
The characteristics of the Early Bronze Age gray pottery that distinguishes it from the Iron Age gray pottery lie in the presence of two main factors, namely the type of kilns and the pottery body features. According to the comparison and examination of samples, firing gray pottery assembladges of the Iron Age somehow evolves conscious firing methods and only in the examples of the Iron Age pottery can a complete and correct chemical reduction of a pottery be clearly seen.
In fact, both of these types of potteries are common in creating an atmosphere of chemical reduction in firing, both of which are interesting in their quality and type of performance, which can be attributed to the progressive evolution of the kiln structure and the facilities and knowledge necessary for its construction and observance for centuries.
The two most prominent types of material cultures in eastern Zagros are Bronze Age black burnished pottery (3rd millennium BC) and grey Iron Age pottery (second and first millennium BC) that were dog out during archaeological expeditions are being investigated and reconstructed. The technique of firing these two types of pottery will be analyzed in the present study. The main objective of this research was to reconstruct the similar conditions and techniques of these two pottery class using experimental archaeological methods and practical reconstruction of traditional kilns. Along this route, the technical similarities and differences are discussed, relying on archaeological data and comparing it with reconstructed samples. In this regard, two samples of each of the Bronze Age and Iron Age potteries were reconstructed and samples were produced and refurbished by traditional kiln that utilize modern laboratory facilities and precise temperature-measuring devices and are heated in the firing process. The results of the try and error tests indicated that baking with chemical reduction and emergence of gray color is the most important common feature of difference of gray pottery with other pottery assemblages. The firing technique and the structure of the kilns are the most important factors in distinguishing the two types of bronze age and iron age pottery assemblages. What is certain is that with the evolution of the furnace structure, the heat generated from about 700 ° C in the gray Yanniq period of the Bronze Age has increased to about 1000 ° C in the Iron Age specimens, resulting in a higher firing quality as well as a complete and complete chemical reduction of the vessels. Practical comparison of the reconstructed samples showed complete conformity of their characteristics with the ancient specimens (Pisa Tepe, Tushmalan Tepe and Ahmadabad Tepe) and also revealed the secret of producing these two species of gray pottery.
Keywords: Eastern Zagros Central Regions, Bronze Age Pottery, Iron Age Gray Pottery, Experimental Archeology, Kiln, Firing and Reduction.
Introduction
In modern archeology, the scientific question is not what we know, but how we know it. This point of view is one of the most important and at the same time the simplest modern archeological approach to past phenomena (Alizadeh, 2004: 91). Therefore, the idea of reconstructing the conditions and the environment in analogy with what was reported in the reports and data was presented. In response to such ambiguities, it can be said that using more modern methods in research such as “experimental archeology” will increase the accuracy of the premises. Early sections of this study have followed up on existing data and library studies of past sources and reports; therefore, in the next section, reconstructing the conditions and environment consistent with the information provided, has been the author’s main goal. In this section, the “kiln making” and the experience of firing the pottery in these kilns were practically achieved, leading to new information on the evolution of the gray pottery production; Proved the assumptions to be true, so that by producing products that were quite similar to ancient data, the key role of the resuscitation process in the firing process and the important role of kiln design and structure in the specific type of firing were demonstrated However, in some sources (Majidzadeh, 1370: 9-7), general references to the reasons for the pottery being grayed out as interfering with elements such as oxygen, iron, and carbon, and in other research, the reduction process was the main reason ( Kambakhshfard, 2010: 296). Finally, it can be added that according to the comparisons and studies of the samples, the firing of the Iron Age gray pottery somehow evolved into conscious firing methods during the first millennium BC. Although in the early Bronze Age achieved to somehow the technique of reduction firing, but only in Iron Age pottery assembladges, the correct pottery reduction firing can be clearly seen.
Discussion
After the pottery kiln reconstruction operation and the success of the production of the specimens, only by a very simple comparison, the accuracy of the existing probabilities, which were the unknowns of the equation, can be easily ascertained; however, accurate and scientific recordings of the work confirmed these results. Based on these empirical findings for the Bronze Age gray pottery, although previous findings indicate that the potter accessed the firing process may be regenerated, it is due to the amount of carbon accumulated in the samples (carbonization) that is due to its proximity to heavy smoke and firewood. It can be said it was still not possible to control precisely the firing conditions by the potters.
According to existing reports and objective observations of the Bronze Age pottery assemblages, such pottery has much thicker bodies than the gray Iron Age pottery, and empirical indications indicate lower firing temperatures; There are some other features that have been ignored because of their relevance to the subject of this study, that is, firing techniques. As for its firing technique, most of the existing documents refer to the possibility of a ditched type kilns, which is not far-fetched from the evidence.
Reconstruction of the firing conditions of the Bronze Age pottery indicated that the kiln was probably a small-size oven shaped hole that provided a relatively primitive chamber for controlling fire and firing in the vicinity of heavy smoke from firewood and fuel. Reconstructed furnace firing sector were able to provide similar conditions for oven-kilns. In this oven shape kiln, pottery was quite similar to the Bronze Age specimens, especially the Yaniqe or Godin IV pottery, but due to physical limitations and initial quality and reduction facilities, they were never comparable to those found in the Iron Age.
In fact, despite efforts to create optimum conditions, these types of kilns are not capable of achieving a higher quality product such as gray ceramics of the Iron Age, even though due to the excessive energy loss of the maximum heat produced in the oven by about 700 Centigrade did not exceed that production of higher quality pottery in these conditions is almost unlikely.
As the kiln construction techniques expands and evolves, the reconstituted kiln will eventually move closer to the plan of the kilns in the Iron Age, and after a complete overhaul, the result also confirms this claim. In this kiln, reasons such as the separation of the firing chamber, the dominance of proper flame allocation to the vessels, the closure of the pipes and the non-collision of the pipes with the air, made it easier to obtain the appropriate chemical reduction conditions.
In fact, the gray color of the potteries reconstituted with the conditions of the Iron Age kilns are mostly due to the correct reduction and dependence of the carbon chemical interactions and the consumption and replacement of the oxygen present in the composite iron oxide in the ceramic body soil. The technical differences in these two species, which are mainly due to differences in the structure of the kiln structure, are evident in the firing quality of the bodies and the difference in the intensity of carbon accumulation and the color difference between the surface and the body depth.
Conclusion
After examining the documentation available in the time and location of interested research subject, it can be said that the gray pottery has two major variations, both of which have significant differences in terms of time of occurrence, originating culture, and specific production and reduction techniques. In terms of firing technique characteristics, it can be said that the only similarity between these two cultural products is the presence of a “different gray color” in the body of both types of pottery, which has brought them closer together because of the differences in the characteristics of the other species.
The characteristics of the Early Bronze Age gray pottery that distinguishes it from the Iron Age gray pottery lie in the presence of two main factors, namely the type of kilns and the pottery body features. According to the comparison and examination of samples, firing gray pottery assembladges of the Iron Age somehow evolves conscious firing methods and only in the examples of the Iron Age pottery can a complete and correct chemical reduction of a pottery be clearly seen.
In fact, both of these types of potteries are common in creating an atmosphere of chemical reduction in firing, both of which are interesting in their quality and type of performance, which can be attributed to the progressive evolution of the kiln structure and the facilities and knowledge necessary for its construction and observance for centuries.
Mojtaba Safari, Rahmat Abbasnejad, Haasan Fazli Nesheli, Christopher Thornton, Judith Thomalsky,
year 5, Issue 17 (12-2021)
year 5, Issue 17 (12-2021)
Abstract
Abstract
Heretofore, no comprehensive chronological study has been conducted on the northern side of the Central Alborz mountains, including the modern provinces of Mazandaran and Gorgan, based on technological and typological study of pre-historic pottery. This is especially true of the Bronze Age (ca. 3000-1500 BCE), for which we have no sites with an unbroken stratigraph-ic sequence that have been excavated and fully published. The majority of pottery, especially the gray wares, in this region have been discovered in the course of illicit investigations and their description, classification, and chronological analyses have been influenced by cultural history approaches. As a result, some Bronze Age pottery has been attributed to the Iron Age, or assigned to the wrong stage of the Bronze Age (i.e., early, middle, and late). The lack of scien-tifically-based ceramic classification and typology is an important archaeological issue in our understanding of the Bronze Age in this region. The authors of the present article here attempt a comparative chronology for this area based on typological studies and classification of ce-ramics discovered in explorations of the site of Ghal e-Ben of in Babol, Mazandaran. Bronze Age pottery discovered in this area can be compared to those discovered in Gohar Tepe, Tepe Ghale Kosh, Tepe Ghale Pey, Tepe Tarkam, and Tepe Abbasi in eastern Mazandaran, and those discovered in Shah Tepe, Tureng Tepe, and Narges Tepe in Gorgan as well as Tepe Hissar in Damghan. In spite of the fact that the results of comparative studies on Ghal e -Ben ceramics are indicative of cultural ties between central and eastern regions of Mazandaran, Gorgan Plain, and Damghan during the Bronze Age, discovery of few Yanik (Kura-Araxes) ceramics in this site leads to a new investigation on the possible relationship between this region and the origin of these ceramics (possibly in northwest of Iran) in the Third Millennium B.C.
Keywords: Mazandaran, Bronze Age, Gray Pottery, Relative Chronology, Typology.
Introduction
In spite of the fact that the classification and typology of pre-historic ceramics of northeastern Iran began in the 1930s (e.g., Wulsin 1932; Schmidt 1937), some remarkable articles have been published in the recent years that contribute significantly to understanding chronology of the said areas (Olson 2020; Olson & Thornton 2019). Indeed, these studies have been particularly useful for understanding the relative chronology of Mazandaran Province. More recently, stratigraphic studies at Ghal e-Ben site have given us a more realistic understanding of cultural changes in this region during the Bronze Age. Ghal e-Ben site is located in the central part of Mazandaran Province, in Khoshrudpey southwest of Babol city in West Bandpey County. The altitude of the region is 66 meters above the seas level, and geographical coordinates are N: 36 23. 17/84 E: 52 34.12/55. The site is recorded under registration number 31367 in the list of National Historical Monuments. A stratigraphic sounding was done in 2018 to learn more about the chronological status of the site (Fazeli, 2018). Results of this stratigraphic sounding showed that the upper layers (upper two meters), consisting of artifacts from Islamic and historic eras, are unfortunately disturbed due to agricultural activities as well as unauthorized excavations is some parts of the hill. Below the depth of two meters there is a layer with a thickness of one meter containing fine silt natural-sediment deposit and abundant remains of small freshwater snails. No cultural materials were found in this layer. This layer possibly suggests the remains of the old meander river flow channel, which eventually turned into an oxbow lake marsh or pond, resulting in a cultural gap at the site. The gap could be the period between end of the Bronze Age or beginning of the Iron Age and re-establishment of the site during the Historic Era. At a depth of 3 to 10 meters from surface, the archaeological site of Ghal e-Ben contains undisturbed Bronze Age deposits. The Carbon-14 test results on 36 samples discovered from these layers show that Ghal e-Ben was inhabited from 3300 to 1500 BCE.
Typological and Chronological Investigations Based on the Ceramics of Ghal e-Ben Site in spite of the fact that typological and chronological investigations based on pottery data are quite common in most archaeological studies across Iran, the prehistoric era of Mazandaran province has a very small share of such studies. Indeed, no established typology has been proposed for ceramics of this region. On the other hand, although the archaeological excavations in Mazandaran Province contain more comprehensive information about the Bronze Age, compared to the other historic eras, no accurate chronology had been presented for the excavated sites of this era before excavations at Ghal e-Ben. However, excavation of Ghal e-Ben provided the authors of this article with the chance to investigate and prepare a preliminary typology of Bronze Age ceramics in Mazandaran region using the absolute chronological sequence of this site.
The typology of Ghal e-Ben ceramics was based on four main indicators including: production technique, ornamentation, form of the rim, and form of the body. This study led to reproduction of ceramics and comparing them to those discovered in other sites across Mazandaran Province and the Gorgan Plain.
Conclusion
The present article is the first comparative study of the Bronze Age in Mazandaran Province based on the information acquired from stratigraphic excavation of Ghal e-Ben archaeological site. It presents a relative chronology of the Bronze Age in Mazandaran Province based on the ceramics from excavated, C14-dated contexts. The results show that gray ware ceramics were decorated with diverse ornamentation, from polished and burnished patterns to carved patterns, which can be compared in terms of form and pattern to the ceramics found in the type-sites of northeastern Iran including Hissar IIB-IIIC, Shah Tepe IIA-B, Tureng Tepe IIA- IIIC, and Narges Tepe III as well as at major Bronze Age sites of Mazandaran including Gohar Tepe, Taghut Tepe in Behshahr, Tepe Kelar in Kelardasht, Tepe Ghale Kosh in Amol, Ghale Pey and Tepe Turkam in Sari, Gomishan Cave, and Tepe Abbasi in Neka. It is also interesting to note that material remains of Transcaucasian culture (Kura-Araxes) from the third millennium BCE (ca. 2500-2400 BCE) are observed in Mazandaran and the Gorgan Plain, which indicates cultural ties between these regions and the northwest of Iran during the Bronze Age. A number of ceramics were found in the Early Bronze Age layers at Ghal e-Ben archaeological site that compare to Kura-Araxes ceramics discovered at Tepe Kelar in terms of production technique, color, fineness, and patterns. To what extent these foreign ceramics found together with local types can be indicative of the influence of Transcaucasian cultures must be the subject of further studies, and horizontal explorations can help in this regard. However, it is clear that the comparative study of ceramics discovered in Ghal e-Ben and other Bronze Age sites of Mazandaran suggests cultural ties between this region and both the northwest and northeast of Iran.
Ghal e-Ben archaeological site in Babol was inhabited during the late fourth millennium BCE and was abandoned gradually around 1500-1400 BCE. Such abandonment events have been observed in most other archaeological sites in the north and northeast of Iran, and we do not know exactly how to connect the Iron Age in Mazandaran to the Bronze Age, as the Iron Age emerged in northern Iran around 1100 BCE. These are the questions that will be hopefully answered by future studies on cultural sequence of Mazandaran during the second and first millennia.
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