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The Use of Indentation Testing to Obtain Precise Hardness Measurements from Prehistoric Pottery

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Arleyn W. Simon  and
William A. Coghlan
Arleyn W. Simon
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287
William A. Coghlan
Affiliation:
Department Chemical, Bio, and Materials Engineering, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287
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Abstract

Archaeologists have sought to assess prehistoric pottery production by using hardness as an indicator of the relation between ceramic materials and firing temperature. Yet hardness testing commonly has been limited to a scratch test, which is imprecise and lacks the precision necessary to investigate these relations. Recent research has developed the application of indentation hardness testing for prehistoric ceramics. A sample of low-fired plainware pottery from the Shoofly Village Ruin in Arizona was used as a test case. Results indicate the technique produces continuous scale measurements which are precise and useful for the investigation of intraassemblage variations. The method overcomes many limitations of the traditional scratch test and may be used for either prehistoric or experimental ceramic samples. Indentation hardness testing provides the precision needed to more fully examine the complex relations between hardness and other ceramic attributes.

Type
Reports
Information
American Antiquity , Volume 54 , Issue 1 , January 1989 , pp. 107 - 122
Copyright
Copyright © Society for American Archaeology 1989

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