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Methods of Faience Manufacture in Antiquity: Investigation of Colorants and Technological Processes

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 June 2011

Lesley Frame
Affiliation:
Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ. 85721, USA
Donna Bright DeSordao
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ. 85721, USA
Yuan-Chi Chiang
Affiliation:
Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ. 85721, USA
Pamela Vandiver
Affiliation:
Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ. 85721, USA
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Abstract

Faience production methods include efflorescence, direct glaze application, and cementation glazing. However, similar processing has been used with a variety of other materials, such as glazed monolithic quartz, ground and re-fired faience, and steatite bodies. Furthermore, faience technology has been linked by similar processing to glass, synthetic pigment and glazing technologies. Here we reinforce these cross-craft relationships by comparing the range of similar functioning chemical elements in faience and glazed artifacts from a variety of archaeological sites that range from the Indus Valley to the Mediterranean. This broad comparative method based primarily on x-ray fluorescence analysis reveals trends in faience production, relationships with metallurgical technologies, and aspects of processing that provide areas of study that may be considered more closely in the future.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2011

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