Temper (pottery)
A temper is a non-plastic material added to clay to prevent shrinkage and cracking during drying and firing of vessels made from the clay.[1] Tempers may include:
- Bone;[2]
- Chaff;[2]
- Charcoal;[3]
- Ground schist;[4]
- Wood ash;[5]
- Grit;[1]
- Sand or crushed sandstone;[6]
- Crushed limestone;[7]
- Crushed igneous rocks, such as volcanic rock, feldspar, or mica;[5][8][9]
- Grog;[6]
- Plant fiber;[10]
- Horse manure (dried and sifted);[11]
- Crushed mollusc shells (including fossilized)[1][7] (see Shell tempering in the Mississippian culture); and
- Freshwater sponge spicules.[5][12][13]
Some clays used to make pottery do not require the addition of tempers. Pure kaolin clay does not require tempering.[6] Some clays are self-tempered, that is, naturally contain enough mica, sand, or sponge spicules that they do not require additional tempering.[14][13]
See also[edit]
Citations[edit]
- ^ a b c "Ceramics". Mississippi Valley Archaeology Center – Technologies. University of Wisconsin – La Crosse. Archived from the original on 27 September 2011. Retrieved 4 November 2011.
- ^ a b Stilborg, Ole (1 December 2001). "Temper for the Sake of Coherence: Analyses of Bone- and Chaff-Tempered Ceramics from Iron Age Scandinavia". European Journal of Archaeology. 4 (3). Maney Publishing: 398–404. doi:10.1177/146195710100400316. ISSN 1461-9571.
- ^ Silverman & Isbell 2008, p. 439.
- ^ Fontana, Bernard L.; Robinson, William J.; Cormack, Charles W.; Leavitt, Earnest E. (1962). Papago Indian Pottery. Seattle, Washington: University of Washington Press, on behalf of the American Ethnological Society. p. 57. OCLC 869680.
- ^ a b c Marcondes Lima da Costa; Dirse Clara Kern; Alice Helena Eleotério Pinto; Jorge Raimundo da Trindade Souza (2004). "The ceramic artifacts in archaeological black earth (terra preta) from lower Amazon region, Brazil: Mineralogy". Acta Amazonica. 34 (2): 165. doi:10.1590/S0044-59672004000200004.
- ^ a b c Berlo, Janet Catherine; Phillips, Ruth Bliss (1998). Native North American Art. Oxford University Press. p. 56. ISBN 978-0-19-284218-3.
- ^ a b Weinstein & Dumas 2008, p. 203.
- ^ Silverman & Isbell 2008, p. 307.
- ^ Watters 1997, pp. 92–94.
- ^ Milanich 1994, p. 86.
- ^ Fontana, Bernard L.; Robinson, William J.; Cormack, Charles W.; Leavitt, Earnest E. (1962). Papago Indian Pottery. Seattle, Washington: University of Washington Press, on behalf of the American Ethnological Society. p. 57. OCLC 869680.
- ^ Silverman & Isbell 2008, p. 369.
- ^ a b "Woodland Period - St. Johns Cultures - 500 BC to 1500 AD". Pelotes Island Nature Preserve. Archived from the original on 6 March 2015. Retrieved 14 April 2019.
- ^ Wilson, C. Dean (2014). "Taos Black-on-White". New Mexico Office of Archaeological Studies. Retrieved 14 April 2019.
References[edit]
- Milanich, Jerald T. (1994). Archaeology of Precolumbian Florida. Gainesville: University Press of Florida. ISBN 0-8130-1273-2.
- Silverman, Helaine; Isbell, William (2008). Handbook of South American archaeology. New York: Springer. ISBN 978-0-387-75228-0.
- Watters, David R. (1997). "Maritime Trade in the Prehistoric Eastern Caribbean". In Samuel M. Wilson (ed.). The Indigenous People of the Caribbean. Gainesville: University Press of Florida. pp. 88–99. ISBN 0-8130-1531-6.
- Weinstein, Richard A.; Dumas, Ashley A. (2008). "The Spread of Shell-Tempered Ceramics along the Northern Coast of the Gulf of Mexico" (PDF). Southeastern Archaeology. 27 (2). Maney Publishing: 202–221. Archived from the original (PDF) on 25 April 2012. Retrieved 5 November 2011.
External links[edit]
- Common Inclusions and/or Tempers - Images (including micrographs) of shards with various tempers.