Another One Bites the Dust: Quality Control and Firing Technology in the Production of Medieval Greyware Ceramics in Catalonia, Spain

Abstract

The following study sheds new light on the quality control procedures of ancient potters by comparing cooking vessels exported from the medieval kiln-site of Cabrera d'Anoia (Barcelona) with 'wasters' that were discarded at source. The firing temperature of examined sherds indicates that only pots subjected to a maximum temperature of 800-850°C were offered for sale. The potters at Cabrera d'Anoia appear to have been fully aware of the optimal balance between thermal and physical shock resistance of vessels fired within this range and strived to control firing in order to achieve better products than that of competing workshops.

Roman pottery production in the coast of Granada (Spain) in the early Late Antiquity: a scientific analysis of ceramics from the kiln site of Los Matagallares

“…The presence of hematite in these samples may be interpreted either as a primary phase or as a ring phase under oxidising conditions, in the latter case pointing to EFTs closer to 900/950 ºC. Small re ections of maghemite in a few samples (Table 2) may indicate ring at an EFT above 750 ºC under reducing conditions (Travé et al 2019), although this phase has also been reported for ceramics red at lower temperatures (Maritan 2004). Only two of the samples analysed by XRD, MTG-1 and MTG-4, showed evidence for ring phases typical of calcareous ceramics, such as gehlenite and diopside, in this case pointing to an EFT of 850-950 ºC, whereas the low calcareous sample MTG-19 showed spinel and maghemite and ring phases, which, along with the near absence of phyllosilicates, indicate an EFT of about 950/1000 ºC or higher (Table 2).…”