Influence of porosity on lipid preservation in the wall of archaeological pottery

Abstract

Porosity of archaeological pottery is a key parameter used to assess its ability to trap lipids during the use of the pot and to preserve them over time. Mercury intrusion porosimetry and gas chromatography were used to study the distribution of porosity and the preservation of lipids in different chrono‐cultural contexts. The data obtained show that the porosity pattern, related to the raw materials and the savoir‐faire of the potters, influences the amount of lipids accumulated in the pottery. A significant overall porosity together with a high level of small pores is generally favourable for the preservation of lipids, but variations related to the environmental context are observed.

Interpreting ancient food practices: stable isotope and molecular analyses of visible and absorbed residues from a year-long cooking experiment

“…Low lipid recovery was likely a result of two factors; the lipid content of plant-based food generally is at least tenfold lower than that of meat, and plant lipids are poorly mobilised resulting in limited transfer to the pot matrix (see Hammann and Cramp 33 ). Heavy burnishing on the interior surface of the vessel may also have intensified this by interfering with the absorption of lipids into the pottery fabric, further experimental work should examine different pottery treatments to better characterize these relationships 62 . The TLEs from wheat-based experiments were dominated by C 16:0 , C 18:1 and C 18:2 fatty acids (see Supplementary Figs.…”

Microcomputed tomography for discriminating between different forming techniques in ancient pottery: New segmentation method and pore distribution recognition

“…Pottery is characterised by high intrinsic porosity whose profile varies according to the clay material used (Coletti et al 2016; Drieu et al 2019)). In addition to this intrinsic porosity, there is also a porosity linked to the technical gestures implemented on the paste during the forming of the pottery.…”

Analize organskih ostataka iz keramike i prijedlog procedure uzorkovanja keramičkih ulomaka s hrvatskih nalazišta

“…hrane) u porozne stijenke keramike kod različitih aktivnosti, a njihova očuvanost ovisi o mnogim čimbenicima, od okoliša i geografskih uvjeta, kiselosti tla, temperature, vlage, prisutnosti kisika i mikroba do same posude i načina na koji je ona izrađena i korištena. Tako su najpovoljniji stabilni suhi (pustinjski ) ili vrlo vlažni uvjeti (rijeke, jezera) te oni bez kisika i kisela tla (Copley et al 2005;Drieu 2017;Gregg, Slater 2010;, a što se tiče temperatura, najpovoljnije su hladne i vlažne klime (Debono Spiteri 2012).…”

“…Također, životinjske masti će ostaviti jači trag od biljnih, a bitne su i temperature na kojima se sadržaj posuda zagrijavao, odnosno kuhao. Najpogodnije su temperature od oko 100° C, dok se određeni dio organskog materijala sačuva i na temperaturama većima od 400° C i čak do 600° C (Drieu 2017). Osim toga, treba uzeti u obzir i to da su neke posude tretirane različitim supstancama (npr.…”

“…Osim toga, treba uzeti u obzir i to da su neke posude tretirane različitim supstancama (npr. mast, mlijeko, vosak) da bi se stvorio vodonepropusni sloj, te neki tragovi lipida mogu bit posljedica takvog tretmana, a ne kuhanja (Drieu 2017;Salque et al 2013), a neke su posude imale i druge primjene -za skladištenje, posluživanje, proizvodnju meda, za medicinske svrhe, preradu smole i sl. ili su tretirane primjerice lijepljenjem ili ukrašene ukrasom organskog podrijetla.…”