Raw Material Characteristics and Technological Properties of some Medieval Glazed Ceramics and Tiles in Anatolia

Abstract

Byzantine and Seljuk cultures are two important overlapping periods in Anatolia during medieval times. Both cultures had special significance in the production of glazed pottery. In architecture, Seljuk culture had further expanded the use of ceramics as glazed tiles in the buildings. The Seljuk glazed tiles were mainly of mosaic and plain tile types. Only monochrome opaque turquoise and monochrome transparent violet-black coloured tiles were examined in this study. The pottery pieces studied represent the deep bowls with fine sgrafitto decorations coming from three archaeological sites namely Ephesus-Byzantine, Iznik-mixed and Korucutepe-Seljuk sites. The potsherds and tiles were analysed to determine the characteristics of body, slip and glaze parts in terms of raw materials composition and firing temperature using various analytical techniques. In addition, the physical properties and the ultrasonic velocity values of the body parts were examined. The results show that tiles are more porous, less dense and have lower ultrasonic velocity values than those of pottery bodies. Tile bodies have moderately vitrified matrix with large sized (~500 µm) particles of quartz added as temper and composed of low-calcareous clay. Temper aggregates do not seem to be used in the potteries.In the tiles, there is no slip between glaze and the body. Monochrome black glaze is alkaline glaze. Manganese and iron are the efficient elements in the development of violet-black tones. The monochrome turquoise glaze is tin-opacified lead-alkali glaze, copper being the efficient element in turquoise colour. The potteries were all glazed over a slip having an illitic clay composition together with quartz. Potteries from Ephesus Byzantine site are high lead glazes, while the ones from Korucutepe Seljuk site are lead alkali glazes. Iron is the efficient element in the colouring of yellow, honey and brown coloured glazes while iron and copper are the efficient elements in the colouring of green glazes.

Colouring Agents in the Pottery Glazes of Western Anatolia: New Evidence for the Use of Naples Yellow Pigment Variations During The Late Byzantine Period

“…Determination of the pottery production centres in the Byzantine Empire has been the primary focus of archaeometric research until now, since these centres are as yet ill-defined due to the absence of literary sources and incomplete archaeological evidence (e.g., Megaw et al 2003;Waksman and François 2004-5;Sauer and Waksman 2005;Waksman and Von Wartburg 2006;Waksman and Romanchuk 2007;Waksman et al , 2009Waksman and Teslenko 2010;Damjanovic et al 2011). Furthermore, the production technology of Byzantine pottery has been studied to a lesser extent when compared to provenance studies (e.g., Demirci et al 2004;Tanevska et al 2009;Charalambous et al 2010;Raskovska et al 2010;Holclajtner-Antunovic et al 2012). Consequently, technological aspects and raw material characteristics of Zeuxippus Ware related pottery from Kuşadası Kadıkalesi/Anaia site in western Anatolia were investigated in this study.…”

“…Furthermore, the production technology of Byzantine pottery has been studied to a lesser extent when compared to provenance studies (e.g., Demirci et al . ; Tanevska et al . ; Charalambous et al .…”

The influence of different tempers on the composition of pottery

“…A lot of studies have been published on the chemical analysis and provenancing of pottery (e.g. Abbott et al, 2008;Alden et al, 2006;Arnold et al, 2000;Demirci et al, 2004;Hall et al, 2002;Josephs, 2005;Mallory-Greenough et al, 1998;Neff and Bove, 1999;Perlman and Asaro, 1969;Pollard and Hatcher, 1994;Rathossi et al, 2004;Riederer, 2004;Schmitt, 1998;Tite, 2008). However, in most cases, ancient or contemporary pottery, produced under non-standardized conditions was used.…”

The glaze production technology of an early Ottoman pottery (mid-14th(?)-16th century): The case of ‘Miletus Ware’

“…The wares that have been more studied are the tiles with synthetic bodies used to decorate monuments; and the best known are those of the Kubad-Âbâd palace located near the Beyşehir Lake, dating from the first half of the 13th century, which corresponds to the date of construction of the palace (Yeğingil and Freestone, 2008;Freestone et al, 2009). Tiles from other Seljuk monuments in Sivas, Tokat and Konya were also studied (Kiefer, 1956a(Kiefer, , 1956b(Kiefer, , 1956cHenderson and Raby, 1989;Demirci et al, 2004;Colomban et al, 2006), but the data about their contexts of discovery, their chronology, and their chemical compositions are relatively incomplete, which means it is not possible to propose a "solid" Seljuk referential, nor to directly compare the glaze compositions. Nevertheless, these studies propose that the glaze technologies of the Seljuk pottery -which are characterized by the use of soda-lime and alkali fluxes for transparent glazes, and lead-alkali fluxes and tin-oxide opacifiers for monochrome turquoise glazes -were different from those of Miletus Ware.…”

“…A corpus of the so-called "Seljuk" clayey-body ceramics found at Korucutepe has also been studied (Demirci et al, 2004). According to the researchers, these ceramics featured a lead-alkali glaze, but no more detailed information about their chemical composition and no archaeological documentation about this corpus were provided.…”