The Interaction Between a White Material Inside and Outside a Pottery Vessel From Eastern Ein-Shams, Egypt

Abstract

This work aims to investigate a pottery vessel from eastern EIN-Shams, Egypt, lying in sandy soil from citizen lands, returning to the New Kingdom-Egypt. This pottery vessel was covered with white material from inside and outside. In terms of origin, this vessel is made of buff-colored clay; it has big pores, many cracks, and large missing areas filled with that material, with an uneven surface texture, that strongly bonds with the body pores, and shrinks away from the edges in some areas, in this way obscuring the original surface. In this respect, several physicochemical investigations in terms of chemical composition, physical properties, and nature of this white material were performed, to analyze the influence of it on the ancient pottery vessel. The analytical methods used in this research were USB digital microscopy, X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy coupled with energy dispersive X-ray (SEM-EDX), and differential thermal analysis (DTA). The results of the USB digital microscopy showed the presence of gypsum crystals, large, flaked pottery surfaces, and quartz. SEM-EDX revealed the presence of organic fibers, chloride salts in a significant percentage, iron, and aluminum oxides. XRD investigation emphasizes the presence of gypsum and sodium chloride salts. DTA results revealed that the firing temperatures of the pottery vessel range between around 750-800°C.