The Materials and Technology of Glazed Ceramics from the Deh Luran Plain, Southwestern Iran: A Study in Innovation 9781841717463, 9781407329659

Table of contents :
Front Cover
Copyright
Acknowledgements
Table of Contents
List of Tables
List of Figures
List of Appendices
Chapter One: Introduction and Plan of Volume
Chapter Two: Innovation in Technological Systems
Chapter Three: The Glazed Ceramics from the Deh Luran Plain
Chapter Four: The Ceramic Glazes from the Deh Luran Plain and their Composition
Chapter Five: Analysis of the Ceramic Pastes
Chapter Six: Sources of Lead Used in Making Glazed Ceramics in Mesopotamia
Chapter Seven: Conclusions and Suggestions for Future Research
Bibliography

Citation preview

The Materials and Technology of Glazed Ceramics from the Deh Luran Plain, Southwestern Iran A Study in Innovation

David V. Hill

BAR International Series 1511 2006

Published in 2019 by BAR Publishing, Oxford BAR International Series 1511 The Materials and Technology of Glazed Ceramics from the Deh Luran Plain, Southwestern Iran © David V. Hill and the Publisher 2006 The author’s moral rights under the 1988 UK Copyright, Designs and Patents Act are hereby expressly asserted. All rights reserved. No part of this work may be copied, reproduced, stored, sold, distributed, scanned, saved in any form of digital format or transmitted in any form digitally, without the written permission of the Publisher. ISBN 9781841717463 paperback ISBN 9781407329659 e-book DOI https://doi.org/10.30861/9781841717463 A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library This book is available at www.barpublishing.com BAR Publishing is the trading name of British Archaeological Reports (Oxford) Ltd. British Archaeological Reports was first incorporated in 1974 to publish the BAR Series, International and British. In 1992 Hadrian Books Ltd became part of the BAR group. This volume was originally published by John and Erica Hedges in conjunction with British Archaeological Reports (Oxford) Ltd / Hadrian Books Ltd, the Series principal publisher, in 2006. This present volume is published by BAR Publishing, 2019.

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to thank the fo11owingpeople for contributing their time and efforts to help me complete my dissertation. I would like to think Drs. Ed Keall and Robert Mason of the Royal Ontario Museum who generously provided comparative ceramics from their museum' s holdings from Siraf and Yemen and access to their department ' s library. I would also like to thank Dr. St John Simpson of the Department of the Ancient Near East at the British Museum for access to the British Library and for organizing the Sasanian and Early Islamic ceramics study day at the museum. Dr . Derrek Kennet and Seth Priestman of Durham University U.K. also provided additional ceramics and allowed the author the opportunity to examine the Andrew Williamson collection of ceramics from western Iran and provided invaluable information regrading Sasanian and Early Islamic ceramics. Tatsuo and Hanae Sasaki of Kanazawa University also provided useful information regarding regional chronologies. Dr. Ian Freestone, Research Professor in Archaeological Science at CardiffUniversity , provided invaluable insights into the technologies ofancient Near Eastern ceramics and the role that lead may have played in the development of ceramic glazes . In the United States , I would like to thank everyone for access to tools of the archaeological trade. I would like to thank Dr. Nick Pingitore for access to the electron microprobe housed at the department of Geological Sciences at the University of El Paso, Texas. I would also like to thank Drs. Michael Glascock and Richard Speakman of Missouri University Research Reactor for INAA and LA-ICP-MS analysis. I would also like to thank Drs. Robert Agasie and John R. Vincenti of the Big-10 Consortium of Research and Training Reactors for providing the mini-grant to cover my INAA analysis at the University of Wisconsin's nuclear reactor. A special thanks goes out to Dr. Hector Neff, of IIRMES (Institute for Integrative Research in Materials , Environments and Societies) located at California State University of Long Beach, for access to the TOF-ICP-MS and faci_litating one of the first experiments using this new instrumentation for lead isotope analysis. At the University of Texas, I would like to thank my dissertation committee , primarily my chair , Dr. James A. Neely who put up with some very "creative" writing and helped turn it into an intelligible dissertation. I would like to thank Dr. Sam Wilson for stepping in as co-chair when Dr . Neely reached emeritus status. I want to thank Dr. Nick Pingitore for putting up for years with an archaeologist who had a very different view of archaeological artifacts and how to examine them and Dr. Karl Butzer for inspiring and nurturing that "very different view." Finally I would like to thank Dr. Mariah Wade who I think always seemed to understand what I was talking about. In New Mexico, I would like to thank Wade Broadhead for the maps and Laine Conway and Daryl Fuller for their help with assorted graphics and formatti .ng issues. I would also like to thank Renee for her patience.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Acknowledgments

................................................................................................................................................

i

Table of Contents

...............................................................................................................................................

ii

List of Tables

..............................................................................................................................................

iii

List of Figures

............................................................................................................................................

.. iv

List of Appendices

................... ....................................................................................................

........ ................ v

Chapter 1. Introduction and Plan of Research .........................................................................................................

1

Chapter 2. Innovation in Technological Systems ....................................................................................................

3

Chapter 3. The Glazed Ceramics from the Deh Luran Plain ...................................................................................

6

Chapter 4. Deh Lu ran Ceramic Glazes and Their Composition ............................................................................

22

Chapter 5. Analysis of the Ceramic Pastes ............................................................................................................

32

Chapter 6. Sources of Lead Used in Making Glazed Ceramics in Mesopotamia .................................................. 38 Chapter 7. Conclusions and Suggestions for Future Research ..............................................................................

41

Bibliography

43

.............................................................................................................................................

ii

LIST OF TABLES

Table 3.1

Table 5.1

Optically Stimulated Luminescence Dating of Glazed Ceramics from the Deh Luran Plain .............. ..........................................................................................

........... 20

Sources of Ceramics Used in the UWNR INAA Study ....................................................... 35

iii

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 3.1

Mesopotamia Area Map Showing the Deh Lu ran Plain ........................................................

Figure 3.2

Parthian Occupations of the Deh Lu ran Plain ......................................................................

17

Figure 3.3

Sasanian Occupations of the Deh Luran Plain .....................................................................

17

Figure 3.4

Eighth Century Islamic Occupations of the Deh Luran Plain ..............................................

18

Figure 3.5

Tenth Century Islamic Occupations of the Deh Luran Plain ...............................................

18

Figure 3.6

Post-Tenth Century Occupations of the Deh Luran Plain ...................................................

19

Figure 4.1

Ternary Plot of Flux Compositions Determined Through Microprobe Analysis .............................................................................................

25

Ternary Plot of Flux Compositions Determined Through LA-ICP-MS Analysis ............................................................................................

28

Variance-Covariance Matrix of Principal Component 1 and Principle Component 2 derived from LA-ICP-MS Analysis of the Deh Luran Glazes ......................................................................................................

29

Bivariate Plot of Base log IO parts per million Concentrations of Copper and Lead from the Deh Luran Glazes .....................................................................

30

Bivariate Plot of Base log 10 parts per million Concentrations of Nickle and Lead from the Deh Luran Glazes ......................................................................

30

Figure 4.2

Figure 4.3

Figure 4.4

Figure 4.5

7

Figure 5.1

Variance-Covariance Matrix of Principal Component I and Principle Component 2 of Ceramic Pastes from MURR INAA Date Set ............................ 33

Figure 5.2

Bivariate Plot of Base log 10 parts per million concentrations of Cobalt and Manganese in the Paste of MURR INAA Groups I and 2 .................................................. 34

Figure 5.3

Bivariate Plot of Base log 10 parts per million Concentrations of Aluminum and Manganese on the MURR INAA Groups Yemeni Ceramic Paste Groups .................. 34

Figure 5.4

Variance-Covariance Matrix of Principal Component I and Principle Component 2 of Ceramic Pastes from the UWNR INAA Dataset ................ 35

Figure 5.5

Bivariate Plot of Base log 10 parts per million concentrations of Nickle and Hafnium in the Paste of UWNR INAA Groups 1 and 2 ................................... 35

Figure 6.1

Bivariate Plot of 207Pb/206Pb and 206Pb/204Pb showing the Differences in Isotopic Ratios between Early, Late, Yemeni, and Standard Samples ............................ 39

Figure 6.2

Bivariate Plot of 207Pb/206Pb and 208Pb/206Pb showing the Differences in Isotopic Ratios between Early, Late, Yemeni, and Standard Samples ............................ 39

iv

LIST OF APPENDICES

APPENDIX A.

Profiles of Rim Sherds from the Deh Lu.ran Plain, Southwestern Iran . . . ... . .....

APPENDIXB.

Types of Glazed Ceramics Recovered from the Deh Lu.ran Plain .......

Table B.l

Monochrome Glaze and Paste Colors. . ....................................

Table B.2

Types of Splash Glazes from the Deh Luran Plain ............................

B-20

Table B.3

Colour of Splash Glazes and Paste Colours on White Base Glaze ................

B-22

Table B.4

Colour of Splash Glazes and Paste Colours on Yellow Base Glaze .... . .. . ....

. ... B-23

Table B.5

Colour of Splash Glazes and Paste Colours on Olive-Green Base Glaze ........

. .. . B-24

Table B.6

Colour of Splash Glazes and Paste Colours on Other Base Glazes .......

Table B.7

Paste Colour of Sgraffiato Ceramics from the Deh Luran Plain . . .............

Table B.8

Paste Colour of Ceramics from the Deh Lu.ran Plain . . ........................

Table B.9

Miscellaneous Unclassified Painted Ceramics .. . ............

Table B.10

Chronological Placement of Site Occupation Components on the Deh Luran Plain ... B-33

Table B.11

Matching Rim Forms .................................................

APPENDIX C.

Glaze Composition Data ..................

Table C.1

Summary of Microprobe Analysis of Selected Glazed Ceramics from the Deh Luran Plain ............................................

.. ............

. A-1

. ..........

B-1 B-1

. ....

. ........

B-25 . .. B-29 B-30

. ..........

B-30

B-38 . ... . ..........

. C-1

. .. . .. . C-1

Table C.2

Glaze Compositions and Fusion Temperatures of Microprobe Samples . . .. . ........

Table C.3

LA-ICP-MS Analysis of Major Elements Present in the Deh Luran Ceramic Glazes ... C-8

Table C.4

LA-ICP-MS Analysis of Major Elements Present in the SirafCeramic Glazes .......

C-11

Table C.5

LA-TCP-MS Analysis of Major Elements Present in the Yemeni Ceramic Glazes ...

. C-13

APPENDIX D.

Petrographic Analysis...

APPENDIX E.

Lead Isotope Analysis .. . ........

Tabl.e E.1

Sample Groups Used in Lead Isotope Analysis. . .. . ...............

Table E .2

Lead-Isotope Glass Standards from the Corning Glass Museum .............

APPENDIX F.

Photographs of Selected Glazed Ceramics from the Deh Luran Plain ......

C-5

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . D- 1 . ......

V

. ... . .. . ...................

. ....

E- I

. .......... . .... . .....

E-1

E-3

.. . F-1

CHAPTER ONE. INTRODUCTION AND PLAN OF VOLUME This study seeks to understand the factors that govern technological change by focussing on a singe industry: the production of glazed ceramics in Mesopotamia. How does innovation appear in any technological system? What is it that brings change to a particular industry or art or other productive human behaviour? Since technological change is socially contextualized , it is necessary to investigate the way in which innovation appears within a particular technology and how that innovation is replicated and disseminated through social networks. This is best accomplished by reconstructing the history of a specific technological innovation. By tracing the technological history of Mesopotamian glazed ceramics , we can gain insights into the process of innovation in human societies. The Early Islamic period was a time of considerable social and technological change in the Near East. The rise of Islam , which led to the development of new social identities , also expanded markets located in recently established Islamic communities (Bulliet 1992). Rapid social change helped to foster rapid technological change , as exhibited by the decorative and technological revolution that occurred in Mesopotamian pottery making in the late eighth centuryC.E./ secondary A.H. During the preceding Sasanian period , glazed ceramics were produced using alkaline-based fluxes, a technology that had been part of ceramic practice for nearly 1, 7000 years. In fact, alkaline glazed beads have been produced in the Near East since at least the third millennium B.C.E. (Vandiver et al. 1992). However, the first glazed ceramics do not appear until around 1450 B.C.E. (Mooney 1999). The glaze used on the beads , and that used in the production of ceramic glazes are composed ofan alkaline-based flux, derived from plant ashes , silica from sand or crushed quartz , along with a colourant such as copper or iron (McCarthy 1996). Beginning with the Parthian Period (171 B .C.E. to 224 C.E.) , a few ceramic vessels with alkaline-based glazes were produced which also contained between 1 and 3 percent lead (Hedges 1976; Hedges and Moorey 1875). However, it was not until the late eighth century C.E ./ second century A.H. that true lead-based glazes were produced in Mesopotamia (Tite et al. 1998). The use of lead as a glaze flux is one of the primary components of a decorative revolution that took place in Mesopotamian pottery production over the next century . After a millennium in which there was little change in ceramic productive technology , suddenly potters introduced new shapes and began using a variety of brightly coloured glazes (Canby 1997; Mason 1994). The new Mesopotamian pottery bore shiny white surfaces painted with designs in dark cobalt blue, deep crimson red, or splashes of bright green. In appearance , this pottery bore a great resemblance to contemporary Chinese ceramics , which by the eighth century C.E . / second century A.H. , had certainly made their way to Mesopotamia. Chinese vessels were transported over the Silk Road , or more commonly , as part of

the ship-born trade with China (Tampoe 1989) . Striking similarities to contemporary Chinese ceramics suggest the possibility that the revolution in Mesopotamian pottery was Chinese in inspiration. The white colour and hard, glassy body of Chinese ceramics was the result of the use of low-iron kaolinic clays that were fired above 1300 degrees centigrade. Mesopotamian pottery was produced using local alluvial clay. The white appearance was not the result of a white coloured clay body, but rather came from the use of a lead glaze containing tin oxide , an effective opacifier that covered the brownish or yellowish paste of Mesopotamian pottery. Importantly , in an environment where wood is scarce, leadbased vessels could be fired at a lower temperature than were contemporary Chinese ceramics. Additional comparisons between Mesopotamian and Chinese ceramic technologies will be discussed in Chapters Three and Four. The technology of lead-based pottery glazes with white backgrounds, most commonly a tin-opacified lead-based glaze, spread westward to Egypt with the rise of the Fatamids , and from there to north Africa , and Spain . By the thirteenth century , what was originally a Mesopotamian glaze technology had spread into western Europe. Tin-opacified lead-glazed pottery spread to Italy where it was known as maiolica , based on its supposed origins , the Spanish island of Majorca. By the time the new glaze technology reached Amsterdam , it became known as delft. From Spain , the technology moved to the New World where it is known as loza blanca, talavera, or majolica (Lister and Lister 1976). Clearly , Mesopotamian lead-based glazed white coloured ceramics became a world technology and artistic tradition. As lead-based glazed ceramics gained dominance , the period ofrapid transformation in the ceramics industry came to an end. The Mesopotamian pottery industry , once the locus of major technological innovation became technologically conservative. How did lead-based glaze technology originally develop? Where did the technological changes originate? How did the new technology spread? Using a series ofanalytical techniques to characterize ceramics pastes and glazes , the path of innovation of lead-based ceramic glaze technology in Mesopotamian societies will be traced across space and through time . Plan of this Volume

The concepts of conservatism and innovation in productive technologies are introduced in Chapter Two, and the ways in which technological change comes to a particular industry are explored. In particular, the work of Eric von Hipple serves as a model for identifying potential sources of technological innovation within a given industry. Using von Hippie's model , a series of hypotheses are developed to address the question of the origin and trajectory of lead-based glaze innovation in Mesopotamia. The hypothetical model of technological change developed in Chapter Two will be tested using the data-set discussed in Chapter Three. Glazed ceramics recovered during the archaeological survey of the Deh Luran Plain , located in southwestern Iran , will serve as the material basis on which

primarily on monochrome blue-green glazed pottery from the Parthian , Sasanian , and Islamic periods , examines the history of the production of a single ceramic type through time .

the history of lead-based glaze technology is reconstructed. This large ceramic assemblage is described in detail. Temporal placement of the ceramic types and site assemblages are given particular consideration. In order to map out the transition between technologies, it is essential to establish that the data set under consideration does in fact continuously span the period of technological innovation. The well-provenienced ceramic collections from the Deb Luran Plain Project span the period of time, ca. 200 to 1100 C.E. , spanning the period of ceramic change under study (Neely 1969a,1969b; Neely and Wright 1994). Not only was the Deb Luran Plain continuously occupied during the period spanning the conversion from alkaline-based to lead-based glazes , but the ceramic assemblages recovered from sites on the Plain are large and varied enough to provide glazed ceramic sherds spanning the period under consideration. Temporal control is established in Chapter Three through a combination of typological classification and various methods of independent dating. The temporal placement of the Deh Luran sherds presented in Chapter Three serves as the basis to select an appropriately varied sample of ceramics for the subsequent analyses.

Time-of-Flight Inductively Coupled Mass Spectroscopy(TOFICP-MS) was utilized to characterize lead-isotope ratios to identify differences in the origins of the lead present in the ceramic glazes. This new analytical technique was used to trace the history of the sources of lead used in the production in Mesopotamia glazed ceramics . Using this full complement of archaeometric techniques , combined with historical analysis and independent dating , the history of the development of lead-based glaze over time is examined in light of the von Hippl e model of technological innovation and the incorporation of such innovations into productive industry .

Chapters Four , Five , and Six focus on the chemical , mineralogical and isotopic analysis of select samp les of glazed ceramics. The first of these chapters presents an overview of the results of previous compositional studies ofMesopotamian ceramic glazes. The results of electron microprobe analysis of a sample of glazed ceramic sherds from the Deh Luran Plain are presented , and compared with previous analytical studies ofceramic glazes from Mesopotamia. The microprobe analysis also allows for an examination of the possible effect of different Mesopotamian glaze compositions have on firing temperatures. The reduction of firing temperatures has been suggested as a possible motivation for the shift from alkalinebased glazes to lead-based glazes. Using the microprobe data, this hypothesis is examined in the particular case of the Mesopotamian pottery industry. A larger sample of glazed ceramics , analysed using Laser Ablation-Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectroscopy (LA-ICP-MS), is compared with the microprobe sample, to insure that the complete study reflects the variability in glaze compositions through time. Ceramics from elsewhere in Iran and from Yemen are included in this ceramic paste study in order to provide a means of comparing several specific ceramic types. In Chapter Five, attention turns from glaze composition to analysis of the clay body or "paste" through Instrumental Neutron Activation Analysis (INAA) and petrographic analysis. These analyses focus on differentiation between potential production sources of glazed ceramics. In order to identify possible sources of the materials used by the different ceramic industries represented in the collections , data from the first of two INAA studies conducted for this study are compared with previous compositional studies ofSasanian and Islamic pottery. Particular attention is paid to the INAA data from the sherds included in the LA-ICP-MS sample discussed in Chapter Four. Petrographic analysis of a sample of Deb Luran ceramics is then introduced to support this study ' s findings regarding the different sources of the compositional groups identified in the INAA study. Finally , the results of the second INAA study are presented . Thi s study, focus sing 2

CHAPTER TWO: INNOVATION IN TECHNOLOGICAL SYSTEMS

knowledge , or aesthetic preference (Lemonnier 2002 ; Smith 1981; van der Leeuw and Torrence 1989). Such exchange mechanisms can involve direct interaction between individuals and whole societies , based on the movement of peoples , trade either in objects or materials , or in literate societies , through text (Kingery et al. 1988). The innovations introduced into a defined technology are usually the result of changes that originate with the individuals who work within the technology (von H.ippel 1986, 1988). In the case of ceramic production , experienced potters, who already knew the processes by which glazes and pottery was produced , would be the most likely to introduce innovations in decorative technologies.

Examination of technological change in the archaeological record requires archaeologists to focus on variability within specific classes of artifacts , through time and across space, and to create a detailed reconstruction of the history of the particular technology ofinterest. Change in material culture is the result of local historical processes under social control (Lemmonnier 2002; van der Leeuw and Torrence 1989; Siller and Tite 2000). In other words, technologies have histories that are socially contextualized.

One recent set of studies conducted on the origins of product innovation in contemporary industry identified a variable referred to as the "functional locus of innovation" (von Rippel 1986, 1988). The functional locus of innovation model looks for correlation patterns between innovators and the functional relationship through which they derive economic benefit from a given innovation (von Hippel 1986). An "innovator" is the individual or firm that develops an innovation to a functionally useful form. This model predicts the source of innovation based on who benefits from the profits from a specific innovation. The locus of innovation model is "agent-based" in that the model focuses on the choices of actions taken by individuals , predicting that the innovator will be the firm or individual who stands to gain the greatest economic benefit from an innovation (Dobres 2001). Moreover, von H.ippel's model recognizes that the innovator is most likely the individual or group that is familiar with the "normal configuration" of the product prior to modification. The "normal configuration" of an object consists of the way that it was made to meet prior expectations of the intended performance of the object (Kingery 2001: 127).

Innovation and the Appearance of Lead-Glazed Pottery in Mesopotamia Traditional pottery making technologies have been described as conservative (Foster 1965; Vandiver 1987, 1988). Technologies go through lengthy periods of conservatism , wherein the materials and process of production remain static , as a result of the standardization of production processes and materials , in order to yield consistent products. Producers must reliably manufacture products of a consistent quality and have access to a stable market in order to ensure economic security. Craftspeople are not just familiar with potential markets for their wares , but also with the physical properties of the materials that they combine into objects through skill gained through previous experience (Ingold 2001 :29). Security lies in duplicating, to the best of the potter's ability, those materials and processes that are known through prior experience to produce quality pottery (Blackman 1988; Foster 1965). Thus, ceramic production , like other technologies , tend toward conservatism. However , these lengthy periods of conservatism are punctuated by sudden moments of rapidly disseminated innovation. Innovation consists of the replacement or substitution of a material , device , or process , having some analogous relationship to a predecessor (Barsalla 1988). Periods of innovation ultimately produce new conservative technologies through a process known as development lock. Development lock occurs when a single process is selected , one often not well understood, excluding some possible alternatives while including others (Jablonka and Ziman 2000; Waldrop 1992). These decisions constrain the future course of technological development (Schiffer and Skibo 1997; Smith 1981). The new technology then becomes part of the motor vocabulary , and the reasons for making the original technological choices are lost. At this point , what was once innovative technology becomes conservative (Vandiver 1988).

Data on a wide range of technological innovations was collected by von Rippel and his students based on interviews of persons having first-hand information regarding specific innovative developments , patent records and documentary material , primarily peer-reviewed journals and industryfocused publications. Three groups were identified for being most responsible for innovation of a particular product , technology or process; users , manufacturers , and suppliers. Based on von Hippel ' s research , it was found that innovation in some fields , like scientific instrumentation and Linux-based software , a user-dominated pattern of innovation was observed. In contrast , product manufacturers are the developers of most of the innovations within such diverse industries as earthmoving equipment and industries involved in the production of plastics. Suppliers of wire-stripping equipment tended to be the most common source of innovation within their respective industry (von Hippe) 1986:326). Other functional relations of innovation , such as independent invention of an object or process that could be sold to a producer can be identified as well, but were much less commonly observed (von Rippel 1988). The results of von Hippel ' s research demonstrate that there is a link between the source of specific innovations , expected benefit of the innovation , and the innovation ' s functional roles within the greater technological system.

According to Smith (I 981 ), innovation usually originates from the experimentation of experienced crafts persons. Indeed , until the rise of designers as a specialized class of knowledgeworkers, the designer and producer of material objects were the same individuals (Kingery 2001). Craft practitioners can be exposed to new technologies and materials through interaction with other crafts persons or by borrowing techniques from other technologies. Changes in the technology may then be required to adapt the new technology to differences in locally available materials , technological 3

The concept of the "locus of innovation" is particularly useful when applied to archaeological questions regarding change within a technology , as it provides a framework from which to look at the producers of material culture and ask, within a given population, which group will innovate. The use of von Hippie's model is ground-breaking in an archaeological context in its focus on identifying the agents of change and their relationship to innovation.

Sasanian and Early Islamic period occupations from Siraf located in southwest Iran , Iraq, and western Yemen were also included in this study for comparative purposes during subsequent compositional analysis. There is limited evidence for the actual production of glazed ceramics on the Deh Luran Plain. A possible "crow ' s foot" was collected from a site (DL-62) occupied during the Early Islamic Period. This triangular object of moulded clay could have been used to separate individual glazed vessels when stacked in kilns, as indicated by imperfections in the glaze observed on the interiors of some Sasanian and Early Islamic Period bowl sherds. The possible crow's foot will be examined through INAA to see if this object could be related to pottery making.

A series of testable hypotheses derived from von Hippel ' s work can be used to examine the development of the lead-based glaze technology in Mesopotamia. It is assumed that potters most familiar with the presence of small amounts of lead in glaze compositions , regardless whether the lead was deliberately or accidentally included, are more likely to recognize the effects of lead on the properties of the glaze. Once the effects of lead as a glaze flux were recognized , potters could then choose to experiment , developing a new glaze recipe based on lead . They could also choose to retain the traditional alkaline-based glaze technology. Once the technology of lead-glazes becomes established in potterymaking in one area , local innovations in the appearance of lead-glazed pottery , such as the use ofnew materials for glaze colours, will appear as more potters adopt the technology. As potters move or knowledge otherwise spreads , ceramics with lead-based glazes will appear in areas distant from the location of the first discovery of the technology. Lead-glazed pottery production in these secondary centres will change in appearance. The potters of the new lead-glazed ceramics industry may choose to import raw material from the primary source of pottery making knowledge , or may make use of a new source of raw material, specifically lead, for glaze.

Site DL-2 also produced a small fragment composed of highly vitrified coarse-grained material. One face of this object is covered with a 2 mm thick layer of dark-green glass that appears to diffuse into the coarse-grained substrate. The green glass does not resemble the appearance of any of the ceramic glazes in terms of colour or clarity. Analysis of this "glaze" and comparison with ceramic glaze compositions will be addressed in Chapter Three to determine whether this object represents a portion of a pottery kiln. Given the limited evidence for the production of glazed ceramics on the Deh Luran Plain, it is assumed that the vast majority of the glazed ceramics were imported, either from Mesopotamia or the Iranian Plateau.

An Archaeometric Approach to Studying Technological Innovation

Several analytical techniques were chosen to conduct specific types of analysis of the glazed ceramics. Characterization of the composition of ceramic glazes was conducted using an electron microprobe and Laser Ablation-Inductively CoupledMass Sepctroscopy (LA-ICP-MS). LA-ICP-MS is a relatively new technique in archaeometric research. LA-ICP-MS is a surface analysis technique with sensitivity simi .lar to INAA which provides additional elements not possible to detect by means of INAA (Kennett et al 2002; Neff 2003) while also offering the added bonus of requiring little time for sample preparation and measurement. With its small spot size , LAICP-MS is also minimally invasive and one can avoid weathered areas of the glaze (Habicht-Mauche et al. 2003). Until this study , LA-ICP-MS has not been applied to the study of Mesopotamian ceramic glazes. By analysing a series of glazed ceramics that span the time of development of leadbased glazes it should be possible to follow the history of this technology. The results of these two studies will be found in Chapter Four.

Surface collection of the sites on the Deh Luran Plain produced one or more glazed sherds from ninety-six sites dating from the Parthian through contemporary eras. Temporal control of ceramics selected for analysis will be derived from traditional typological seriation of the glaze decorated ceramics. A sample of ceramics will also be dated directly using Optically Stimulated Luminescence and associated coin finds. Dating of the individual site occupations will be addressed in Chapter Three. The glazed ceramics in the study sample were characterized in terms of the colour of the glaze and paste. Additional glazed ceramics from the

In Chapter Five, the pastes of the glazed ceramics examined through LA-ICP-MS will be characterized by Instrumental Neutron Activations Analysis (INAA). A subset of the compositional groups derived from the INAA study will be examined by petrographic analysis. The data from the INAA study will be combined with the glaze composition data to examine regional and temporal change in the sources of glazed ceramics recovered from the Deh Luran Plain. A second INAA study will focus on the compositional variation within a single ceramic type , blue-glazed ceramics. This latter study will be oriented towards understandin g potential variation in the

1n order to test these hypotheses and, ultimately, von Hippel's model for identifying the source of technological change , comparable examples oflead glazed pottery production within that industry having a well-documented diachronic record are required. The archaeological record of the Deh Luran Plain provides the necessary evidence of continuous settlement spanning the time of the appearance of lead-based glazed ceramics. Glazed ceramics recovered from the survey , originally collected to provide temporal placement for the Deb Luran sites, (Hole et al. 1969; Neely 1969 a, b, 1970, 1974· Neely and Wright 1994) will also be used to reconstruct the history of change in the technology of Mesopotamian ceramic glazes.

4

sources of this widely Mesopotamian pottery.

distributed

decorated

type of

As the appearance of lead-based glazes is the specific technological change under study, the potential variation in the sources of lead will be explored in Chapter Six. Time-ofFlight Mass Spectroscopy , a new analytical technique , will be used to characterize the stable isotopes of the lead present in lead-containing glazed ceramics. Through the statistical comparison of lead-isotope ratios of different types of glazed pottery it should be possible to reconstruct regional trade in lead used in pottery glazes and how that trade may vary through time or across space. Using the tools ofarchaeometric analysis , it is possible to trace the development of lead-based glaze technology in the Mesopotamian ceramic industry. By using archaeometric techniques to establish the origins of a lead-based glaze technology , much is revealed about the innovators in the Mesopotamian ceramic industry.

5

sgraffiato, Press-moulded , Luster-ware , Chinese porcelain, and other miscellaneous types of glazed ceramics.

CHAPTER THREE. THE GLAZED CERAMICS FROM THE DEH LURAN PLAIN

Glaze colours were assigned subjectively, with colour designations derived from previous descriptions of glazed ceramics from contemporary assemblages. The amount of glaze present on the face of each sherd was visually estimated. The area of glaze remaining on a given sherd was recorded to provide an index of the degree of weathering that had taken place on each sherd, and thus how stable different glaze colours were, and as a way of recording whether a particular ceramic surface had been glazed or not. The thickness of each sherd was measured using to the nearest millimetre using a metric scale.

Introduction To explore change in ceramic technology through time, it is first necessary to establish that a sufficient sample of ceramics spanning the proposed period of technological change is available for analysis. This section will present a description of the numbers and kinds of glazed ceramics that were recovered during the survey of the Deh Luran Plain, southwestern Iran (Figure 3.1). The sample under consideration is drawn from the ninety-six surveyed sites on the Deh Luran Plain yielding one or more glazed ceramic sherds. The ceramic classes will be compared with previous survey- and excavation-based data from elsewhere in Mesopotamia to assign periods of production to the various classes of pottery identified. Optically Stimulated Luminescence dating (OSL) of six sherds and the recovery of dateable coins provide an independent method of dating the occupations at specific sites. Comparison ofrim forms between sites provides evidence of contemporary settlements.

Except for broken or heavily weathered examples, glazedecorated rim sherds were drawn in profile, and the most likely orientation on the parent vessel was identified. The profile drawings were grouped by site, and each drawing was compared with previously published examples from contemporary Mesopotamian contexts (Appendix A). Rim diameter measurements were not made, since without adequate measuring tools, measurements using techniques such as curve-fitting to a template are subject to extreme observer bias, making statements regarding such anthropologically interesting questions as vessel function or the nestability of potential trade ceramics unreliable (Plog 1985).

Methodology The ceramic co11ection made during the 1969 survey of the Deh Luran Plain is curated at the J. J. Pickle Research Campus of the University of Texas at Austin. Glazed ceramics were collected during the survey of the Deb Luran Plain and usually represent the total of the glazed pottery occurring on the site. Three sites, DL-2 , DL-20 and DL-36 , from which the most glazed ceramics were co11ected, were systematically collected by subdividing the site into arbitrary units. The ceramics were in some cases still in the shipping crates in which they had been transported from Iran. As the result of exposure to changes in humidity and temperature over thirty years in the storage facility, the detailed provenience designations that had been inked on some of the sherds from DL-2 and a few of the other sites were lost. The provenience information was still present on the ceramics in the rest of the ceramic collection.

The colour terms used in the database to designate the colour of the paste for each sherd was derived from colour groups within the Munsell Soil Colour chart (Kollmorgen Corporation 1975). The correspondence of the Munsell Soil Colours to the Paste Colour attribute is as follows: Light Gray (High Values on Glay Pages); White (self-explanatory); Light Yellow (High Value and High Chroma Values on 10 YR page); Light Brown (Colour Values between 3/ and 5/ and Chroma between /2 and 6/ on the 7.5 YR and 10 YR pages; Light Reddish Brown, (Colour Values between 5/ and 6/ and Chroma Values between /6 and /8 on the 2.5 YR page) and Reddish Brown (Colour Values between 5/ and 3/ and Chroma Values between /4 and /8 on the 2.5 YR page). The fairly narrow range of colours was selected to account for variations in firing conditions within paste composition groups. The use of colour ranges to record paste colours in this study likely captured the range of paste firing colours within a single productive tradition.

A search was made of the Deh Luran survey records (Neely 1969a) to identify site collections that might contain glaze decorated ceramics dating to the Parthian, Sasanian and Islamic Periods. Each site collection was examined and the glazed ceramics re-bagged separately. Each sherd was analysed by the author and the results added to a database. Attributes recorded for each sherd included: site number , the type of glazed ware represented , portion of the original vessel represented, interior and exterior glaze colour, the amount of glaze present on each side of the sherd, the thickness of each sherd, and the colour of the ceramic paste. A "comments " field in the database allowed for further description of unique ceramic specimens.

Descriptions of Glazed Ceramics from the Deh Luran Plain The alkaline-based glazes and thinner lead-based glazes from Deh Luran retain their original colour and vitreous appearance. Less than 1% of the sherds had lost one or both surfaces due to mechanical abrasion through exposure, hydration of the glaze layer, or exfoliation from the expansion of absorbed salts. Sherds with one or both faces removed through weathering or abrasion were not included in the ceramic type data (Appendix B. Appendix F., Figures F. l and F.2.). The high quality of preservation of the ceramic glazes from the Deh Luran Plain have substantially impacted the current study, providing a window into the range of variation in Sasanian and Islamic glazed ceramics.

The ceramic type descriptions were based on previously identified forms of glazed ceramic surface treatment and the morphology of rim forms reported previously from the Parthian, Sasanian and Islamic Periods in Iran and Iraq. These decorative types include; monochrome glazes, Splash glazes, 6

Tabriz

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Figure 3.1 Locationof the Oeh Luran Plain and Selected Archaeologicaland Modern Settlements

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The Deh Luran assemblage is particularly well-suited for studies of ceramic glazes , as the extreme degrees of chemical or mechanical weathering typical of Sasanian and Early Islamic ceramic glazes reported from excavations in Mesopotamia and at Siraf (Southwestern Iran) , were not generally observed in the ceramic collection (authors' observations of the Siraf collection curated at the Royal Ontario Museum in April of2004; also see Simpson 1992:301; Watson 2004: 160). Interestingly , these well-preserved sherds likely lay on the surface of the Deh Luran Plain in some cases for fourteen hundred years This implies that surface conditions on the Deh Luran Plain are well-suited to preservation of ceramic glazes, while burial conditions are not conducive to preservation of glazes. Interestingly , this suggests that the whitish-blue glazed ceramics attributed to the Sasanian occupation of Abu Sari fa, (located to the east of the Deh Luran Plain) , but not found at other contemporary sites, are actually heavily weathered blue glazes, such as are present in deposits at Nippur and later Islamic deposits at Abu Sirifa (Hedges and Moorey 1974; Adams 1970). Whitish-blue and blue glazed ceramics at Abu Sirifa shares a common light yellow paste , offering further support for the hypothesis that they are in fact both blue glazed ceramics that share a common source (Adams 1970).

displaying light blue on one surface and a darker shade of blue on the other were recovered from fourteen sites. Various types of surface treatment were observed on the monochrome ceramics. One or more parallel incised lines were observed on fourteen blue-glazed sherds from DL-2. Zigzag lines were observed on six sherds; two from DL-2, two from DL-38 , and one each from DL-39 and DL-74. A crosshatched incised design was observed on one blue glazed sherd from DL-2 and a wavy incised line on the exterior of a sherd from DL-74. Four sherds displayed mending holes. Two of the sherds were from DL-2 and two from DL-62. Two drilled holes were drilled into one of the sherds from DL-62. This sherd had a black exterior glaze and a reddish brown paste. Only one hole was present in the other three sherds. The other drilled sherd from DL-62 had a blue exterior glaze and a light brown paste. The light brown paste and blue colour make this sherd unique in the collection from this site. The two sherds from DL-2 were both glazed blue, one with a gray paste , the other with a light yellow paste. A distinctive class of blue coloured alkaline-glazed monochrome ceramics are those sherds decorated using a "Barbotive " treatment (Lane 1948; Sarre 1925; Watson 2004: 160). Barbotive treatment is the result of the application ofrounded strips or blobs of clay applied directly to the surface of an unfired vessel by an extrusion process (Reitlinger 1935:212). Fifty-five sherds with Barbotine-type surface treatment were recovered from thirteen sites. Barbotive decoration was only observed on sherds that were coated on their exteriors with a blue glaze. Most of the sherds display only a section of a single line of Barbotive application or one or two small, rounded clay pellets , approximately one centimetre in diameter. The clay pellets were often impressed by the potters ' fingernail , resulting in a "coffee bean" appearance.

The following sections will describe the different types of glazed ceramics recovered from the Deh Luran Plain. The different types of ceramics will then be used to identify the periods of occupation of the sites from which they were recovered. Additional information provided through comparison with ceramics recovered from stratified excavations and surveys in Iran and Iraq, comparison of the rim shapes of monochrome glazed ceramics from Deh Luran with ceramics from contexts that were independently dated elsewhere , and direct dating of ceramic sherds by Optical Stimulated Lwninescence (OSL) will be used to determine the time span during which each of the different ceramic types was produced. Monochrome Glazes

While the majority of the Barbotine-decorated sherds were slipped on both the exterior and interior surfaces, there were two exceptions. In these two cases , the interior glaze had been lost through weathering. On twenty-three sherds , the interior slip is the same blue colour as found on the exterior surface. Seven sher ds were slipped on the interior surface with a lighter shade of blue than was used on the exterior. In six of these , the light blue glaze was then coated with a brown-black Splashglaze. A brown-black interior glaze was present on eighteen Barbotine sherds. A single Barbotine sherd sports a dark-green interior glaze, while the exterior has a dark blue glaze.

Monochrome glazed ceramics are part of a long decorative tradition in Mesopotamia and are well established by 1400 B.C.E. (Moorey 1999: 159-162). Monochrome glazes dating to the Sasanian and Early Islamic Periods have been reported from across the Indian Ocean and eastward from as widely separated places as Axum, Ethiopia to the eastern coast of China (Fukang 1992). Monochrome glazes were the most common decorated type of decorated pottery recovered from the Deh Luran Plain (Appendix B, Table B.1). The most common glaze colour present in the survey collection was blue. Seventy-three sites produced one or more sherds with blue glaze on both surfaces. Variation in the appearance of blue glazed ceramics includes the appearance of black glaze or black Splash glaze on the interior surface of the blue glazed vessel. The surface bearing the black Splash , was infrequently glazed using a lighter blue colour than the blue glaze observed on the opposite side of the sherd. Blue glazed sherds with a black or black Splash on a light blue glaze are present at thirty-six sites. herds

Based on the limited variability in the colours of the ceramic paste , the production of blue-glazed Barbotine decorated ceramics from the Deh Luran Plain was either restricted to a few localities , or one or two sources dominated the ceramic trade of this type. All of the sherds that displayed Barbotive treatment were coated with a blue exterior glaze. One Barbotive decorated sherd had a white paste . Another Barbotive sherd had a reddish brown paste . Otherwise , the pastes of the Barbotine decorated ceramics were either light yellow or light gray. Blue glazed ceramics with Barbotive

8

treatment have an average thickness of73mm (S. D. 15mm). The recovery of Barbotive decorated monochrome ceramics from eighth century C.E./second century A.H. and later contexts at Samarra, and Susa indicates that this decorative technique dates to the Early Islamic Period (Boucharlat , Perrot, and Ladiray I 987; Kervran 1977; Mason and Keal! 1991:25).

survey at Bushehr , now on file at the Department of Archaeology, University of Durham, this rim form is common on Sasanian sites dating to the fifth to seventh century C.E. Fourteen sites produced black-glazed pottery. Like the olive/pea green glazed ceramics, all of the paste colours are found amongst the black-glazed pottery in the sample , indicating production of black glazes at multiple locations. The loop handle from a "pilgrim-flask " from DL-34 was covered with a weathered black glaze, indicating a Parthian style and demonstrating the use of black alkaline-based glases during this period(Appendix A, Figure 11.0).

The Deh Luran monochrome glazed ceramics collection also included twenty-two applique decorated sherds. Applique was applied, either as a single clay strip pressed inwards (indented) at even intervals just below the rim, or as an arch , or as "U" shaped handles attached to the sides of jars (Appendix A, Figure 33 .B). Of the twenty-two sherds displayed applique, nineteen , collected from six sites , were glazed blue. DL-2 yielded an appliqued sherd with an olive or pea-green coloured glaze on both the interior and exterior surfaces. An applique-decorated sherd from DL-74 was glazed white on the interior, while the exterior was not glazed. Lastly, the sample includes a single appliqued sherd, recovered from DL-290, coated with a very dark green glaze on the interior. Small areas of dark green glaze were also present on the exterior of this sherd. This sherd is also unique in that it is a rim sherd in which the lip in the interior of the vessel appears to have been broken away by repeated impacts, removing the glaze and interior surface of the lip. Four applique handles were collected from the Deh Luran Plain , three from DL-2, and one from DL-74. Monochrome ceramics with applique are thought to date to the eighth or ninth century C.E./second or third century A.H. (Mason and Keall 1991 :52).

White alkaline-based glazed ceramics were recovered from eleven sites. White alkaline-based glazes have a distinct "felted " texture and are often mottled with black. Based on the variation in paste colours, alkaline-white glazed ceramics were produced at multiple locations. Four sherds coated with light green coloured alkaline-glaze were recovered from four sites. Since the light green coloured sherds display slightly reflective surfaces, they do not represent the results of the weathering of darker coloured sherds. Two of the light green sherds had a light brown or reddish brown paste. The other two light green glazed sherds had gray pastes. Brown-coloured glazes were recovered from four sites. The brown glaze ranged in colour from very dark brown from DL36 Central and DL-227 to light brown or tan from DL-53 and DL-239. These sherds represent actual brown coloured glazes, not clear glazes applied to brown ceramic pastes. Rather , the sherd with a dark brown glaze from DL-36 Central has a light reddish brown paste. The brown-glazed sherd from DL-227 has a reddish brown paste. The light brown glazed sherd from DL-53 and the tan sherd from DL-239 have a light gray paste.

The next most common glaze colour in the ceramics from Deh Luran is dark green. Alkaline-based dark green glazes are more common and are present at twenty-one sites. Glazed sherds displaying the characteristic dark gray-green of Parthian glazes were recovered from three sites , DL-27 , DL34, and DL-111. Of these dark green glazed sherds , three are characteristic of Parthian-style vessel rims (Debevoise 1934a ; Toll 1943 ; Watson 2004:158). (Table 3.10 , Appendix A Figures 10, and 11).

While not specifically a sherd from a ceramic vessel , a fragment from a glazed tile was collected from DL-226. The tile has a reddish brown paste and is glazed a dark brown colour on one side. The tile appears to have been originally moulded in the shape of a six-pointed star.

Seven monochrome sherds are characterized by reddish brown or light reddish brown pastes and very dark green glazes with surfaces with a high index of refraction. Six of these sherds were collected from various proveniences at DL-2 while the seventh was collected from DL-38. Electron microprobe analysis of the sherd from DL-38 indicates that this class of ceramics made use of a lead-based glaze coloured by copper (See Chapter Three). The use of a lead-based glaze indicates an early Islamic Period of production for these seven sherds. Similar ceramics made with a dark green lead-based glaze and dating to the early Islamic Period were recovered from Abu Sarifa (Adams 1970).

Two stratified excavations , one at the Apadana at Susa (Boucharlat 1993; Boucharlat , et al. 1987) and the other at Siraf (Tampoe 1989; Whitehouse 1979), both located in Iran , contribute to our understanding of variation in the monochrome coloured ceramic glazes of Mesopotamia through time. Other excavations , conducted at sites located in Iraq , Iran , and along the Persian Gulf (Kennet 2004) , provide additional information regarding the dating of the various types of glazed pottery recovered from the Deh Luran Plain.

Sherds with a distinctive pea-green or olive green alkalinebased glaze were recovered from eighteen sites. Olive/peagreen sherds were apparently widely produced since all of the paste colour categories are represented , suggesting the widespread use of this glaze recipe. A bifurcate rim , from DL2 Zone 5, was decorated with pea-green glaze (Appendix A, Figure 4.F). Based on Andrew Williamson ' s notes from his

Using the significant number of reconstructable vessels recovered from the Apadana (palace) at Susa , changes in the frequencies of different monochrome ceramic glazes can be traced from the late Achaemenid Period occupation (ca. 600 B.C.E.) through the Early Islamic Period (ca. 700C.E ./78 A.H.) (Boucharlat 1993; Boucharlat , Perot , and Ladiray 1987). Unfortunately , the record of change is broken by a

Dating Change in Monochrome Glazed Ceramics

9

depositional hiatu s between 300 and 500 C.E., spanning much of the Sasan ian Period (Boucharlat, Perot , and Ladiray , 1987). The earliest deposits at the Apadana (ca. 600 B.C.E.) are associated with yellow and white glazed ceramics. With the exception ofa single tan-yel1ow sherd recovered from DL-256 , yellow-glazed ceramics recovered from the Deb Luran Plain were associated with the Islamic Period occupations. Unless the olive-green or pea-green glazed ceramics in the current sample are considered yellow glazes , few yellow-coloured glazed ceramics recovered from the Deh Luran Plain are attributable to the Islamic Period. The pea-green or olive-green sherds represent a distinct Sasanian pottery type. At the Apandana , beginning around 200 B.C.E. , black and blue coloured alkaline glazes were produced contemporaneously with yellow and white glazes. By the beginning of first century C.E. , blue , and to a lesser extent , black , coloured alkaline glazes dominate the vessel assemblage. It is also during the first century C.E. that vessels with an olive or peagreen glaze appear. During this period , yellow and white , followed quickly by black glazed ceramics also cease to be recovered from excavation. However , small numbers of green or olive coloured alkaline-based glazed ceramics continue to be recovered from the Apadana alongside a much greater amount of blue glazed pottery. The co-occurrence of blue glazed pottery with minor amounts of green glazed pottery continues through time in spite of a depositional hiatus occurring between approximately 200 and 450-500 C.E. Green glazed pottery is no longer represented in the vessel sample after 700 C.E./ I 00 A.H., only blue glazed pottery is present in the decorated vessel assemblage (Boucharlat, 1993; Boucharlat Perot and Ladiray 1987:186-188). Stratigraphic evidence for the continued use of blue or blue-green glazed ceramics until the tenth century C.E./fourth century A.H. was also observed at the excavations in the Apadana and the Ville des Artisans, which is also part of the Susa complex. Occupation of the Apadana and Ville des Artisans continued into the tenth century (Kervran 1977:88-89 , 1984:54-55). Siraf is located on the southwestern coast of modern-day Iran. Stratified excavations were conducted at sixteen different locations within the site (Tampoe 1989:70). Together , the sixteen excavated areas extend roughly continuously through stratigraphic time from roughly 700 C.E ./ 100 A.H. into the fifteenth century C.E./ninth century A.H. (Tampoe 1989; Whitehouse 1968). Following an earthquake in 977 C.E. / 355 A.H ., the population ofSiraf declined rapidly leaving the area nearly abandoned by the early thirteenth century (Tampoe 1989:79). Glazed ceramics are uncommon in tenth century and later deposits and consist oflranian fritwares (Mason and Tite 1994) , a type of ceramic rarely present in Deh Luran ceramic assemblages. The earliest excavated occupation documented at Siraf is represented by a Sasanian fortress , underlying a Great Mosque (Tampoe 1989:77 ; Whitehouse 1968, 1971). lt is believed that the fortress was occupied until the fall of Sasanian power in 636 C.E. I 14 A.H. and th e Great Mosque was constructed soon after (Tampoe 1989:77) . A ditch possibly used for drainage of the Sasanian fort, was located under a subsequent Bazaar. Ceramics , recovered from both the ditch and from

below th e mosque , exclusively bore a blue glaze referred to "Sasanian-Islamic ware " (Tampoe 1989:72; Whitehouse 1979:47). The exclusive presence of blue-glazed ceramics in seventh century deposits at Sirafis in accord with the evidence from contemporary and slightly later deposits at the Apadana. Of decorated ceramics , only blue-glazed pottery is present in the fill of the foundation of the Great Mosque (Kennett 2004:31). None of the multicolored pottery types reported originally by Whitehouse (1968: 15) were recovered from the fill of the Great Mosque. The lack of late eighth century C.E ./second century A.H. decorated types in the fill of the Great Mosque indicated a seventh century C.E./first century A .H. date for construction of the structure. Based on excavation at Kish , the production of blue monochrome , including Barbotine glazes , ceases after the twelfth century C.E . /sixth century A.H. (Reitlinger 1935: 2 12-213) .

Splash Glazes Splash glazed sherds were recovered from twenty-one sites on the Deh Luran Plain (Appendi x B. Table s 8 .2, B.3 , B.4, B.5 and B.6 , Appendix F., Figure F.4). Splash glaze s were classified by recording the colour of the base glaze and then the "splash ," the semi-random application ofadditional glaze colours by application through brushing on of the glaze or applied as drips. Splash glazes have their origin in the Sasanian Period as evidenced by a white-glazed bowl recovered from Susa with three lines of blue Splash in its interior (Bagherazdeh et al. 1978: Figure 34). Splash glazes do not reach a high level of stylistic diversity and increased levels of production until the ninth century C.E. / third century A.H. (Kervran 1977 ; Sarre 1925). The most common types of Splash glaze recovered from the Deh Luran Plain are sherds that are coated with a white or green glaze , which occasionally appear to have a matte finish , possibly from the degradation of the glaze surface. A similar observation was made about the matte appearance of some white glazes with green Splash from Siraf (Tampoe 1989:34). Blue-green Splash glazes were recovered from eleven sites (Appendix B, Table B.2 , B.3). In the case of one sherd from the general collection of from DL-2 , the "splash" consisted of tiny green dots applied as single short brush strokes. This decorated sherd from DL-2 appears nearly identical to a bowl recovered from Samarra (Sarre 1925: Figure XXVI). Bluegreen Splash also occur s together with black , and yellow Splash colours. The black glaze occasionally appears with a brownish or purplish cast indicating that manganese was the source of the black colourant. Eighteen sherds from nine sites were first slipped with a yellow glaze before the application of Splash , most commonly dark green colour. Two sherds from DL-2 had brown Splash rather than green (Appendix B, Table B3.4) . Yellow baseglazed ceramics take their colour from the presence of antimony in the lead glaze (Lane I 948: 15). Yellow glazed ceramics , whether with a green or brown Splash , were uncommon at Siraf , and are thou ght to have been produced contemporaneously with green , yellow , and brown or purple Splash glazes (Tampoe 1989:41 ; Whitehouse 1979).

(Whitehouse 1979). Thirty-three fragments of Splash glaze

One Splash glaze sherd from DL-36 (South) has a heavily weathered exterior patch of yellow glaze. The interior of the sherd is also weathered, displaying an area of white glaze bearing a row of three painted black squares each with a black dot in the centre. Green Splash was then applied over the painted design. Painted decoration under Splash-glaze has been reported from Siraf (Tampoe 1989:38).

sgraffiato were collected from thirteen sites (Appendix B, Table B.7). The sherds are also characterized by a thick white slip that covers a reddish or brownish ceramic paste. Sgraffiato sherds had an average thickness of 65mm (S.D. 2.3mm). White glaze was first applied, covering a reddish brown or brown coloured ceramic paste. Green Splash , often covering the white glaze , was present on all but two of the sgraffiato. It is possible that a few of the sherds identified as Splash glazes that also have brown or reddish brown pastes could be other examples of sgrqffiato that lack the incised lines. On the two exceptions, from DL-2 and DL-63 , the green was applied as a single row of dots. Sherds from DL-56 , DL63, and DL-72/73 had patches of black glaze with a purplish cast indicating the use of a manganese-based colourant. Yellow glaze was present on one sherd each from DL-3 and DL-56. The sgraffiato sherds recovered from the Deh Luran Plain are too small to discern formal overall patterns to the incisions.

Based on the differences in the colours of the ceramic paste , it is likely that blue-green decorated and the other varieties of Splash glazes represent the products of more than one source. Previous analysis of Splash glazes have also recognized variations in the colour and texture of their pastes (Northedge and Kennet 1995 :33; Tampoe 1989). The blue-green and yellow Splash glazes from Samarra are characterized by a gray-brown gritty paste , which the excavators, Northedge and Kennet, contrast with the distinctly very fine textured yellow paste of sherds decorated with cobalt recovered from contemporary contexts at Samarra.

Recent research has been conducted on the dating ofsgraffiato production based on survey data from Samarra and stratified excavations at Siraf (Northedge and Kennet 1995; Whitehouse 1979). Based on the presence of sgraffiato ceramics in areas occupied in Samarra dating after the movement of the Abbasid Caliphate to Baghdad in 892C.E ./279 A.H. , sgraffiato was thought to have been produced sometime in the late ninth or early tenth century C.E./late third or early fourth century A.H. (Kennett 2004:34 ; Northedge and Kennet 1995:34). Like the Samarra survey data , the stratigraphic excavations at Siraf indicate that sgraffiato was first produced during the tenth century C.E./fourth century A.H. (Whitehouse 1979:58; also , see Watson 2004: 199-203). The analysis of sgraffiato from Siraf reports stylistic change through time in the colours of glaze , the distribution of colours on the vessels' surfaces , and the overall designs formed by the incised lines underneath the glaze (Whitehouse 1979). Whitehouse's typology is based primarily on large sherds and complete vessels and as such is difficult to apply to ceramic assemblages composed of often small sherds. For example , Whitehouse's Style 3 is based primarily on the use of calligraphy on a band located just below the rim of bowls. Given the small size of the Deh Luran sherds , fragments of Ku.fie letters could not be identified. The major difference between in the sherds is that two sherds , one from DL-2 , the other from DL-72/73 , displayed complex incised floral designs , as compared with simple parallel and/or curvilinear lines observed on the other samples of sgraffiato. Sgraffiato ceramics were produced into the early eleventh century C.E ./fifth century A.H. (Tampoe 1989:91).

Splash glazes from Sirafare described as having a coarse buffcoloured ceramic paste containing very fine sand, or a fine red paste (Tamope 1989:35-39). Both types of ceramic paste from Siraf appear to be texturally distinct from the Samarra -mater-i-al , but--without direct comparison the differences in the paste between the Splash glazes from the two sites , and those from the current analysis are not possible. However , differences in the potential sources for the production of Splash Glazes from the Deh Luran Plain will be discussed in Chapter Five. Splash glazes first appear in Mesopotamia during the occupation of Samarra (836-893 C.E./221-279 A.H.) (Northedge and Kennet 1995:33; Sarre 1925). The earliest Splash-glaze type is characterized by a blue-green glaze applied to a white base-glaze (Watson 2004: 176). Blue-green Splash glazes are the most common variety on the Deh Luran Plain. Another possibly contemporary type is a yellow-onwhite Splash of which one example was recovered from DL-2. A second group of Splash glazes is characterized by green or brown Splash dripped into bowls inward from the rim (Watson 2004: 199). The green or brown Splash-glaze type is thought to have been produced slightly later in the ninth century before the occupation of the city by the Abbasid Calif alMutawakkiliyya in 861 C.E. (Northedge and Kennet 1995:33). Olive or Pea-green base-glazed sherds do not appear in association with Splash glazes with a yellow or white base glaze at either Samarra or Siraf. It is suggested below that these sherds represent post tenth-century C.E. / fourth century A.H. production. A similar manganese decorated type of white-glazed ceramic is reported from Kish , and is thought to date no earlier than the late twelfth century C.E./sixth century A.H. (Reitlinger 1935:210) .

Two sherds, both bowl rims from DL-38 and DL-74, represent unusual variants ofsgraffiato. Both sherds have a light reddish brown paste (2.5 YR 6/6). The original vessels were first slipped with a thin white glaze. The exteriors were then covered with a green glaze. The sherd from DL-38 is decorated on the exterior by an incised band of two wavy lines framed by two parallel lines prior to the application of the white base-glaze and green Splash. Most of the exterior of the sherd from DL-74 has broken away, leaving a small patch of green glaze. The interiors of the two sherds display a white

A variant of Splash-decorated glazes is a class of ceramics know as sgraffiato (Appendix B. Table B.7). Sgraffiato ceramics are characterized by decorative incision of the unfired vessel ' s surface prior to the application of glazes (Appendix A, Figure 36). Splash Glazes without incising are thought to represent a precursor to the later sgraffiato types 11

glaze. The incisions were then filled with a thick black glaze. Small areas of black Splash glaze are also present over the interiors of both sherds. A third very badly weathered rim sherd from DL-12 displays only a patch of black glaze and a single incised curved exterior line filled with black glaze. A second curved line, without the glaze application , is faintly visible about 50mm above the glaze-filled curved line. The sherd has a reddish-yellow paste (7.5 YR 6/8).

shap ed fig ure executed in cobalt blue surrounded by a black border with pendent black dots. No comparative material could be found for this sherd , but it most likely represents the occupation of this site sometime after the fourteenth century C.E./eighth century A.H. (St John Simpson , personal communication 2004). In China T'ang cobalt-decorated , whiteware was produced in a different location than Yuan and later dynastic blue-onwhite , as indicated by the compositionally distinct sources of cobalt distinguishing T'ang Dynasty (618-906 C.E.) Blue-onwhite ceramics from later Yuan Dynasty (1279-1368 C.E.) ceramics. Blue-glazed Yuan ceramics were produced using a cobalt source rich in manganese, an attribute shared by cobaltdecorated ceramics analysed from Samarra (Fukang 1992: 387 ; Yaocheng et al. 1995:209). Cobalt examined from the T ' ang dynasty sherds contained little manganese. It is likely that cobalt during the T'ang dynasty was Chinese in origin (Yaocheng et al 1995) , while Persia provided that cobalt for Yuan and later Chinese porcelain (Fukang I 992).

Cobalt-Decorated Fourteen sherds from Deh Luran were decorated using a dark blue cobalt-based glaze on a white glaze background (Appendix F., Figure 5). All but three of the sherds were from DL-2. The other sherds were from DL-62 and DL-252. The average thickness of the sherds was 42mm (S.D . 0.13mm). All of the sherds have a light yellow-coloured paste . A buff-yellow ceramic paste was also observed in the cobalt-decorated ceramics from Samarra (Northedge and Kennet 1995:33). The similarity of the paste colour indicates that the Deh Luran cobalt-decorated ceramics and those from Samarra may share a common source. The sherds are too small to identify overall decorative patterns. Two of the sherds have ring bases (Tampoe 1989: 265 No. 227 , and No. 280) . The most complete rim sherd in the collection is from a bowl with an everted rim. The Jim ited occurrence of such pottery at Samarra , Northedge and Kennet (1995) suggests an early ninth century C.E./ third century A.H. date for cobalt blue decorated white ware, with a possible end of production by 835 C.E. /213 A.H. (Kennet 2004:32; Northedge and Kennet 1995:25).

Though the origin of the use of cobalt as a glaze colourant is unidentified , its use is likely an indigenous technological development both China and Mesopotamia. While con temporary Chinese cobalt decorated porcelains were known from Mesopotamia and Persia, they are exceedingly rare. By 1995, only twenty-nine sherds of cobalt blue-on-white dating to the T'ang Dynasty had been collected, from two sites, T'ang City and Cangzhou (Fukang 1992). The latter location , a port city on the east coast of China, also produced blue-glazed ceramics with light yellow pastes (Fukang 1992). Moreover, Chinese cobalt sources differ mineralogically from Near Eastern sources (Yaocheng et al. 1995). Although Mesopotamian potters might have seen Chinese whiteware , given the scarcity of cobalt decorated ceramics dating to the T'ang Dynasty, the opportunity for a potter in Mesopotamia to actually see a piece of cobalt decorated Chinese pottery and identify a local source of the colourant is highly unlikely. It is more likely that the use ofcobalt was developed independently in China and Mesopotamia.

Two sherds from bowls from DL-2 and one from DL-20 were decorated with both cobalt blue and green copper glazes on a white glaze. Both sherds have light yellow coloured pastes. The sherd from DL-2 Area 4 (North -We st) had a palm branch design flanked by wide Splashes of copper green glaze. (Compare Keveran 1977: 129 Fig.38-1 for an almost duplicate of the design on this sherd.) The other cobalt-blue and coppergreen coloured sherd more resembled the massed designs of Figure 38-3 (Keveran 1977: 129). The sherd from DL-20 Area 5 had two parallel lines , one of cobalt blue, the other dark green.

Early Islamic Whiteware

Three sherds, from bowls decorated with parallel lines of cobalt blue and black glaze on a matte textured thick white glaze , were recovered from DL-2. The three sherds have a light yellow paste. One sherd from Zon e 6 is wedge- haped and almost flat on the base. The sherd from DL-2 Zone 8-West is a simple direct rim with a rounded lip. The black decoration occurring with cobalt blue may be the same as the brown coloured glaze and cobalt-decorated reported by Northedge and Kennet 1995:29.

Nine sherds from five sites were classified as Islamic White ware (Appendix B. ,Appendix F., Figure F.9., Table 8.8.). Early Islamic whiteware is distinguished from the previously described "alkaline-white glaze " by the presence of a homogeneous white reflective surface applied to a vessel with no additional decoration. The nine sherds average 70mm in thickness (S.D 8mm). Seven of the sherds have a light yellow paste. The other two have a light gray and a white ceramic paste. It is possible that the seven sherds represent undecorated portions of painted vessels. Plain , opaque white vessels have been reported from Susa , Samarra , and Siraf (Keveran 1977; Northedge and Kennet l 995;Tampoe 1989). Two of the white ware sherds from DL-2 have foot-rings (compare Tampoe 1989:263 No.265 ; Watson 2004: 171, 172). The two ring base sherds were recovered from Area 4 (North-Central) and Area 3. Ring bases are also found on contemporary Chinese whiteware bowls. One large rim sherd recovered from the DL2 cistern has a flaring rim (Tampoe 1989: No. 262). Another

An example of a frit-bodied or "stone-paste " ceramic recovered from the Deh Luran Plain came from the surface of DL-36 West (Mason and Tite 1994). The frit-body is a slightly grayish white colour and has a distinctively sugary , gritty texture derived from its composition ofclay and sand. The frit body was coated with a thick white glaze that crazed during firing. The exterior of the sherd has a wide black line and a small spot of cobalt blue. The interior displays a lozenge12

whiteware rim sherd from DL-2 Area 8 (Central) was derived from a steep-sided hemispherical bowl. White glazed majolica ceramics were produced around the middle of the ninth century (Northedge and Kennet 1995:33). The white colour, thin walls, and foot-rings are thought to represent the local imitation of T'ang Dynasty Ding whitewares from the Xing kilns , Hebei province and other localities in China (Harrison Hall 1997; Northedge and Kennet 1995).

previous studies suggests that press-moulded ceramics were produced in locations other than Basra, including eastern Iran (Watson 2004: 165). Luster-Ware

Ten sherds of Luster-ware or Luster-painted ware were recovered from sites DL-2, DL-36 and DL-254 (Appendix F., Figure 3). The Luster-ware vessels were quite thin , averaging about 40 mm (S.D. 8mm), and appear to have come from small bowls. DL-2 produced seven polychrome Luster sherds, consisting of red glazes with an overlaying gold-brown Luster glaze (Sarre 1925, Figures XIII and XVII; Watson 2004: 186). In the case of the sherd from DL-2, Area 8 North, the gold Luster paint appears to have been applied in a simple floral design. An eighth Luster-ware sherd from DL-2 is a rim with a slight eversion that was decorated with bands of gold-brown Luster on both the interior and exterior surfaces. The single Luster-ware sherd col1ectedfrom DL-36 has a grid-like design on its interior executed in gold-brown Luster with green Splash , and gold-brown Luster on the exterior. The Lusterware sherds from DL-2 and DL-36 have white pastes. The Luster-ware sherd from DL-254 has a single brown-gold Luster painted line on the interior of the sherd and a light yellow paste.

Press-Moulded

Rather than being formed on a potter's wheel, press-moulded ceramics were produced by pressing clay into a clay, wood, or stone mould, into which the shape of the completed vessel and its surface decoration had been carved. Upon drying , the completed vessel would shrink and drop from the mould (Appendix F., Figure F.10). Twenty-five press-moulded sherds were recovered from the Deh Luran Plain , nineteen from DL-2 alone. An additional two sherds were recovered from DL-244, while single , greenglazed, press-moulded sherds were collected from DL-15, DL20, DL-219 and DL-254. Almost all of the DL-2 sherds were coated with a dark green glaze with only one bearing a different , light yel1ow, glaze. Relative to other contemporary ceramic types, the press-moulded sherds are thin (mean 38 mm, S.D. 1mm). The pastes of the press-moulded sherds are highly variable in colour , including white, light yellow, light gray, light brown and light reddish brown. LA-ICP-MS analysis of three press-moulded sherds from DL-2, two with gray and one with yellow paste , revealed that a11three were coated with lead-based glazes, coloured by copper (Chapter Four). However, the variation in the colours of the pastes of the press-moulded sherds from Deh Luran indicates that more than one location probably produced this type of ceramic. Decorative motifs on the press-moulded sherds include a row of petaled rosettes , leaves, diamond-shaped trellis , spirals , and teardrop shaped figures (Sarre 1925: Figure IX). Six of the press-moulded rim sherds from DL-2 have complete vessel (i.e., rim-to-base) profiles that indicate the sherds came from small, round , open, straight-sided vessels (Appendix A, Figure 35).

Luster-painting of glazed ceramics is a distinctive characteristic oflslamic ceramic technology. Luster painting is a glazing process in which metallic oxides are smelted onto previously glazed vessels, resulting in iridescent metallic copper or silver coatings (Caiger-Smith 1985). The addition of the Luster pigment required a second firing of the vessel. Such a production step is difficult, as the Luster painted vessels were first coated with a lead-based glaze and fired in an oxidizing kiln atmosphere. Luster, formulated to cure at a lower temperature , is then applied , and the vessel is fired a second time in a reducing atmosphere and at a lower temperature than the original firing , ensuring that the original slip would not craze or melt off of the vessel. Luster technology may have originated with glassworkers who painted silver and copper compounds on cold glass surfaces and subsequently refired the vessels to fuse the pigments to the glass (Kingery and Vandiver 1986). The second firing reduced the metallic colourants , producing changes in colour, and thus inducing a metallic sheen while fusing the colours to the glaze (Canby 1997). Based on its scarcity at Samarra , Luster painted ceramics were probably first produced during the final decade of the ninth century C.E./third century A.H. (Northedage and Kennet 1995:33; Watson 2004: 183).

X-rays ofa press-moulded vessel showed a random orientation of mineral grains in the clay relative to the inclusions present in the paste, as well as finger impressions of the potter. The random orientation of mineral grains in the clay was believed to result from the press-moulding process (Hallett 1999:99). Though it is believed that press-moulded ceramics , also referred to as Glazed Relief Ware, were produced during the ninth century C.E./third century A.H., they are uncommon in Early Islamic ceramic assemblages (Lane 1939: 1948). Small quantities of press-moulded ceramics were found in the Early Islamic component at Kish , and at surrounding contemporary sites (Gibson 1972: 168). Press-moulded sherds have also been reported from Hira , Samarra , and Susa, but never in substantial amounts (Hallett 1999:15; Hobson 1932; Lane 1939; Sarre 1925). An inscription around the neck of a pressmoulded jar found in Raqqa in Syria indicates that the vessel was manufactured at Basra (Hallett 1999: 16).The variation in the colour of the ceramic paste observed during the current and

Under-Glaze Painted

Seven under-glaze painted sherds were recovered from DL-2, DL-36 (East area) , DL-62 , DL-74, and from along the canal banks near DL-5 (Appendix F., Figures F.6 and F.7). All of the under-glaze sherds are from bowls with a mean thickness of 60 mm (14mm S.D.). In the under-glaze blue sherds from DL-2, DL-5, DL-36, DL-62, and two of the sherds from DL74, the design was first applied in a thin black glaze , and then the vessel was coated with a light blue glaze prior to firing . An under-glaze painted sherd from DL-74 was coated with a 13

darker blue glaze applied on the interior of the vessel just below the lip , covering an earlier, light blue glaze-coat. The seventh under-glazed painted bowl sherd recovered from DL74 has two black and one blue-green Splash-glaze lines extending into the interior of the vessel from the lip. Five of the under-glaze painted sherds have a light gray paste and two have light yellow pastes. It is believed that under-glaze blue vessels were first produced in the late thirteenth century C.E./ seventh century A.H. (Atil 1973; Lane 1948). However, the presence of under-glaze painted sherds from House Eat Siraf suggests that production of this type of ceramic began sometime before 1150 C.E./528 A.H. (Tampoe 1989:75).

The other two sherds are small and have Jines or areas of black glaze. The three gray glazed sherds do not resemble the forms of the gray monochromes or Splash glazes having a gray glazed background ceramics described by Keveran (1977) or Northedge and Kennet (1995). The overall effect appears to represent some sort of script. While it is possible that the gray glaze colour is the result of the weathering ofanother coloured glaze, none of the other weathered sherds in the Deh Luran ceramic collections bear a similar pattern of weathering or decoration. Two sherds were decorated solely with a gray glaze that closely resembles the glaze of the previously described black-decorated vessels was recovered from DL-36 and DL-62. Four of the gray sherds have a light gray paste. The fifth sherd has a light brown paste.

Another variety of under-glazed pottery was recovered from DL-2, Zone 8, Central. This sherd is characterized by a fine light reddish-brown paste. The interior of the vessel was coated with a white weathered slip that removed al1 but faint traces of a black line and a small area of faint blue colour. The exterior of the sherd was not slipped. However, there is an irregularly shaped spot of dark brown lead-based glaze just below the lip of the sherd.

A single bowl sherd collected from DL-71 is characterized by a reddish yellow paste (7.5 YR 7/6). The interior of this sherd is coated with a pale yeIIow-brown slip (10 YR 6/4) and decorated using a dark brown pigment applied as very narrow curvilinear designs. The interior of the bowl was slipped with a clear lead glaze. The exterior of the sherd lacks decoration and appears weathered.

Chinese Porcelain

A single sherd from DL-63 has a reddish brown paste (7 .5 YR 8/6) and was coated using a th.in white slip. The white slip is highly weathered and only spottily present on both surfaces. The interior surface displays a tiny fragment of design executed in a black pigment surrounded by a faint dark purple cast. The purple cast indicates that the black pigment is manganese based. A note on the exterior of this sherd suggests that it represents an eleventh century C.E./fifth century A.H. Islamic piece.

Three sherds of Chinese porcelain were recovered from the Deh Luran Plain. One sherd, from DL-111, has a uniform dark cobalt-blue glazed exterior and an undecorated white interior. Another sherd, recovered from DL-20, Area 6 West, is a fragment from the rim of a white fluted porcelain cup, decorated with cobalt blue overglaze enamel. After examining the sherds from DL-20 and DL-111, Jessica Harrison -Hall believed that the two sherds dated to the Ming Dynasty (13681644 C.E./746-898 A.H.) (Harrison-Hall 2003). Fragments of a modern porcelain cup, decorated on the exterior with a red, green and pink floral design, were recovered from the surface ofDL-2. Based on the lack of contemporary ceramics from the three sites, the porcelain sherds from DL-2, DL-20 and DL111 were most likely discarded by more recent pastoralists and deposited after the sites ceased to be occupied (Mortensen 1993:273).

One sherd from DL-74 has a light reddish brown paste that was then coated with a white slip on the interior and about one half of the exterior. The interior of the sherd displays a narrow (30mm) wide line and the lower portion of a loop executed in a tan glaze that closely resembles the tan glaze observed in the incised lines on the examples of sgraffiato from DL-3 and DL56. Another unique sherd from DL-74 is the only decorated earthenware sherd observed in the Deh Luran Islamic period ceramic collection. The texture of the paste of this sherd is very fine, appears free of visible inclusions , and is a uniform reddish yellow colour throughout (7 .5 YR 6/6). The exterior of the sherd is decorated with a curvilinear pattern executed in bright red. The interior was painted using both red and dark brown pigments (Appendix F, Figure F.11).

Miscellaneous and Unclassified Glaze-Decorated Ceramics

Eleven sherds recovered from the Deh Luran Plain did not easily fit into the categorization system used here. In particular , a series of glazed sherds had painted lines on slipped backgrounds (Appendix B. Table B.9). It is suggested that these sherds represent glazed ceramics postdating the tenth century C.E. /fowth century A.H. (Reitlinger 1935). The sherds in this group represent fragments of early polychrome glazeware or possibly Iranian buffi.varebut are too small to compare with published descriptions (Watson 2004: 167-169, 247-251).

Another unusual sherd from DL-74 is from the rim of a vitreous white glazed jar (Appendix A, Figure 32.K). The sherd has a black painted lip and a narrow black line that is pendent from the lip and offset at a slight angle from the vertical orientation of the vessel.

Three bowl sherds from DL-2, DL-4 and DL-74 were slipped with a distinct gray glaze and then decorated with black underglaze designs. The sherd from DL-2 is a basal sherd with two parallel lines and a flat pancake-like base. Appended to one of the lines is a series of2 to 3 cm. long lines some of which are straight while others are somewhat "V" or "fishhook" shaped.

One sherd from the DL-2 general surface collection is characterized by a (5 YR 6/6) reddish yellow paste. The exterior of the vessel, probably a bowl, has two areas of brown paint covered by a clear lead-based glaze. The interior of the sherd has a white slip that was then covered with thin brown 14

lines that appear to be pseudo-Kufic writing . A small area of green Splash is also present in the sherd. Like the exterior , the interior was covered with a clear lead-based glaze. The origin or time of production of this type of ceramic is unknown.

Three small equally-spaced angular breaks observed in the interior glazes of a few Sasanian and Early Islamic bowls indicate the use of crow ' s feet during the firing of the vessels. Recovery of a crow ' s foot does not necessarily serve as evidence of the production of ceramics at the location where the object was recovered. Occasionally , crow ' s feet were left in place during the transport of stacks of vessels (Hallett 1999:52).

DL-20 produced an unusual ceramic fragment , possibly the lid from a chum . The vessel fragment has a flat round top that, if complete, had a diameter of approximately 25 cm. In the centre of the top is a round hole that would have been about 5 cm. in diameter. The flat top is 8 cm. wide between the outer rim of the object and the inner hole. The top is 135mm thick , just inside of a flange that is located about 1 cm in from the edge of the top. The thickness of the top narrows to 70mm at the edge of the interior hole and 80mm at the outer edge of the object. The flange presumably once extended around the underside of the round top . The flange is offset from the edge of the round top by 1cm. The now-broken flange extends downward from the top about 4.5cm.

A single fragment composed mostly of dark glass was collected from the surface of DL-2. The angular fragment of vitrified material weighs 3.2 grams and ranges from a light brown colour with a granular texture along one edge, to black glass along the other edge. In thin section , it was found that the matrix of the object is composed of black and , less common, green glass. Grains of quartz , rounded by erosion , surround the glass areas of the object. About 45 percent of the object is composed of glass. Petrographic analysis revealed that rounded , open pores appear in the glass, as do coarsesized masses composed oflaths ofwollastonite. Additionally , sparse rounded areas of spherulitic (radiate) texture are also present in the black glass. LA-ICP-MS analysis of the object presents a Ca-rich glass (See Chapter Four.). It is believed that this object represents a waste product from the burning of limestone for the production of lime, or the inner lining of a lime kiln. Similar green-black glassy fragments have been observed by the author at eighteenth and nineteenth century archaeological sites near El Paso , Texas , Chihuahua , Mexico and from contemporary lime kilns in Jiangxi Province , China.

The possible churn lid fragment was decorated using a very dark greenish-brown matte textured pigment on a white nonglazed background. The area inside the flange has been coated with the dark greenish-brown pigment. On the exterior of the vessel , two single 1.0 cm wide lines , using the same dark greenish-brown as inside the flange , are located at the edges of the top. Between the two dark bands lies a decorative field consisting ofa "running diamond" or trellis design , Triangular hachured figures are pendent from the edges of the design field. The pigment used to paint the design field is a slightly lighter colour then the pigment found on the underside of the object.

Discussion of Miscellaneous and Unclassified Glazed Ceramics

A single zoomorphic figure was recovered from the surface of DL-2. The figure is highly weathered and fragmented so that the type of vessel to which the zoomorph was once attached cannot be determined. The length of the object is 5.1cm and width 2.6 cm. The paste of this figure is a light yellow colour. Judging from the remaining glaze , the original object was once covered with a dark blue glaze , similar in colour to the monochrome blue-glazed ceramics. The zoomorph is composed of a neck that was presumably attached to a vessel. The head depicts a face with ear holes , rounded eyes, and an open mouth with a protruding tongue. Incised parallel lines along the neck and face suggest hair or neck muscles. No comparative examples of zoomorphic lugs or handles resembling this object could be located in the regional archaeological literature.

Given the similarity of the ceramics described in the above section to the ceramic materials described for the Islamic components at Kish , it is likely that these ceramics date to some time after the tenth century C.E./ fourth century A.H. The lack of comparable sherds from Susa and Siraf , whose occupations were drastically attenuated in the tenth century C.E . I fourth century A.H. also suggest that the se ceramics represent a later time period. The limited amount of Iranian frit-ware , also know as stonepaste or slip-painted ceramics , in the Deh Luran assemblage is intriguing. Stone-paste and slip-painted ceramics were produced and widely traded on the Iranian Plateau beginning in the tenth century C.E ./ fourth century , during the occupation of the Deh Luran Plain (Mason 1995; Watson 2004: 246-251 ; Wilkinson 1973 ; William son 1987). The indication that the majority of tenth century C.E./ fourth century A.H. and later glazed ceramics are similar to the contemporary pottery from Kish indicates trade on the Del Luran Plain focussed on Mesopotamia rather than on the Iranian Plateau.

A triangular-shaped crow's foot, recovered from DL-62 , is 8.2 cm in width and 1.4 cm in thickness. The tips normally present on the ends of crow ' s feet have broken away. There is no evidence of glaze or over-firing of the object. The crow ' s foot has a pale yellow-brown (1 OYR6/4) paste, which contains about 15 percent moderately well sorted rounded sand grains. The sand contains about 10 percent grains of dark brown chert/flint. In the modern Islamic world , kiln furniture is still fabricated from clay mixed with coarse-sized sands , presumably to withstand the thermal stress caused by repeated firings ofthekiln (Keblow-Bernsted 2003:57). Crow ' s feet, or kiln trivets , are used to separate glazed vessels during firing to prevent their becomin g stuck togeth er by the maturing glaze.

Ceramics and Dating Site Occupations Several approaches will be used to undertake the chronological placement of the occupations of the sites on the Deb Luran Plain . The methods used to assi gn temporal placement to a particular site's occupation include : comparison of the 15

monochrome glazed ceramics with excavated material from stratified deposits, placement of Islamic period decorated ceramics , comparison of ceramic rim forms from Deh Luran with rims from dated contexts elsewhere in Mesopotamia and the independent dating of ceramic artifacts or archaeological contexts by dated coins. Within a given site, the ceramic collections from the Deb Luran Plain represent random samples from universes of an unknown size. Absolute counts of individual classes of ceramics are likely not to represent evidence of the degree of the intensity of occupation. Instead, the individual ceramics represent loss or discard of ceramic vessels sometime after their production. Appendix B. Table B.1 summarizes the most chronologically sensitive monochrome ceramic types, monochrome glazed rim sherds, and glazed Islamic pottery in order to present a conservative occupational history of sites producing glazed pottery on the Deh Luran Plain. Plain black, white and pea/olive green glazed ceramics were considered tempora11y sensitive diagnostic types for the Parthian and Sasanian Periods. No alkaline-based yellow coloured glazed sherds indicative of Parthian or earlier occupations at Susa were recovered from the Deh Luran Plain (Boucharlat 1993). Monochrome dark green glazes were eliminated from the seriation owing to the possible confusion of dark-green alkaline glazes with dark green lead-based glazes. Given the long history of blue coloured alkaline glazes , this type was not considered to be sensitive enough to be tempora11y useful and is not included in Table B. l 0. Settlements that produced diagnostic contemporary ceramics were placed on maps (Figures 3.2, 3.3, 3.4, 3.5 and 3.6.).

16

Figure 3.2 LocationOf Parthian or Earlier Occupations Deh Luran Plain, Iran

e1 AB-I Garm Spring

~

Spring

•

Parthlan o, Ea~lerOccupat ion

,,/'o_ Canal ~

Canals

Rivers

Figure 3.3 Locationof Sassanian Occupations Deh Luran Plain, Iran ~

Spring

•

Sa suntan Occupation

ci:0. Oanat

N

canals Rivers

5

17

5 Miles

4 Kilometers

0

4

/

/

+

----0

5

AB-I Garm Spring

N

0 4

0

N

+

5 Miles

4 Kilometers

meh River AB-I Garn, Spring

Kilometers

/ o..... ~o ..

~ ,, ._°'··

MJ _,Gami

+ N

Spring

/

~,,.·•, o ..

18

·o .

---=------~5 Miles

/

19

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Kilometers

Olive /Pea-Gre en glazed sherd could have been produced during the late Sasanian or Early Islamic period of occupation of DL-36. The blue glazed sherd from DL-36 (Sample OxL1351) suggests that production of blue glazed monochrome pottery may have lasted slightly later than is evident at Kish (Reitlinger 1935: 212-213). Like the previous sample , the black-Splash on white-glazed sherd from DL- 74 also dates to the Medieval Islamic Period.

Optically Stimulated Luminescence Dating Six glaze sherds were submitted to the Luminescence Dating Laboratory located at the Research Laboratory for Archaeology and the History of Art at the University of Oxford (Table 3.1).

TABLE 3.1 OPTICALLY STIMULATED LUMINESCENCE DATING OF GLAZED CERAMICS FROM THE DEH LURAN PLAIN OXFORD SAMPLE NUMBER

SITE

CERAMIC TYPE

AGE YEARS A.D.

DL-5 Canal

UnderGlaze Painted

1750+100

OxL-1349

DL-5 DropTower Mill

Blue Glaze

680±_150

OxL-1350

DL-34

BlueGreen Glaze

490±_180

OxL-1348

An OSL date of 1750 ± l 00 C.E . was derived from an underglaze painted sherd that was recovered as an isolated artifact near the DL-5 canal. This date indicates that the production of under-glaze painted ceramics continued until at least the late Safavid ( 1499-1722 C. E./885-1108 A.H.) or early Qajar (1779-1925 C.E ./ 1165-1311 A.H.) dynasties.

Other Methods of Dating Archaeological Occupations

OxL-1351

DL-36 (Central)

Blue Glaze

1290+150

OxL-1352

DL-36 (South)

Olive/PeaGreen Glaze

830±_250

OxL-1353

DL-74

Black Splash on White Glaze

1230+330

Two additional methods were used for dating site occupations on the Deh Luran Plain ; the presence of dated coins and rim matching. Few datable coins were recovered during the survey of the Deh Luran Plain. DL-35 produced weathered bronze coins attributed to the Parthian Period (Neely 1969a) . No Parthian Period glazed ceramics were recovered from this site. While not an appropriate method for chronological construction , matching rim forms is an indicator of contemporaneity, based on the assumption that similar shaped vessel rims with the same paste and colour of glaze were produced in the same place and at approximately the same time (Table 3.1). Rim shapes are presented in Appendix A. In the Deh Luran ceramic sample, matching rim sherds tended to confirm site occupation periods assigned by ceramic typology. Site DL-225 , lacking other diagnostic ceramics , produced a rim sherd matching one from DL-2. This rim form had been identified previously as a product of the Sasanian pottery industry (Miroschedji , Desse-Berset , and Kevran 1987: Figure 9, No.7). Overall , the highly variable nature of Parthian , Sasanian, and later rim sherds, made rim form matching less successful than was hoped for.

Unfortunately, no soil samples , which could have been used to assess background radiation , were collected during the Deb Luran survey. Thus , dose rates were estimated by INAA. The ceramic samples also exhibited weak OSL signals, resulting possibly from leached calcium carbonate being present in the samples (Rhodes 2003).

Conclusions The ceramic analysis presented here has focussed on the variability in the glazed ceramics recovered from the survey of the Deh Luran Plain . Identification and grouping of monochrome and other more elaborately decorated types into distinct classes has facilitated comparison with materials derived from excavated contexts which could be placed in chronological order. The seriation model of changes in the presence of different monochrome and Splash-glaze colours , generated from the comparison between the Deh Luran sample and materials excavated from Susa and Siraf , was independently supported by a short suite of Optically Stimulated Luminescence dates.

Regardless of the wide standard deviations exhibited by the six samples , their dates fall within the expected time-frames for each of the ceramic types that were dated. Sample OxL-1350 is a fragment of the base from a round-bodied jar form collected from DL-34 , the site with the largest collection of glazed Parthian ceramics recovered from the Deb Luran Plain. The OSL date of 490 + 180 is consistent with a Parthian or early Sasanian attribution for this sherd. OxL-1349 was recovered from a mass of tufa that had formed in the sluice of a drop-tower mill believed to have been constructed during the Sasanian Period (Neely 1973). The dating of this sherd is consistent with the Sasanian attribution for the mill.

By using attribute-based analysis and comparison with previously excavated material , direct OSL dating of archaeological pottery, associated coins and rim form matching , it is possible to assign fifty-six sites to one or more of five time-periods . The other forty sites produced only blue-

Sample OxL-1352 was selected for dating as a possible Sasanian ceramic type. The date of 830±_250 suggests that this 20

to be relatively free of mineral inclusions , constitute the majority of the glazed pottery examined. Light reddish-brown, brown , and reddish-brown ceramic pastes were observed but, with the exceptions of the single sherd of white-glazed pottery from DL-74 and the sgraffiato wares in which browns and reddish-brown colours predominate, are rarely present above trace amounts in ceramic assemblages or in any particular colour of monochrome ceramic glaze.

glazed pottery and could not be assigned a time period beyond Sasanian/Early Islamic. The locations of sites belonging to the five occupation periods identified during the ceramic analysis are plotted on Figures 3.2, 3.3, 3.4, 3.5, and 3.6. The current analysis both calls into question and reinforces previous studies of change in settlement patterns from the Deh Luran Plain (Neely 1973). The analysis of Deh Luran contemporary plain-ware ceramics is ongoing and the results of this study are considered tentative. Twenty-three sites with possible Parthian occupations were identified during the current study. Previous research failed to recognize the extent of Parthian occupation (Neely 1973).

Light yellow ceramic clays have been reported for Sasanian monochrome-glazed ceramics from Kish. Sherds with reddish brown, or reddish gray ceramic pastes were also reported from Kish as well (Gibson 1972). Glazed Sasanian ceramics from Colche, Ctesiphon, Iraq, also have a yellowish or yellowish buff paste (Venco-Ricciardi 1984). Islamic glaze-decorated ceramics with light yellow pastes are reported from Abu Sirifa , Samarra, and Siraf (Adams 1970; Northedge and Kennet 1995:33; Tampoe 1989:31). The continued use of a single colour of ceramic paste over nearly one thousand years indicates a stable pottery-making centre or centres , retaining a pottery making tradition which focussed on a specific clay source (Simpson 1993:299). In the current case, the centre, or centres, could have produced glazed ceramics from at least the Parthian era through the twelfth century C.E./sixth century A.H. Judging from the presence of glazed pottery with paste colours other than yellow, it is likely that other centres of pottery-making with similar time-spans of production existed in Mesopotamia as well. Through the use of Instrumental Neutron Activation Analysis (INAA) and thin-section petrography , the possibilities for the identification ofregional centres of glazed pottery production will be explored in Chapter Five.

During the Sasanian period occupation slightly exceeds that of the Parthian period. The early Islamic period, eighth-ninth century C.E./second-third century A.H., displays an increase in population which rapidly declines thereafter. By the end of the twelfth century C.E./sixth century A.H. it is likely that the Deh Luran Plain was used primarily by pastoralists with only limited evidence for settled occupation. The drastic population decline was thought to be the result of salinisation and subsequent loss of soil fertility (Neely 1973). The analysis of the glazed ceramics from the Deh Luran Plain provides evidence for the continuous occupation of three sites, DL-2, DL-36, and DL- 74, from at least the Parthian era into the twelfth centuryC.E./sixth century A.H. Ceramics collected from these three sites indicated least episodic occupation into the eighteenth century C.E./twelfth century A.H. Three additional sites, DL-12 , DL-20, and DL-38, display evidence of occupation spanning this considerable time-span , but lack evidence of later use. The OSL date on an under-glaze blue sherd collected near the DL-5 canal and the presence of two sherds of Ming Dynasty porcelain indicate a human presence on the Deh Luran Plain that continued into the eighteenth century. The Chinese porcelain sherds likely represent later occupation of the site by pastoralists.

Deh Luran 's location on a major route of travel from Mesopotamia along the western Zagros flanks to Susa may have contributed to the types of glazed ceramics recovered from the surveyed sites (Le Strange 1966). The vast majority of the glazed ceramics in the Deh Luran Plain more resemble decorated types from Mesopotamia than those from the Iranian Plateau. The difference in glazed ceramics becomes most pronounced with the appearance of stone paste ceramic bodies and the use of opaque slips as a decorative technique that developed on the Iranian Plateau in the tenth century C.E./fourth century A.H. (Watson 2004: 333).

The survey collection for the Deb Luran Plain provides the opportunity for the systematic description of the variability in decorated ceramics beginning in the tenth-eleventh century C.E. I fourth-fifth century A.H.. This study indicates that , in addition to the more well know sgraffiato , other Splash-glazes and polychrome decorated ceramics were produced as part of an assemblage of decorated ceramics representing an artistic tradition that persisted in Mesopotamia until at least the thirteenth century C.E./ seventh century A.H.. Future fieldwork and, more important, the analysis of current museum collections obtained from earlier excavations should be undertaken to further document the origins of the Mesopotamian tradition of painted ceramics and the continuation of the production of Splash-glazes during this understudied period of ceramic production.

Based on the evidence presented here , it is clear that the Deh Luran Plain was occupied continuously from the Parthian era through the twelfth century C.E./sixth century A. H. During this time , an exchange system was in place that brought a wide range of decorated Parthian , Sasanian and Islamic glazed ceramics from Mesopotamia to Deh Luran. The next chapter will focus on technological change in Mesopotamian pottery glazes .

Examination of the ceramic pastes from the Deh Luran Plain provides evidence for the continuous use of visua11ysimilar clay resources from the Parthian through the twelfth century Islamic occupation , and possibly later. Glazed ceramics with a light gray or light yellow silty paste, which visually appear 21

ceramic body will absorb more light , causing the glaze to appear darker. A lead-based glaze reflects about twice the amount .of light as does an alkaline-based glaze (Tite 1998:253 ; Vandiver 1990).

CHAPTER FOUR. THE CERAMIC GLAZES FROM THE DEH LURAN PLAIN AND THEIR COMPOSITION Introduction

Fluxes are added to the recipe in order to lower the melting point of the silica used to form the glaze , and thereby make glazing possible within the limitations of the kilns and available clays. Alkaline and lead oxides are the principal types of glazes found in Mesopotamia. Alkaline-based glazes are those in which the oxides of alkaline earth elements, such as calcium or potassium , are used as a flux. The ashes of alkaline earth-fixing plants are likely the source of the alkaline-based fluxes used in Mesopotamian glazed ceramics. (Keblow-Bernsted 2003; Henderson 2000; Wulff 1966). In alkaline-based glazes, the alkali agent, such as plant ashes , is mixed and fired or "pre-fritted" with silica before adding the glaze colourant (Tite et al. 1998).

This chapter focuses on the technological history of ceramic glazes in Mesopotamia. First, the constituents of ceramic glazes will be described with an emphasis on Mesopotamian glaze technology. Next, an overview of analytical studies of ceramic glazes, focussing on technological variation in glaze recipes, will be presented. Two sections describing the analysis of the glazes in ceramics from the Deh Luran Plain will follow. The first of these two sections will focus on the analysis of a sample of glazed ceramics from the Deh Luran Plain by electron-microprobe. This section will expand on the analysis of ceramic glazes from the Deh Luran Plain by examining a larger data-set using Laser Ablation-Inductively Coupled-Mass Spectroscopy (LA-ICP-MS). In addition to ceramics from Deh Luran, the second set of analyses will include samples of contemporary glazed ceramics from elsewhere in the Near East.

When lead is used as a flux , the glaze is referred to as a leadbased glaze, or simp ly as a lead glaze (Norton 1956). Leadbased glazes, however, can be prepared directly from a mixture oflead oxide , silica, and colourant , without the need to frit the lead and silica (Tite et al. 1998). Thus , use of a lead-based glaze would save the potter both the time and the fuel required for pre-fritting the alkaline glaze before adding the colourant.

Making Glazed Ceramics in Mesopotamia The three major components of glazes and glass are formers, fluxes, and colourants. Quartz , a naturally occurring form of silica (SiO 2) and found either as sands, flint, or as massive quartzite, is the most commonly used glass former , provided that the available quartz source is relatively free of additional materials that would adversely affect the colour of the glaze. Pure silica melts at 1710 degrees centigrade, a tern perature well above the ranges of most ancient pyrotechnologies, and one which certainly exceeds the vitrification temperature of the ceramic bodies and even the walls of the kilns in which the vessels would have been fired (Hodges 1976:42; Vandiver 1990:110). Clays available to Mesopotamian potters are derived from seabed or riverine sources, and contain soluble elements such as calcium and sodium. Consequently, Mesopotamian clays are prone to greater shrinkage and are subject to vitrification and warping iffired above 1000 degrees centigrade, in contrast to the highly refractory clays used by Chinese potters, wh.ich have a higher melting point (Vandiver 1990: 110).

The firing temperature must also be sufficiently low to prevent the glaze from running off of the ceramic body. It is difficult to match glazes with clay bodies because as they cool, each can have a different rate of shrinkage. Glaze "fit" is determined by the thermal contraction of the glaze during the process of cooling the glaze below the temperature sufficient to "freeze" the glass, about 500 degrees centigrade. This contraction should be the same as, or slightly less than , that of the ceramic body. Mismatched rates of shrinkage will result in crazing and spaJling of the glaze (Norton 1956: 241-244; Tite et al. 1998). Decreasing the surface tension of the glaze also allows bubbles formed from trapped air to escape. These bubbles result from the decomposition of salts found in the glaze raw materials , or the outgassing of the clay body during firing. Air bubbles result in "pinholeing ," the creation of tiny depressions in the surface of the glaze. Pinholes occur when the viscosity of the glaze is too high to allow outgassing of the decomposing salts found in the raw materials used to make the glaze . To ensure that gas can escape and the pinholes it creates can be filled before the glaze is completely solid, the glaze should be of an appropriate viscosity , and the firing temperature must be sufficiently low and of long enough duration.

The appearance of a ceramic glaze will vary depending on a number of conditions, including the kiln atmosphere (whether oxidizing or reducing) , the composition and amount of materials present in the glaze and the type of flux used. A potter can control the firing atmosphere of a kiln to produce either oxidizing or reducing conditions by allowing or restricting access to oxygen during firing. In ceramic glazes, light is reflected from a glaze applied to a smooth surface and scattered off of glaze applied to a rough surface. Different glaze compositions reflect varying amounts of light. In a transparent or translucent glaze, light is absorbed, scattered, and reflected at the interface between the glaze and the ceramic body. Thicker transparent glazes appear darker than thinner glazes since they absorb and scatter more light. A smooth light-coloured ceramic body will brighten the colour of the glaze through reflection, while a darker-coloured

The relationship between the flux and the colourant greatly affects the appearance of the glaze. Glaze colourants consist of a solution containing transition metal ions. The outer electrons in transition metal ions absorb all but certain wavelengths of light (Nassau 1982; Vandiver 1990). Metallic ions used in Mesopotamian glazes include copper , manganese , iron , and cobalt (Hedges 1976; Hedges and Moorey 1975; Kleinmann 1991; Toll 1943). The flux used will influence the outer electrons of these metallic ions. For example , the use ofcopper as a colourant in an alkaline glaze composed of an alkaline22

based tlux will result in a blue glaze colour, while copper in combination with a flux composed of 30 percent lead will produce a green glaze (Berdel 1931: 195; Vandiver 1990). In order to produce a blue or green coloured glaze , Mesopotamian potters likely obtained the "waste " filings collected from coppersmiths ' workshops. The glaze-potters would subsequently oxidize the copper filings in a special kiln to produce glaze colourant (Wulff 1966:162).

method of determining the constituents of the ceramic glazes was not presented. Spot chemical analysis identified only alkaline-based glazes in a sample of Parthian and Sasanian glazed pottery from Seleucia(Debevoise 1934b). Spot chemical analysis also found that Parthian glazes from Dura-Europos were decorated using alkaline-based glazes , probably derived from plant ashes. At Dura-Europos , a combination of copper and iron were used as glaze colourants, resulting in a dark green glaze (Toll 1943). However , spot chemical tests on a different sample of Parthian glazed sherds indicated that lead was also present (Matson 1943). Spot chemical analysis is qualitative in nature and does not determine the amount of lead present in the glaze of these ceramics. No lead was present in the spot analysis of the green glaze of a fragment from what was assumed to be a locally produced Parthian "slipper-coffin" from Dura-Europos (Toll 1943:4). The presence or absence oflead in the ceramic glazes from Dura-Europos was thought to reflect regional variation in ceramic production.

Glazed vessels are usually fired once. The maturation rate of the glaze , which is based on its composition , determines the temperature and duration of the firing (Rice 1987: 102) . As in the case of Luster-painting, where a second glaze with a lower maturation temperature is added, glazed vessels may be fired additional times (Caiger-Smith 1985). Polychrome and Lusterpainted ceramics were often placed in saggers to keep them from stray carbon in the kiln that would spoil the appearance of the decorated vessel (Keblow-Bernsted 2003). Sasanian kilns have been identified archaeologically from ten sites, either through site survey or excavation (Simpson 1992:269-274). No kilns reported have produced evidence that they were used to fire glazed pottery. Sasanian and later Islamic pottery kilns were located at the margins of contemporary settlements , most likely due to their extensive spatial requirements for storage of fired and unfired wares , wood and clay. Wood-fired kilns would also produce smoke that is offensive to nearby residents. One excavated Sasanian kiln has been identified at Tai-I Malyan , Iran. The feature consisted of a single updraft kiln with two fireboxes and a chimney was excavated. The feature was dated using thermoluminecence and radiocarbon to the third century C.E. (Alden 1978). This kiln produced unglazed bowls. In Sasanian times, among the artisan class , separate terms were used to designate plainware potters and potters who produced glazed vessels (Tafazzoli 1974). The difference in terms for potters provides evidence during the Sasanian Period for the specialized production of plainware and glaze-decorated ceramics.

A sample of fifty-nine monochrome glazed ceramics and fragments of glaze brick from Achaemenid , Parthian , Sasanian , and Early Islamic occupations at Kish, Nineveh , and Nippur , was examined using Optical Emission Spectroscopy and isoprobe (Hedges 1976 ; Hedges and Moorey 1975). These studies report that a small proportion of the glazes contained anywhere from trace amounts to 4 percent lead in otherwise alkaline-based glazes , across the temporal range of the sample (Hedges 1976; Hedges and Moorey 1975) . Zinc and tin were also present in slightly lower percentages than lead in a few of the alkaline-glazed ceramics. Other than the glazes containing copper , lead was rarely a component of contemporary glazed ceramics using other colourants. No true lead-based glazes were observed during the study. The presence of low percentages of lead , tin , and zinc in the ceramic glazes is difficult to explain. There is no obvious reason for these three elements to be present in the glazes in such low concentrations. Tin must constitute at least 2 percent ofa glaze to be an effective opacifier , and must constitute at least 0.5 percent to reduce the surface tension of the glaze and provide better flow properties. However , the percenta ge of tin measur ed during this study seldom reached even that small amount (Hedges and Moorey 1975). The Sasanian glazed ceramics examined by Hedges and Moorey never exceeded 2.4 percent lead content. The effects of zinc in a glaze composition were not discussed. Except in terms ofregional variation , the authors did not explore possible explanations for the small amounts of lead , tin , and zinc present in the glazes (Hedges 1976 ; Hedges and Moorey 1975).

Archaeological evidence for the production of glaze-decorated ceramics before the tenth century C.E./fourth century A.H. is also limited. A small collection , of kiln furniture and a fragment of possible raw glaze , that has been attributed to Basra is located at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and is thought to date to this period. (Hallett 1999). More complete descriptions of kilns used to produce Islamic glazewares and the material culture associated with them can be found in Allan 1973; Keblow-Bernsted 2003; Morgan and Letherby 1987; Wilkinson 1959.

Previous Compositional Studies of Near Eastern Ceramic Glazes

The distribution of the trace amounts of tin , lead, and zinc observed in the alkaline-glazed ceramics from the sites studied suggested potential regional differences in manufacturing between Pre-Islamic glazed ceramics from Nippur , Ninevah , and Kish. The samples from Nippur contained trace amounts of tin , but no lead or zinc (Moorey 1999) . Zinc , with or without copper , was present in glazes on ceramics and on a small sample of glazed bricks from Nineveh (Hedges and Moorey 1975). Trace amounts of tin and lead are present in Parthian and Sasanian glazed ceramics from Kish (Hedges

Some of the earliest archaeological compositional research , which would now be considered "archaeometry," focussed on the analysis of Mesopotamian ceramic glazes. In 1790 Abbe Beauchamp documented the use of alkaline-based ceramic glazes in Mesopotamia , based on his analysis of ceramics from Borsippa , located in central Iraq (Fortnum 1882:5). Alumina (Al 20 3) was also reported to be a constituent of the glaze. His 23

Nippur , and Samarra in Iraq, Susa and Siraf in Iran , and Fustat in Egypt (Mason and Tite 1997; Tite et al. 1998). The low levels oflead in the alkaline glazes were determined using a Cameca SEM probe to examine polished glazed surfaces. The late development of lead-based glazes in Mesopotamia is likely the result of the limited communication and technological exchange between the Sasanian Empire and their Roman neighbours. It is likely, then, that the development of lead-based glazes in Mesopotamia represents an indigenous technological development.

1976; Hedges and Moorey 1975; Moorey 1999). A more recent study of glazed ceramics from Nippur used a wavelength-dispersive electron microprobe analysis and x-ray fluorescence to examine changes in ceramic glaze composition through time (McCarthy 1996:22-23; McCarthy et al. 1995). This ceramic sample spanned the Seleucid, Parthian, Sasanian, as well as the Early and Medieval Islamic periods. Sixty-nine sherds were examined using an electron microprobe, and Scanning Electron Microscopy and Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy (SEM-EDS) of an additional 112 sherds was performed (McCarthy 1996). Ceramics decorated using alkaline-based glazes were produced throughout the temporal range of the study. The earliest evidence for the presence of lead in a ceramic glaze in the sample of sherds examined from Nippur was a single, black-coloured low-lead, alkaline-based glazed sherd dating to the Sasanian period. During the Early and Middle Islamic periods three types of glazes were produced: alkaline-based, alkaline-based with a low-lead content , and lead-based (McCarthy 1996). The three flux compositions were occasiona11yobserved in ceramics that otherwise had the same colours of glaze . For instance , the sample of white-glazed sherds includes samples of each of the three glaze flux compositions. Blue-green-glazed sherds were reported to have been made using both alkaline-based and alkaline-based low-lead glazes. Tin, possibly added as an opacifier , was observed in a small sample of blue-green coloured glazes dating to the Early and Medieval Islamic Periods (McCarthy 1996).

Electron Microprobe Analysis of Parthian, Sasanian, and Islamic Period Ceramic Glazes In order to assess the results of previous studies of ancient glazes, an initial study of glaze compositions was conducted using wavelength dispersive electron microprobe analysis (WDS). A sample of thirty-two sherds from the Deh Lu.ran Plain ranging in time from the Parthian into the Medieval Islamic period was examined using an electron microprobe. Microprobe analysis is a superior analytical technique for bulk compositional analysis , based on both accuracy and precision over other "spot" analytical techniques. The electron microprobe works by bombarding the sample surface with monochromatic (single energy or one wavelength), high energy electrons. When the electrons strike the sample , some of them penetrate it and cause its constituent atoms to emit characteristic X-rays. Characteristic X-rays are X-rays with energies specific to the elements from which they were emitted . The number of X-rays emitted by each element in the sample is proportional to the concentration of the element. Thus , counting the emitted characteristic X-rays from each element provides a measure of the concentration of the element in the sample. These X-ray counts are converted into elemental concentrations by comparing the number of X-ray counts from a sample, with the X-ray counts from standards with known elemental concentrations (Henderson 2000 ; Reed 1996). The sample concentrations are then calculated , in the first instance , from the expression:

Early Islamic blue-glazed sherds have been recovered from a T'ang Dynasty (618-907 C.E./ to 285 A.H.) context at Yangzhou, Jiangsu Province, China. Yangzhou was an important centre for maritime trade with Mesopotamia during the T'ang Dynasty, and had a resident population of Moslem traders (Dashing 1995: 156). Three of these alkaline-based glazed sherds were analysed by x-ray fluorescence. These tests revealed small amounts of lead - 1.1 and 1.2 percent - in two of the sherds, while the third contained no lead (Fukang 1992:386). As a component of this study, three contemporary sherds from Samarra , Iraq (founded in 838 C.E./216 A.H.) were also analysed. The decorative types used in the comparative study were not identified (Fukang 1992). Two of these sherds proved to be decorated using lead-based glazes, while the third was an alkaline-based glaze.

C(smp) = C(std) x Cts(smp)/Cts(std) where C(smp) is the elemental concentration in the sample , C(std) is the elemental concentration in the standard, Cts(smp) is the number of X-ray counts from the sample , and Cts(std) is the number of X-ray counts from the standard. (There are actually a few corrections that are applied to the concentrations generated from this expression to account for differences between the sample and the standard.)

Lead-based glazes, which had been a part of Roman ceramic practice beginning no later that the first century B.C.E., and were possibly used by the Chinese two centuries earlier, was not developed in the Islamic world until the eighth century C.E. I third centuries A.H. (Peacock 1982: 64-65; Tite et al. 1998; Wood and Freestone 1995). Babylonian potters are reported to have first used lead as a flux in blue-coloured glazes (Fortnum 1882). However , neither the age nor the sources of the lead-glazed material were reported , and the results of this study have not been replicated by more recent analysis (Fortnum 1882; Hedges and Moorey 1975). Lead glazes were also reported from Samarra , but no method for the identification of lead was presented (Sarre 1925). More recent studies of glazed ceramics from Early Islamic contexts report the presence of low-lead alkaline-based glazes from Hira ,

Oxygen, which comprises 45 to 55 weight percent of silicate and oxide minerals, is normally not analysed. The reason for not analysing oxygen is that precision and accuracy possible for routine oxygen analyses are poor (i.e., typically 3 to 4 percent , relative) , yielding analytical results of little value. Consequently , oxygen is calculated using assumed oxidation states for the analysed elements , which are reported as oxides (Reed 1996). Analysis of the glazes was conducted using a CAMECA SX200 Electron-Microanalyzer at the Department of Geological 24

Sciences at the University of Texas at E1 Paso under the direction of Dr. Nicho]as Pingitore. G1azed samples were prepared for analysis by mounting the sherds in cross-section in blocks of epoxy. The surfaces of the epoxy blocks were prepared by grinding with increasing1y finer sized corundum grit and a final polishing using diamond paste. The samples were then carbon coated to reduce a charge bui]d-up. Operating conditions of the microprobe during ana]ysis were as follows: Beam current 20 nA, Accelerating voltage 15 Kev. ; spot size, 20 microns. Standards for the analyses include Corning "C" glass (Pb, Si), Kaersutite (Al, Fe, Mg, Ti), Bustamite (Ca, Mn, S), Sanidine (Cl, K, Na), Cassiterite (Sn), Tagtupite (Na,Al), Cobaltite (Co) , and Cuprite (Cu). Six separate spot analyses were conducted of the g]aze of each ceramic sample. The results of the microprobe analyses were then averaged (Appendix C, Table C-1 ). In the first column, the first number represents the number of the site on the Deh Luran Plain from which the sherd was co11ected.The second and third numbers are each unique to a particular sherd samp]e. Blue-coloured glazes were present on the exterior and black glaze or black Splash was present on twelve of the sherds. Two white g1azed sherds were analysed twice.

Low-lead alkaline-based glazes were observed on six sherds in the sample , with lead levels ranging between 0.3 percent-11.92 percent PbO. Low-lead alkaline glazes were observed on sherds with black or dark green glazes or blue exteriors and black interiors . Low-lead alkaline glazes are present on Sasanian, early Islamic, and undifferentiated Islamic period sites. McCarthy (1996:207) reports in her microprobe study a single low-lead alkaline glazed Sasanian sherd with a PbO value of 3.8 percent. Low-lead alkaline-based glazes are more common in the Early and Medieval Islamic period ceramics , ranging from 0.5 to 8.8 percent PbO.(McCarthy 1996).

Results of the Microprobe Analysis

One possible explanation for the addition of lead to alkalinebased glazes is to decrease the firing temperature of the glazed ceramics. By determining the composition and the amount of the fluxes used in glazing the ceramics, it possible to calculate the fusion temperature of the original ceramic glaze (West and Gerow 1971). The fusion temperature is the point at which the components of the glaze combine to form a glass (Rhodes 1957: 64; West and Gerow 1971 :265). The fusion temperature of glazes can serve as a proxy measure for assessing the effects that low percentage oflead have on alkaline-based glazes. The fosion temperature of the glazes should be regarded as the minim um value assignable to the original firing temperature of a glazed vessel. Fusion temperatures of the ceramic glazes examined during the microprobe study were calculated using the following equation (West and Gerow 1971: 265):

Seven lead-glazed sherds were examined, containing between 26.5 percent and 59.1 percent PbO. The lead-based glazes from Nippur range between 30.45 percent and 67.99 percent PbO (McCarthy 1996). The lead glazes are exclusively from Js1amic period occupations of the Deh Luran Plain. Lead-based glazes included dark green, green-on-white sgraffiato, tinopacified white glaze, and a unique o1ive-brown coloured sherd.

Glaze Composition and Glaze Fusion Temperature

The three compositions of ceramic g]azes were observed in the microprobe sample; alkaline-based glazes , low-lead alkalinebased glazes and lead-based glazes. (Figure 4.1 and Appendix C.). Alkaline-based glazes accounted for nineteen sherds in the sample. The presence of appreciable amounts of lime (CaO), potash (KO 2) , and magnesia (MgO) indicates that plant ashes were used as the source of flux (al-Saad 2002; McCarthy et al. 1995). Alkaline-based glazes were blue, black, white, and various shades of green. Two sherds having blue glazed exteriors and black interiors were also produced using alkaline-based glazes. (Figure 4.1.). Based on the OSL dates of probe samples 34-127 (OxL-1350) and 74-42 (OxL-1353) alkaline-based glazes were present in Deh Luran ceramic assemblages beginning at least in the Parthian to the Medieval Islamic Period.

where Pis the fusion temperature, p 1... p11 are the percentages of the weight percent of the oxides K2O, Na 2O, CaO , MgO , Al 20 3 , SiO2 , PbO, and TiO 2 determined from the microprobe analysis of the glazes ; x 1... x" are the coefficients for estimating glaze properties. These coefficients were determined empirically for each of the oxides by West and Gerow (1971 :265). The use of additional fluxing agents not included in West and Gerow's study could also affect on glaze fusion temperature. The fusion temperature for each sample analysed is presented in Table C.2. As expected , lead-based g]azes have a lower fusion temperature than alkaline or low-lead alkalinebased glazes. The average fusion temperature for alkalinebased glazes is 819.2j:}8.65 degrees centigrade. The average fusion temperature for the alkaline /low-lead glazes is 803. 1±56. 7 degrees centigrade. Lead-based glazes were determined to fuse at 711.7±59.1 degrees centigrade.

Na.O+Cao+LO+MaO

There are, however , alkal.ine-based glaze compositions that result in a low fusion temperature as well. For example, Sample 17-114-BK , the black-glazed interior of an early

Figure 4.1. Ternary Plot of Flux Compositions determined through Microprobe Analysis. 25

In LA-ICP-MS , the sample is placed inside a sample holder or laser cell , where ablation takes place . The ablated area varies in size depending on the sample matrix, but is usually sma11er than 1000 by 1000 µm and less than 30 µm deep. The ablated material is flushed from the laser cell using a 1.1 to 1.3 liter/minute flow of argon or an argon/helium-mixed carrier gas passed through Tygon tubing, and introduced into the LAICP-MS torch , where an argon gas plasma capable of sustaining electron temperatures between 8,000 and 10,000 K is used to ionize the injected sample. The resulting ions are then passed though a two-stage interface designed to enable their transition from atmospheric pressure to the vacuum chamber of the LA-ICP-MS system. Once inside the mass spectrometer , the ions are accelerated by high voltage , and then pass through a series of focussing lenses , an electrostatic analyser , and finally, a magnet. By varying the strength of the magnet, ions are separated according to mass/charge ratio and passed through a slit into the detector that records only a very small atomic mass range at a given time. By varying the instrument settings, the entire mass range can be scanned within a short period of time.

Islamic period vessel , has only 0.8 percent PbO and a glaze fusion temperature of 865 degrees centigrade. This fusion temperature is only twelve degrees higher than that found in 2-153 (853 degrees centigrade), a sherd also dating to the Early Islamic period, which has a glaze composition including 39.8 percent PbO. It is quite likely that a difference of twelve degrees between kiln firings may not have even been noticeable to an Early Islamic potter. The lack of substantial difference in fusion temperatures, despite the drastic difference in lead content, indicates that glaze fusion temperature is not controlled by lead alone. Sample 2-153 has a K20 value that is 1.5% lower than other lead-based glazes. Potassium dioxide is a powerful fluxing agent and its low value in Sample 2-153 contributed to the high fusion temperature. Jessica Hallett (Hallett et al. 1988) conducted a similar microprobe study , which reported glaze fusion temperatures of 835 degrees centigrade for alkaline-based glazes , and 640 degrees centigrade for lead-based glazes. Both of these values are within the range of the values observed in the Deh Luran sample analysed here. The ceramics used in Hallett's study were collected during the Zabid Project from sites located in North Yemen and represent a time-span from the thirteenth through fifteenth century C.E./seventh through ninth century A.H. (Ciuk and Keall 1996; Hallett et al. 1988). The lower fusion temperature observed for the two lead-glazed sherds in Hallett's study (Hallett et al. 1988: 270), as compared with the Deh Luran sample under consideration here, is a result ofa 10 percent or greater lead content in Hallet's sherds than is found in any of the lead-glazed sherds examined during the current microprobe study.

The VA Axiom Magnetic-sector Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass-Spectrometer used for this study is capable ofresolving atomic masses as close as 0.001 atomic mass units apart , thus eliminating many interferences caused by molecular ions that pose problems for quadrupole TCP-MS instruments. The ICPMS is coupled to a Merchantek Nd:Y AG 213 nanometer wavelength laser ablation unit. The laser can be targeted on spots as small as 5 micrometers in diameter. The small spot size, coupled with the high sensitivity of magnetic-sector ICPMS to a wide range of major, minor, and trace elements, make LA-ICP-MS a very powerful microprobe. Moreover, laser ablation is virtually nondestructive to most samples, as the ablated areas are often indistinguishable with the naked eye. Prior to data acquisition , samples were pre-ablated using the laser to remove possible surface contamination. Power settings for the laser were adjusted to prevent burning through the paint during analysis, ensuring that the material introduced to the LA- ICP-MS was actually glaze and not the underlying clay matrix. NIST SRM 610 and 612 (glass wafers spiked with ~60 elements) , Ohio Red clay , and Glass Buttes obsidian were used as standards to calibrate data.

Analysis of Ceramic Glazes by Laser-Ablation Inductively-Coupled-Plasma Mass-Spectroscopy (LA-TCP-MS) Over the last several years, researchers have begun to use LAICP-MS to address archaeological questions pertaining to ceramic production and exchange (e.g., Devos et al. 2000; Gratuze 1999; Gratuze et al. 2001; Junk 2001; Neff 2002; Pollard and Heron 1996; Speakman and Neff 2002, 2004; Speakman et al. 2002; Watling 1999). LA-ICP-MS offers several advantages over other analytical methods , including high accuracy and precision, low detection limits, rapid analytic time, low cost per sample, high sample throughput, and minimal damage done to the artifact. With its small analysing spot size, LA-ICP-MS is also minimally invasive and one can avoid weathered areas on ceramic glazes (Habicht-Mauche et al. 2003). Yet another major advantage of LA-ICP-MS as a microprobe analytical technique is the ability to obtain data for virtually any element in the periodic table except oxygen and nitrogen. LA-ICP-MS also can be used to detect elements present in the low parts-per-million (ppm) to parts-per-trillion (ppt) range. In contrast, other surface techniques , such as Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and X-ray Fluorescence (XRF), detect a much more limited number of elements and have higher detection limits than LA-ICP-MS. One of the more exciting applications of LA-ICP-MS is the in situ analysis of pigments and glazes used to decorate pottery.

Blank-subtracted, isotopic abundance-corrected counts were calibrated using the Gratuze Method (Gratuze 1999; Gratuze et al.2001 ; Neff2003) to produce oxide concentrations for the elements analysed in each sample. The basic assumption of the Gratuze approach is that the measured elements represent essentially all of the material, other than oxygen , ablated from the sample. Oxygen is then taken into consideration by converting the elemental signals to signals of their oxides. Some error may be introduced at this point for elements that occur in more than one oxidation state, particularly iron , which may be present as FeO as well as Fe 20 3 • Additionally , the presence of any water or unmeasured elements , such as chlorine , in the sample, can result in a slight overestimation of the quantity of oxides. These unmeasured contents are not taken into account when the measured elements are summed to 100 percent , thus producing the error.

26

RESULTS OF THE LA-ICP-MS ANALYSES

Parthian sherds from Deh Luran. Again, solubility of the glazes may have affected their compositions. A more recent study of Parthian glazes from Nippur produced values for Na, Ca, and K, which are concordant with those of the current study (McCarthy 1996: 206-207). Also, trace amounts of lead and tin were reported in the Parthian glazes analysed by Hedges and Moorey (1975). McCarthy's study also reported trace amounts of lead in three of her thirty-five Parthian samples (McCarthy 1996:207).

A sample of one hundred and eighty glazed ceramics representing Parthian, Sasanian, and Islamic occupations of the Deb Luran Plain were analysed by LA-ICP-MS.An additional twenty-five sherds, provided by Dr. Ed Keall of the Royal Ontario Museum, were included in the MURR LA-ICPMS study (Table 5.1). Of these, fifteen of the sherds were derived from excavations and surveys conducted as part of the Royal Ontario Museum's Zabid Project located in Yemen (Ciuk and Keall 1996). The time span represented by the ceramics in the Zabid Project sample range from the midtwelfth to mid-fourteenth centuries C.E. / sixth to eight centuries A.H. Fourteen of the Zabid sherds are products of local polychrome ceramic traditions (Ciuk and Kean 1996; Hallett et al. 1987). The fifteenth sherd is a Splash-glazed sgraffiato with a similar appearance to the sgraffiato sherds from the Deh Luran Plain with dark green Splash over a white glaze and wide parallel incised channels.

Sixty-three blue coloured glazed ceramics were analysed by LA-ICP-MS. The sample includes ceramics produced during the Sasanian and Early Islamic Periods. Blue-glazed sherds were examined separately from blue-glazed sherds with black Splash-glazed interiors, which were produced exclusively during the Early Islamic Period. The monochrome blue and monochrome blue-black Splash glazes from the Deb Luran Plain were produced using both alkaline and alkaline-low lead-based glazes.

Another component of the Royal Ontario Museum ceramic sample are nine blue-glazed sherds derived from the Metropolitan Museums' excavations in Siraf, Iran (Whitehouse 1968, 1971). The provenience of the nine sherds recovered from the site is not known, so they could be assigned to either the Sasanian or early Islamic occupations of the site. Whitehouse (1968) reported the excavation of a series of pottery workshops in which blue-glazed ceramics might have been produced. Siraf's location on the Persian Gulfcoast also suggests that many of the ceramics recovered during excavation could have been derived through maritime trade.

Copper made up between 1 and 4 percent of the constituents of the blue-coloured glazes. Copper comprised 3 percent of the monochrome blue-glazes from Nippur (McCarthy 1996). Similar percentages of copper have been reported from Parthian, Sasanian and Islamic Period blue-glazed ceramics (Hedges and Moorey 1975; Kleinmann 1986; Matson 1943; McCarthy 1996). The amount oflead present in blue-glazed ceramics in the Deh Luran sample ranged continuously from zero to 17 percent. Similar lead values were also observed in the sample of Blue glazed ceramics with black interior Splash glaze. One Early Islamic period blue-glaze contained 2 percent tin in addition to 12 percent lead. This sherd was part of the sample examined from Siraf. One blue glazed sherd from DL-63 contained 1 percent lead and 1 percent tin. Except in trace amounts, tin was not present in the other blue-glazed ceramics examined. Tin has been reported in I to 2 percent amounts in a small sample of blue-glazed pottery from Nippur (McCarthy 1996; Moorey 1999). The infrequent occurrence of tin in the blueglazes may represent the use of tin as an additional fluxing agent or evidence for the recycling of bronze as a source of copper for the glaze-colourant. No tin was reported during previous analysis of three blue-glazed ceramics from Siraf. Lead was present, ranging between 0.9 and 2.6 percent (Mason and Tite 1997:45). The discrepancy between the previous and current analyses likely represents variation within different batches of glaze.

A single black-glazed sherd, though to be of Sasanian origin, from an unknown location in Iraq was also provided by the Royal Ontario Museum for analysis. As in the microprobe analysis, Figure 4.2 graphically illustrates that alkaline-based, low-lead alkaline-based and lead-based glazes make up the Deh Lu.ran ceramic sample. The four Parthian sherds were produced using an alkalinebased glaze. These three green-glazed Parthian sherds derive their distinctive colour from the nearly three times the amount of iron in relation to copper. The two Parthian green-glazed sherds also contain a trace amount of lead. Two Parthian sherds contained equal amounts of copper and iron and displayed a distinct blue colour. These two sherds lacked the trace lead component of the other two Parthian sherds. Previous compositional analyses of Parthian glazes seem to vary with analytical techniques applied and sources of the original ceramics. Parthian sherds from Kish, Nineveh, and Nippur examined by Hedges and Moorey (1975, 1976) displayed values for sodium, calcium, and potassium that are half of those observed during the current analysis. It is possible that the difference in these values between the present study and those of Hedges in Moorey is the solubility of these three elements indicative of the use of chemically weathered ceramics in their analysis. The sample of glazed Parthian pottery from Dura-Europos also reports lower values of Ca and K (Matson 1943). Sodium, however, is present in a I percent greater amount in the Dura-Europos sherds than in the

Sasanian Period monochrome-coloured glazes were produced using alkaline-based glazes. The colour of alkaline-based glazes includes: pea-green/olive green, black, white, or white mottled with black, dark green and a single mustard-yellow coloured sherd. These sherds take their colours from differences in the amount of iron and calcium in the glaze. Alkaline-based glazes have been reported previously for the Sasanian period (Hedges and Moorey 1976; McCarthy 1996). The Sasanian bowl sherd with an interior pea-green glaze with a spot of blue present on the vessel's otherwise-undecorated exterior was also coated with an alkaline-based glaze.

27

from Hira and Susa reports that one sherd contained no tin. Five samples from Hira contained between 1.1 and 6.6 percent lead and 3.1 to 8.1 percent tin (Mason and Tite 1997:45) . Only one the Deh Luran cobalt-decorated sherds falls within the range of the percentage oflead and tin observed in the sample from Hira.

Eighth century C.E./second century A.H. white-coloured pottery glazes exhibited considerable variation in the composition of their glazes. The nine samples of green Splash on white glaze were slipped with a white alkaline-based glaze, low-lead alkaline and lead-based glaze with a lead content that ranged from a trace amount to accounting for 29 percent of the glaze. Blue-green Splash on a white alkaline-based glaze has been reported in previous analyses of ceramics from Nippur and Samarra (McCarthy 1996:51; Matson 1941).

The two white-glazed sherds had widely different compositions from one another. One white-glazed sherd was coated with a low-lead, 4 percent , alkaline-based glaze. Tin was present in only a trace amount in this sherd. The other sherd had a true lead-based glaze (37.9%) and also contained 4 percent SnO. Previous analyses of Early Islamic period monochrome white glazes from Iraq have reported lead and tin values similar to the latter sherd (Mason and Tite 1997:45; Matson 1941 :60). The sherd with the low-lead alkaline-based glaze is compositionally closer to the white glaze observed in one of the cobalt-decorates sherds, than it is to that of the leadbased glazes.

Other types of Splash glazes dating to the early Islamic Period exhibit variation in the compositions of their glazes. The single example of green and black Splash on a white background has a lead content of 19.6 percent , the lowest leadvalue observed in the Splash glazes. The other multicoloured Splash glazes were produced using a lead-based flux. The Splash glazed ceramics analysed were produced using leadbased glazes with PbO values as great as 66.2 percent in one sherd of green Splash on yellow glaze.

The four Press-Moulded sherds were produced using a leadbased g laze. Lead accounts for between 50 and 58 percent of the composition of the glaze. The Ear ly Islamic Period dark green coloured monochrome glazes were also produced using lead-based glazes. The single example of green Splash glaze on a pea-green /olive green glaze dating to the Early Islamic Period was produced using an alkaline-based glaze. The glaze has a greater amount of iron present relative to copper resulting in its pea-green colour. Calcium amounts to 10 percent of the glaze composition , equal to that of the average value of calcium observed in the three Parthian alkaline-based sherds.

SiOs .9

.8

.7

.6

.s

.4

.3

.2

The nine sgraffiato sherds from Deb Luran and single example from Yemen were produced using lead-based glazes with PbO contents ranging between 2land 61 percent. One of the sgraffiato samples (DVH124) has an anomalously high level of Al (23%). The average Al value of the other nine sgraffiato sherds is 4 percent. None of the other elemental values in this sample deviate sufficiently from the remaining sgraffiato sherds to suggest analysis of the ceramic body rather than the glaze. The reason for the high Al value of Sample DVH124 is unknown. It is possible that a portion on the underlying clay body was analysed as part of the sample. Sgraffiato ceramics were produced using lead-based or lowlead alkaline-based glazes as has been reported in previous analysis (McCarthy 1996:51).

.1

Figure 4.2 Ternary Plot of Flux Compositions determined through LA-ICP-MS Analysis. The presence or absence of tin was also highly variable in the Splash glazes. The green and black on white sherd had the greatest percentage of tin observed among the other Splash glazes at 3.7 percent. The yellow colour of the base glaze under the brown or green Splash is likely the result of the use of a lead/tin glaze. Considerable variation was observed in the composition of cobalt-decorated whiteware sherds from the Deh Luran Plain. One of the cobalt-decorated sherds was coated with a leadbased glaze (30.8% PbO) which also contained 1.9 percent tin. Three other cobalt decorated sherds were slipped with a low lead-alkaline-based glaze containing between 4.0 and 17.8 percent PbO. Tin values in these three sherds range between 0.7 and 1.5 percent with the amount oftin present parallelling the increase in the amount of lead in the glaze. The fifth cobalt-decorated samples was coated with an alkaline-based glaze containing only a trace amount of lead and no tin.

The single example ofLuster-Painted ware was decorated with a low-lead alkaline-based glaze. The Luster Ware sherd from Deh Luran also had a slightly greater percentage of tin than lead. Analysis of thirty-four Luster Ware sherds from Samarra and Nishapur also reports the use of low-lead alkaline-based glazes for this ceramic type (Kleinmann 1986:78). Lead accounted for an average of 6.2 percent and tin for 4.7 percent. Analysis of the glaze from one Luster Ware sherd from Nippur found that the ratio of lead to tin in the glaze was near parity , containing 4.49 percent PbO and 5 percent SnO (McCarthy 1996:60). Analysis ofa contemporary Luster Ware sherd from Hira contained only 2.5 percent PbO and 4.3 percent SnO

Previous analysis of a sample of cobalt-decorated ceramics 28

(Mason and Tite 1997:45).

in copper-coloured ceramic glazes. Trace amounts of tin were occasionally observed in the current sample of ceramic glazes, but not with the consistency of low percentages of lead.

Two sherds from the Medieval Islamic Period were decorated using alkaline-based glazes. These two sherds had the greatest values for silica recorded during the LA-ICP-MS, amounting to 80 percent or greater. An alkaline-based white glazed sherd with a black-brown Splash glaze on its interior was recovered from DL-74. This sherd was dated to 1230±300 C .E. (OxL 1353). Another white-glazed sherd with a painted black line was also made using an alkaline-based glaze.

This much larger data-set of ceramic glaze compositions is amenable to multivariate statistical analysis. Five compositional groups were identified using a combination of Principle Components Analysis (PCA) and the inspection of bivariate plots (Figure 4.3, Figure 4.4; Figure 4.5). Group One (LPb or low-lead) consists of forty-five alkaline-based glazed sherds. The glazed ceramics in this group are black, white, pea/olive green, or individual cases of blue and mustard yellow in colour. The ceramics in this sample date from the Parthian , Sasanian and Islamic periods. Samples OxL-1351 , and OxL1353 that dated to the eleventh or twelfth century C.E./fifth or sixth century A.H. are part of this glaze composition group. A single green-Splash on white glazed sherd believed to date to the late eighth century C.E./second century A.H. had the greatest amount of lead present in the alkaline-based glazes. One of the Yemeni cobalt-blue decorated sherds was also part of the low-lead group.

Three under-glaze painted blue-coloured sherds were analysed. All three sherds were coated with a low-lead alkaline-based glaze. Of the twenty-two under-glaze painted sherds from Nippur examined by McCarthy(1996:9), all of the sherds were decorated using alkaline-based glazes (McCarthy 1996:51 ). The other three Medieval Islamic period sherds from the Deh Luran sample were slipped using a lead-based glaze. These three sherds also contained a trace amount of tin. The three major glaze compositions (alkaline-based, low-leadalkaline based, and lead-based) identified from the Deh Luran Plain were identified in the sample of glazed ceramics from the Zabid Project. The glaze of the slip paint on blue-glazed ------t)EtS-t~, the--c-ebalt-blue-on-white, the white slip paint on green glaze, and one of the three dark green glazed sherds is alkaline-based. Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy (EDS) analysis of glazed ceramics from the Zabid Project reports previous analysis of cobalt-on-white , and green-on-white coloured glazes as having an alkaline-based flux (Hallett et al. 1988:268). The blue-green Splash-on-white sherd, the blue and the two black glazed sherds were produced using a lowlead-alkaline-based glaze. The two green-on-yellow, green and brown-on-yellow, brown-on-white, and the remaining two green-glazed, sherds were produced using a lead-based glaze. Previous analysis of monochrome green and green-on-yellow sherds from Zabid were produced using lead-based glazes (Hallett et al 1988). Also, one of the green-on-yellow sherds derived its yellow colour from the presence of 4.9 percent antimony indicating the use of a lead antimonate glaze , the only such glaze composition observed in this study. A previously analysed sample of brown-on-white decorated pottery was reported as having an alkaline-based glaze. The current sample is coated with a lead-based glaze. The reason for the differences in the two analyses is unknown , but indicates that there is more compositional variability within this type than previous realized.

c .... C

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Figure 4.3 Variance-covariance matrix plot of principal component 1 and 2 derived from LA-ICP-MS analysis of the Deh Luran glazes. Ellipses represent 90% confidence interval for group membership. Group Two (MPB or moderate lead) is made up of ninety-two sherds low-lead alkaline-based glazes. This compositional group contains all but two blue-coloured glazed ceramics from both the Deh Luran Plain and Siraf examined during this study, all but one of the blue-green glazed Parthian sherds , the single under-glaze blue sherd , along with one black and one dark green-glazed sherd from the Yemeni portion of the ceramic sample. All of the blue-glazed ceramics with black Splash glazed interiors that were analysed are also present in this group. Based on the current analysis , low-lead alkalinebased blue-coloured glazes were produced from at least the Parthian period until the sometime during the sixteenth through eighteenth century C.E./ tenth to twelfth century A.H.

The results of the LA-ICP-MS analysis supports previous investigations regarding the composition of Mesopotamian ceramic glazes and also presents previous research in a new light. As documented by previous research , lead-based glazes appear first during the early Islamic period, ca. the late eighth century C.E./ second century A.H. Alkaline-based ceramics, which had a Jong history prior to the Parthian-age samples analysed during the present study, continued to be produced well into the Islamic period. Blue copper-coloured glazes that contain trace amounts of lead display temporal and technological continuity from the Parthian to the Medieval Islamic Periods. Previous studies of Mesopotamian glazes support this observation for continuity of trace amounts of lead 29

used for glaze decoration in Mesopotamia is an ore with a high nickel content(Kleinmann 1991) . These sherds were decorated using cobalt, and it seems likely that the presence ofnickel is indicative of use of the same source of this glaze colourant. The current study provides additional evidence for the presence of abundant nickel in cobalt-coloured glaze. Generally rare high-purity cobalt-nickel ores are present in shallow deposits in the Anarak mining district in Central Iran, and could have served as a source of the cobalt used for glaze decoration (Tarkian et al. 1983: 112). This suggests that cobalt used in the decorated sherds from Yemen and Deh Luran were likely derived from a common ore body.

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Two sherds had glaze compositions that could not be assigned to one of the five glaze composition groups. One of the sherds had a blue glazed exterior, with the interior being a lighter blue colour with sparse black spots of Splash glaze. The other sherd is lead-glazed.

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Figure 4.4 Bivariate plot of copper and lead base-10 logged concentrations for the Deh Luran glazes. Ellipses represent 90% confidence interval for group membership.

The dark green vitrified fragment from DL-2 is composed primarily of Ca, K, Si, Al, and Fe. While superficially similar in composition to the alkaline-based glazes, the Ca and Al values of the vitrified fragment is nearly double the average value for these two elements in the alkaline glazes. The potassium value of the fragment is also lower than the average for the alkaline glazes. Because of the differences between the compositions of the vitrified fragment and the alkaline glazes, th is fragment does not represent a fragment of alkaline -based glaze. The high Ca and Al values for the sample indicate that this object more likely represents waste material from a lime kiln.

Glazes in Groups Three (HPbl or High-lead 1) and Four (HPb2 or High-lead 2) were produced using lead-based fluxes. The production of high-lead glazes was restricted to the Islamic period. The presence or absence of copper in the glaze provides the means of differentiation between the two groups. Group Three (HPbl) was made up of high-lead glazed ceramics coloured by copper. This group of ceramics composed of thirty-six sherds includes a single blue glazed sherd, green monochrome, green-on-white Splash-glazes, and green-glazed press-moulded sherds. Group Four (Hpb2) , made up of sixteen sherds, includes glazes with green and yellow Splash, brown Luster, and one sherd of sgraffiato.

Technological Choices in the Production of Mesopotamian Glazed Ceramics

By serving as technological analogs, the practices of contemporary artist-potters can aid in our understanding of the presence of lead in Mesopotamian alkaline-glazed ceramics. While rich blue-coloured ceramic glazes can be produced using an alkaline-based glaze, the resulting vessels are subject to the common problems associated with alkaline-based glazes: solubility in water and uneven rates of shrinkage between the ceramic body resulting in the crazing of the glaze (Berdel 1931; French 1923).

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In Berdel 's experiments with copper-based blue-coloured glazes, at least 13 percent lead could be added to an alkalinebased glaze without affecting the blue colour of the fired vessel (Berdel 1931: 195). The results of the LA-ICP-MS analysis of the ceramic glaze samples indicate that up to 25 percent lead can be present in a blue-coloured alkaline glaze, before the coloured glaze takes on a greenish hue. The addition oflead to an alkaline-based glaze also causes the blue colour to become more intense and increased the reflectivity of the glaze. Adding small amounts oflead to alkaline-based ceramic glazes also lowers the viscosity of the glaze, smoothing out glaze defects and alleviating strain-mismatch between the glaze and the ceramic body that results in crazing (Berdel 1931; Rhodes 1957: 67). Contemporary industrial ceramic production practices include the addition of one-half percent to 2 percent PbO to an alkaline glaze intended to improve the appearance

___..______,.

2 Nickel (log basc- 10 ppm-o. idc)

1

Figure 4.5 Bivariate plot of nickel and lead base-IO logged concentrations for the Deh Luran glazes. Ellipses represent a 90% confidence interval. Group Five (H-Ni or High nickle) glazes are characterized by the presence of cobalt and nickel. With the exception of the single cobalt-decorated alkaline-glazed sherd, the cobaltdecorated ceramics from Deh Luran and from the Zabid Project in North Yemen were assigned to this compositional group. Previous research indicates that the source of the cobalt 30

of the finished product (Norton 1956:245).

that the use of lead could substantially facilitate glazed ceramic production by reducing the temperature and duration of glazed pottery firing. However, even with the addition of greater than 30 percent PbO, ceramic glazes would not necessarily have been fired at temperature levels below that of alkaline-based glazes.

Beginning with the Parthian period the presence of small amounts oflead in alkaline-based ceramics indicates that some Mesopotamian potters understood lead's beneficial properties in their glazes. The use oflead thus became part oflocal craft practice. It is highly probable that the low percentages of lead observed in Mesopotamian ceramic glazes result from a technological choice made by potters, rather than an accidental inclusion. Low amounts of lead were most likely added to blue-coloured glazes in order to enhance the appearance and assure a successful match of the glaze to the clay body. It was the familiarity with low-lead-alkaline glazes that likely served as a precursor-technology to the later appearance oflead-based glazes.

The properties of alkaline, low-lead-alkaline , and lead-based glazes are unique. Requiring only the ashes of alkaline-rich plants, crushed quartz and a colourant, alkaline-based glazes were easy to produce and became the basis of Mesopotamian potters' decorative repertoires for centuries. Even after the development of alternative glazing technologies alkaline-based glazes continued to be used. Alkaline-based glazes are viscous and during the Islamic period were applied over painted decoration to avoid diffusing the underlying design .

Lead-alkaline based glazed vessels continued to be produced after the development of lead-based glazes. In the case of under-glaze painted ceramics, the retention of an alkalinebased or low-lead alkaline-based glaze technology is understandable, as the ideal wetting characteristics of leadbased glazes would diffuse the underlying pigment and blur the design (Keblow-Bernsted 2003:30; Lane 1948:44; McCarthy 1996:51). The under-glaze painted ceramic sherds from DL-5, DL-62, and DL-74 examined during the LA-ICPMS analysis were produced using low-lead alkaline-based glazes.

Low-lead-alkaline-based glazes first appear in quantity during the Parthian period. Low-lead alkaline-based glazes result in a smooth highly reflective surface not seen in the more matte textured alkaline-based glazes. Low-lead alkaline-based glazes are also less subject to crazing and pinholeing. It has also been suggested that the addition oflow levels oflead to an alkalinebased glaze aids in the diffusion of colourants , specifically copper (Tite et al. 1998:257). Lead-based glazes have a low coefficient of thermal expansion and a lower melting point than do alkaline or low-lead alkaline-based glazes. Lead glazes also have greater reflectivity than do low-lead alkaline-based glazes. Additional components , such as tin, can be combined with lead to produce a brilliant white glaze reminiscent of Chinese porcelain or to create other colours using additional tin or antimony to produce a bright yellow colour .

It is possible that low levels oflead were present in the metals used for making colourant. Copper-lead alloys were known to tenth century Islamic metallurgists, and possibly to earlier Sasanian ones as well (Allan 1979:39; al-Hassan and Hill 1986:250 ; Stapleton et al. 1927:408). Small amounts of lead in combination with copper in a ceramic glaze could indicate that a copper/lead alloy might have served as the source of the lead in the alkaline-based glazed ceramics. The byproducts of coppersmiths would have been a likely source for these alloys. However, the consistent appearance oflow amounts oflead in the blue-glazed ceramics from Deh Lu.ran and other locations in the Near East appears too purposeful to result from accidental inclusion. Rather , the experience of working with existing glaze recipes with intentionally added small amounts oflead provided Mesopotamian potters with the opportunity to develop the lead-based glaze technology.

It was the production of low-lead alkaline-based glazes that served as a precursor technology of the development of true lead-based glazes. The simultaneous use of alkaline-based , low-lead alkaline based, and lead-based glazes illustrates the sort of experimentation that potters undertook to create the white colour of Early Islamic period Splash glazes , cobalt-blue and plain white glazed ceramics. Potters who were familiar with the properties of lead in low-lead alkaline-ba sed glazes would have had little trouble switching to a lead-based glaze, with a lower firing temperature saving on the expense of fuel, and which , when fired, would present an appearance similar to contemporary Chinese white porcelain .

Conclusions from the Compositional Study of Deb Luran Glazed Ceramics

This chapter has focussed on the types of ceramic glazes used in Mesopotamia and elsewhere in the Near East during the Parthian through Medieval Islamic periods. Samples of glazed ceramics from Deh Lu.ran from this time-span were analysed by electron microprobe and LA-ICP-MS. During the Parthian and Sasanian periods , glazed ceramics were produced using an alkaline-based and low-lead-alkaline-based glazes. Lead-based glazes appeared during the Early Islamic period. Even with the appearance of lead-based glazes , production of ceramics using alkaline-based and low-lead alkaline-based glazes continued into the Medieval Islamic period.

What was the relationship between potters who had previously produced alkaline and low-lead alkaline-based ceramic glazes during the Parthian and Sasanian periods and the potters who produced lead-based ceramic glazes? The following chapter , which will focus on ceramic pastes , will address the potential sources for the production of different varieties of glazed ceramics through time.

By looking at the glaze fusion temperatures , it was determined 31

wall s and used to suspend vessels to keep the fluid glazed surfaces from touching one another during firing. A small sample o ceramics from known sources of contemporary glaze pottery production from other locations was included in the study. Analysis of the compositional data found that , with the exception of the ceramics known to have been independently produced elsewhere, some of the monochrome glazes , along with the cobalt-painted, Lusterware, and some Splash glazes were grouped with the kiln wasters and rods from Basra. Hallett interpreted the slight variations observed in the INAA data as indicating the use of more than one source of clay located near Basra. Hallet' s research also illustrates that more than one glaze-decorated pottery type was produced at the same locality.

CHAPTER FIVE. ANALYSIS OF THE CERAMIC PASTES Introduction The following chapter will focus on the variability of the clay bodies or pastes of the glazed ceramics from the Deh Luran Plain. The variability in the ceramic pastes will be characterized through Instrumental Neutron Activation Analysis (INAA) and petrographic analysis. The purpose of these studies is to compare the variation in the ceramic pastes with the different glaze decorative technologies through time. The results of the two analytical techniques will also be compared with previous relevant INAA and petrographic studies of Mesopotamian ceramics.

Hallett ' s research is supported by contemporary accounts of ceramic production and exchange in the Basra area. Dayr , a town located about 60 km. north of Basra was known to also have produced "excellent porcelain dishes ," presumably some type of glaze-decorated ceramics during the early tenth century C.E ./fourth century A.H. , and transported those ceramics to Basra for sale (Le Strange 1895:305).

Selected Neutron Activation Studies in Mesopotamia Instrumental neutron activation analysis has been conducted on prehistoric and historic ceramics from Mesopotamia since the origin of the analytical technique (e.g., Brooks et al. 1974). Since this early study , extensive development of INAA in terms of methods of analysis and statistical manipulation of the chemical data has occurred (Neff 2000). Regardless of these methodological advances, problems in distinguishing ceramics from some areas within Mesopotamia and Iran have been reported, especially when those ceramics were recovered from the same geomorphic setting (Berman 1986; Theusen and Heydorn 1990). With INAA, the ability to reliably distinguish between sources depends on the degree of chemical difference between the sources. For example , alluvial clays may lack sufficient compositional difference to distinguish pottery produced at different sites within the same geomorphic setting.

Previous INAA studies conducted in Mesopotamia highlight some of the issues ofcompositional variation that occur within and between clay sources. Clay sources in some geomorphic areas are so similar that one cannot discriminate between individual sources. However , the entire Tigris-Euphrates Basin is not compositionally homogeneous (Hal Jett 1999; Mynors 1983). Hallett has shown that some spatially restricted geomorphic localities such as the area around Basra display local compositional differences. In the case of Mynors' research, petrographic analysis and INAA independently supported compositional differences for the ceramics from the five sites scattered across Mesopotamia used in his study. Thus, INAA and petrographic analysis can be used in a complementary fashion to identify compositional differences among ceramics from different areas of Mesopotamia and Iran.

Hallett (1999) and Mynors (1983) provide two examples of successful INAA studies of ancient and historic ceramics in Mesopotamia. Mynors study involved the analysis of third millennium B.C.E. ceramics from three widely dispersed locations in Iraq and two sites in the United Arab Emirates. Using the results from INAA , the pottery sample from each site was found to be compositionally unique. Petrographic analysis of a sample of sherds from the five sites found suites of mineral grains that were unique for each site. When compared with a previous study of mineral suites present in the alluvial sediments from different areas of the TigrisEuphrates Basin , the ceramics from Iraq were confirmed as having been produced near where the sherds were recovered (Phillips 1968; Mynors 1983).

Description of the Instrumental Neutron Activation Studies Two separate studies of ceramics from the Deh Luran Plain were conducted using INAA. One hundred and seventy-five samples from 35 sites located on the Deh Luran Plain were examined using INAA at the University of Missouri Research Reactor (MURR). A single non-glazed sherd decorated with a tooled zigzag line and a possible "crow's foot" were also examined as part of the sample. The presence of small broken impressions in the glaze , observed in the interior bottom of a few of the bowl sherds examined during the typological analysis, indicates that such a piece of kiln furniture was used by Sasanian and Islamic potters whose wares were transported to the Deh Luran Plain. Crow ' s feet and the impressions they leave on the interiors of glazed bowls have been documented in other contemporary ceramic assemblages (Simpson 1993).

Hallett ' s study of glazed ceramics from the early Islamic Period using INAA was also successfu I. The focus of her research was to establish the possible origin of the origins of late eighth century decorated ceramic types. Her sample included ceramics that represented a wide range of contemporary decorative techniques including polychrome Splash glazes and Lusterwares , as well as cobalt-painted and blue monochrome glazes. The ceramic sample was derived from sites in Egypt , Iran , Iraq , Syria, and Thailand. Kiln wasters and rods from Basra were also included in th is study. Kiln rods are placed in rows of holes constructed into kilns '

A second INAA study was conducted using ceramics from the Deh Luran Plain. This INAA sample , conducted at the University of Wisconsin Nuclear Reactor (UWNR) was drawn from twelve sites. The sample was chosen to examine the 32

compositional variability within and between the sample of sites which were selected based on their assemblages representativeness of distinctly earlier, Parthian and Sasanian , or later, Islamic ceramic assemblages (Table 5.2). Unlike the MURR sample, with the exception of one sgraffiato sherd , all of the ceramics examined during the UWNR study were examples of monochrome glazes.

components express the greatest amount of variance. Employing PCA as a simultaneous RQ-mode technique allows the simultaneous plotting of elements , and samples that contribute to group separation. The R-mode loadings give the coordinates of the original elemental concentrations and the Qmode loadings give the coordinates of the objects. To evaluate the coherence of each group , the Mahalanobis distances were used to calculate multivariate probabilities of group membership. Specimens whose Mahalanobis distance lay outside the 1% probability cut-off relative to all groups were left unclassified.

MURR Instrumental Neutron Activation Analysis All of the glazed ceramics that were analyzed by INAA had their glazed surfaces characterized by LA-ICP-MS. The nonglazed sherd and the "crow's foot" were sampled only by INAA. The samples for INAA were prepared by abrading the exterior surfaces with a tungsten-carbide drill to remove possible contamination from the glaze and other material adhering to the ceramics surface. The samples were then crushed into a fine powder in an agate mortar to homogenize the sample. An aliquot of each sample was weighed into highpurity quartz and polyvials.

Results of the MURR INAA Study Principle Components Analysis (PCA) of the MURR INAA ceramic paste data resulted in the identification of five chemically distinct compositional groups and a small group of unassigned sherds (Figure 5.1). A second test of the compositional difference between Paste Group I and Paste Group 2 is presented as a biplot of two elements, manganese and cobalt , that further serves to distinguish the two compositional groups from one another (Figure 5.2). Samples assigned to Group 1 form a tight cluster consisting of monochrome ceramics that are primarily attributable to the Sasanian and Islamic period occupations of the Deb Luran Plain. A single Parthian sherd was also assigned in this group. Several sherds attributable to the post - 1250 C.E./sixth century A.H. occupation of the Deh Luran Plain were also assigned to Deb Luran Group 1; including two examples of blue under glaze painted , one of which produced an OSL date of A.O. 1750± 100 (OxL 1348). Two OSL-dated monochromeglazed sherds from different sites included in Group 1 were dated to A.O. 1230± 330 (OxL1353) and 1290± 150 (OxL 1351 ). An incised non-glazed sherd was also assigned membership in Group 1.

As discussed by GJascock (1992), INAA of pottery at MURR consists of two irradiations and three gamma ray counts on the quartz and polyvials. A short irradiation is carried out on the polyvials. The pnewnatic tube system transports the samples to the reactor core where they are exposed to a neutron flux of 8 x 10 13 n cm-2 s-1 using five-second irradiations . Following irradiation, the sample decays for 25 minutes before beginning a 12- minute count with the HPGe detector to measure the short-lived elements Al, Ba, Dy, K, Mn , Na, Ti, and V. In order to measure elements with longer half-lives, an irradiation of 24 hours is also carried out on the samples that were sealed in quartz vials using a neutron flux of 5 x 1013 n cm-2 s-1• Seven days after the end of irradiation, the samples were counted for 2,000 seconds with an HPGe detector coupled to an automatic sample changer. The second count yields seven medium-lived elements: As , La , Lu , Nd, Sm , U, and Yb. After additional three-to-four week decay , a final count of I 0,000 seconds was conducted to measure the long-lived elements: Ce, Co, Cr , Cs, Eu, Fe, Hf, Ni, Rb, Sb, Sc, Sr, Ta , Tb , Th , Zn , and Zr. The data from this study have been published previously (Hill et al. 2004).

N ,--,,---,-----,,---,.---,---,..---,----,--,---,---,---.----....-..--,,........,-----,,---,.---,

ci

The resulting data were analysed using a battery of multivariate statistical procedures. The underlying objectives of the use of multivariate statistical techniques on INAA data are to facilitate identification of compositional groups. The first step in the analysis was to transform the abundance data into base-IO logarithms. This was done to reduce wide variations in the values of the different element measured. Initially , the data were subjected to an average link cluster analysis (CA) to identify preliminary groups. The groups identified through CA were then tested using principal components analysis (PCA }- a pattern-recognition procedure used to give an idea of the subgroup structure of chemical compositional data. PCA calculates the orientations and lengths of axes of greatest variance in the data; these are found by eigenvector extraction. The corresponding eigenvalues indicate the length of each eigenvector. The axes are organized in terms of decreasing variance , thus the first principal

N

()roup5

ci I

0

lJll lJ...Sl l Analysis

of the same sherd: 38-88-BKl0,6 Black glaze interior 38-88, 38-88-BLI0,6 Blue exterior 2 < > 38-706,8 Same sherd 3 52-25-BK Exterior 52-25 Interior 4 < > 73-65-BK Exterior, 73-65-BL Interior 5 219-101-BL Exterior, 219-101-G Interior 74-42 Interior, 74-42-G Exterior

C-7

TABLEC.3 Glaze Colour

N

Na2 O

LA-ICP-MS ANALYSIS OF MAJOR ELEMENTS PRESENT IN THE DEH LURAN CERAMIC GLAZES MgO

Al2O3

SiO2

P20

K 20

CaO

FeO

MnO

CuO

SnO2

-

1.0 0.3

-

1.2 0.3

-

PbO

PARTHIAN

Blue

Parthian Green

2

2

8.7 1.6

2.5 0.6

2.3 0.5

70.4 0.2

0.4 0.1

4.5 1.2

7.8

-

1.5 0.3

10.4 1.6

3.7 0.8

2.9 0.9

64.4 4.6

0.7

4.3 0.4

8.2 2.1

3.2 0.5

-

-

-

1.6

-

SASANIAN Blue

48

7.9 1.9

2.7 1.2

3.0

68.8

4.1

0.6 0.2

3.9 1.0

7.5 1.9

1.3 0.6

-

1.1

2.4 1.0

0.1 0.1

0.8 0.6 0.1 0.2

Black*

19

10.6 2.5

2.5 1.1

3.0 1.2

68.0 4.4

0.9 0.2

3.8 0.8

7.1 1.3

1.9 0.9

-

0.2 0.6

-

Dark Green

2

11.0

2.5 0.3

66.0 3.2

0.8 0.1

0.3 0.2

8.2 0.5

2.2 1.3

-

0.5 0.8

-

-

-

4.4 0.1

Olive/PeaGreen

11

10.0 2.5

2.6 0.6

3.0 1.2

68.7 4.4

0.7 0.1

4.3 0.9

7.1 1.5

3.6 2.5

-

-

-

-

Blackwhite mottled

4

6.2 4.3

2.3 1.0

2.5 0.8

76.2 8.4

0.8 0.4

4.3 0.3

5.3 3.1

1.8 0.3

-

-

-

-

Green mottled w. Brown

1

7.1

3.9

4.9

69

1.3

3.7

7.7

2.3

0.7

-

-

Mustard Yellow

1

11.3

4.4

2.4

58.2

0.9

4.2

11.4

6.4

0.1

-

-

-

Pea-Green Int. Blue Spot Ext.

t

11

4.2

2.2

68.3

0.8

3.6

8.6

0.7

-

-

-

-

0.3

EARLY ISLAMIC Blue High-Pb

4

7.7 1.7

2.2 1.3

2.7 0.5

66.3 3.9

0.5 0.2

3.2 0.8

5.2 1.2

1.6 1.4

-

1.5 0.2

0.3 0.7

7.8 3.3

Blue w. Int. Black Splash

19

7.6 2.1

2.4 0.8

3.6 0.9

68.5 5.9

0.5 0.2

0.8 0.8

6.2 1.5

1.1

0.4

0.1 0.3

2.6 0.8

-

1.9 6.5

Blue Barbotine

6

8.6 1.3

2.0 0.7

4.0 0.6

69.0 4.6

0.4

5.3 1.3

1.2 0.2

-

3.4 1.9

-

-

4.0 0.7

10.0 0.5

PressMoulded

4

0.5 0.2

0.5 0.1

1.1 0.1

33.1 2.5

0.3 0.3

0.8 0.6

2.5 0.4

0.8 0.2

-

3.0 1.1

0.2 0.3

56.0 3.9

Sgraffiato

9

0.4 0.3

0.6 0.4

6.3 6.7

37.7 6.2

0.2 0.2

0.8 0.7

1.8 1.0

0.8 0.6

-

1.6 0.9

-

48.7 12.7

C-8

LA-ICP-MS ANALYSIS OF MAJOR ELEMENTS PRESENT IN THE DEH LURAN CERAMIC GLAZES

TABLE C.3 Glaze Colour

N

Na 2 O

MgO

Al2 O 3

SiO 2

P2O

K 2O

CaO

FeO

MnO

CuO

SnO 2

PbO

Green Splash on Pea-Green glaze

1

11.9

4.2

1.9

57.7

1.1

4.2

10

8.1

1.3

0.3

-

0.1

Green, Black Splash on White

1

4.7

1.8

1.6

53

0.2

4.6

4.4

0.5

-

4

3.7

19.6

Green, Yellow, Black Splash on White

2

3.6 2.0

1.8 1.0

1.9 0.3

46.3 0.4

0.2 0.1

0.3 0.7

4.3 0.1

0.1

-

2.4 0.6

0.1

-

34.5 6.1

BlueGreen Splash on white

9

4.8 2.7

1.9 1.1

2.2 1.5

54.7 15.9

0.2 0.1

2.9 1.4

4.2 1.8

0.9 0.4

0.1 0.3

2.0 1.6

0.5 1.4

24.3 22.5

Dk. Green Pb glaze

7

1.6 2.0

1.0 0.7

1.4 1.7

40.4 13.4

0.2 0.2

1.5 1.8

3.0 1.8

0.6 0.2

-

3.0 1.6

0.4 0.4

45.5 20.2

Brown Luster

1

5.8

3.9

2

62.5

0.3

4.5

5.1

0.6

0.3

-

7.8

5.8

Brown Splash on Yellow glaze

3

1.5 0.6

0.7 0.2

1.2

0.1

2.3 0.6

0.1

0.2

-

3.0 0.6

3.4

-

41.4 1.4

-

-

-

0.2 0.2

45.0 4.8

Cobaltdecorated

5

6.0 0.2

2.4 0.5

2.4 0.6

60.3 9.3

0.4 0.1

4.5 1.2

5.1 1.2

3.4 1.0

0.2 0.3

0.7 0.3

0.1 0.2

12.6 12.1

White Majolica

2

3.8 2.5

2.1 0.8

2.0 0.8

5.7 1.6

0.5 0.1

3.4 2.9

5.3 1.8

0.9 0.3

0.1 0.1

-

2.7 1.6

20.9 23.9

Green Splash on Yellow glaze

2

0.2

0.6

1.5

26.5

-

0.2

1.5

-

-

-

-

2.3 2.8

1.6 2.2

64.3 2.6

0.4 0.3

-

MEDIEVAL ISLAMIC Underglaze Blue Painted

3

Black line on White glaze

2

Black Splash on White glaze

1

9.4 1.7

2.6 0.7

0.2 0.2

67.1 5.7

0.6 0.2

2.3 0.3

8.1 0.7

0.9 0.2

1.0 0.1

3.0 0.7

0.1

1.2

1.9 0.2

5.5 0.3

81.0 1.2

0.2

1.4 0.4

3.7

0.1

-

-

-

-

4.0 0.3

-

-

1.6

0.14

79.7

0.5

3.5

4.7

1.2

0.5

-

-

-

6.8

C-9

-

TABLE C.3

LA-ICP-MS ANALYSIS OF MAJOR ELEMENTS PRESENT IN THE DEH LURAN CERAMIC GLAZES

Glaze Colour

N

Na 2 O

MgO

Al 20 3

SiO 2

P2 0

K 20

CaO

FeO

MnO

CuO

SnO 2

PbO

Mottled Brown glaze

I

0.9

0.8

1.2

45

0.1

1.7

3.1

5.2

0.4

0.1

0.5

40.3

Dark Green Int. Light Yellow Ext.

1

2.2

0.6

1.2

39.5

0.1

0.9

1.9

0.3

-

2.8

1.4

47.4

Kufic? On White w. Green Splash

I

2.4

1.2

1.4

39.5

0.2

1.3

1.4

1

-

0.6

1.4

50.2

Values represent percentage of each element analysed Upper Value-Sample Mean Lower Value-Sample Standard Deviation Single sherd value expressed as percentages of 100% Includes ROM sample.

C-10

TABLE C.4 LA-ICP-MS ANALYSIS OF MAJOR ELEMENTS PRESENT IN THE SIRAF CERAMIC GLAZES Colour

N

Na 2O

MgO

Al 2 0 3

SiO 2

P2 0

K 20

.CaO

FeO

MnO

CuO

SnO 2

PbO

Blue

9

7.5 0.2

2.6 0.1

6.9 2.7

66.0 0.4

0.3

4.3 0.9

5.5 2.1

1.5 0.9

-

2.6 1.5

-

-

-

Upper Value-Sample Mean Lower Value-Sample Standard Deviation Single sherd value expressed as percentages of 100%

C-1 1

TABLE C.5 LA-ICP-MS ANALYSIS OF MAJOR ELEMENTS PRESENT IN THE YEMENI CERAMIC SAMPLE P2 0

K 20

CaO

FeO

MnO

CuO

SnO 2

67

1.1

2.8

6.5

2.5

0.7

0.3

-

-

4.5

67

1.1

3.1

4.1

1.6

-

2.7

-

-

5.5

6.1

62

1.1

3.3

4.3

3.6

0.8

0.9

-

11.9

4.5

5.7

64

0.9

2.8

5.1

1.9

-

2.3

-

-

Darkgreen glaze

13.2

4.1

5.8

62

0.9

3.1

4.3

2.1

0.3

2.6

-

0

986.178. 127

Bluegreen Splash on white

6.7

4.2

3.4

71

1.1

5.7

6.1

0.9

-

-

-

0.2

990.152. 183

Black glaze

14.2

4.7

5.1

62

1.1

3.5

4.9

2.6

0.4

0.1

0.1

0.6

990.152. 248

Black glaze

11.7

6

3.7

63

1.1

2.3

6.7

2.5

0.4

0.1

0.1

0.7

990.152. 12

Darkgreen glaze

8.9

4.2

2.5

61

0.8

2

3.4

1.2

-

1.9

1.5

12

996.147. 66

Green and Brown Splash on Yellow

-

0.3

4.1

42

-

1.4

1.1

1.2

-

3.2

-

46

988.258. 42

Greens on Yellow glaze

3.4

1.6

4

36

0.4

1.1

2

1.1

-

0.1

1.7

48

Catalogue No.

Glaze Colour

Na 2 O

MgO

Al2 O 3

SiO 2

982.187. 95

Cobalt on white

9.4

4.2

4.9

982.187. 89

Slip Paint on Dark Blue

7.5

3.1

990.152. 192

Cobalt on white

10.5

990.152. 536

Slip Paint on Dark Blue

900.152. 12

C-12

PbO

0.1

TABLE C.5 LA-ICP-MS ANALYSIS OF MAJOR ELEMENTS PRESENT IN THE YEMENI CERAMIC SAMPLE Catalogue No.

Glaze Colour

Na 2O

MgO

Al2 O 3

SiO 2

P2 0

K 20

CaO

FeO

MnO

CuO

SnO 2

PbO

989.327.8

Slip paint on dark bluegreen

0.1

0.3

1.8

38

0.2

0.5

2

2.9

-

-

-

53

990.152. 208

Brown on white glaze

0.1

0.1

4.7

36

-

0.8

1

1.6

-

-

-

55

986.407. 248

Sgraffi ato

-

0.3

4.1

35

-

0.6

0.7

0.5

-

2.3

-

56

996.147.5

Green and Yellow glaze

0.1

0.2

5.7

26

0.1

0.9

1.6

0.7

-

1

0.1

63

Value s represent percentage of each element present t-trace , less than one percent of the element present

C-13

APPENDIX 0. PETROGRAPHIC ANALYSIS OF PARTHIAN, SASANIAN AND EARLY ISLAMIC GLAZED CERAMICS FROM THE DEH LURAN PLAIN Descriptions of the Petrographic Sample Sample 153: DL-62: Black/White mottled alkaline glaze, INAA Paste Group 1 The paste of this sherd is a medium reddish brown color. The paste of this sherd contains three types of inclusions that consist of isolated mineral grains, carbonate, and rock fragments. The mineral grains range from silt-sized to medium sized. Rounded calcareous micritic inclusions account for about 5% of the inclusions present in the sherd. The calcareous inclusions are characterized by white to grayish-white angular silt-sized to fine in size and lack interior features. A trace amount of these calcareous inclusions contain individual grains of quartz or untwinned alkali feldspar. Also present in the ceramic paste are silt-sized to medium sized angular to sub-angular grains of quartz and untwinned alkali feldspar. The quartz grains are highly variable in terms of their appearance. While the majority of the quartz grains are monocrysta11ine,about 3% consist of very fine-grained aggregates of quartz. Also, all of the quartz grains display undulose extinction. While some alteration of the crystallographic structure could result from firing the vessel, it is more likely that the quartz grains that display undulose extinction have a metamorphic origin. The presence of fragments ofbiotite gneiss described below indicate a metamorphic origin for the majority of the sediments. About 3% of the isolated mineral grains consist of brown biotite. Much of the biotite has weathered to hematite and clay minerals. A trace amount of isolated grains ofplagioclase are also present. The untwinned alkali feldspar and plagioclase grains appear fresh and unweathered. Single grains of zircon and muscovite are also present in the ceramic paste. A trace amount of fine to medium sized fragments ofbiotite gneiss are present in the ceramic paste. Rounded fine sized fragments ofred siltstone are also present in the paste in trace amounts. A single fine-sized grain of porphyritic andesite is also present in the paste of this sherd. The andesite is composed of a groundmass containing microcrysta11ine plagioclase. Plagioclase is also the porphyritic mineral. Also present is a single fragment of weathered basalt. The basalt is characterized by an aphanitic reddish brown groundmass that contains andesine plagioclase with a trachyitic texture. Sample 152: DL-62: Blue glaze, INAA Paste Group 1 The paste of this sherd is a medium grayish yellow colour. The paste contains about 5% silt-sized sub-rounded to sub-angular isolated mineral grains composed of equal amounts of quartz and untwinned alkali feldspar. The quartz grains display undulose extinction suggest a metamorphic origin for the quartz grains. Additional evidence of a metamorphic origin for at least some of the quartz comes from the presence of two fine sized fragments of biotite gneiss in the ceramic paste. Quartz is also present in the ceramic paste as two fragments of inequi-granular polycrystalline aggregates and as three fine sized fragments of chalcedony. Trace amounts brown biotite, plagioclase and microcline make up the rest of the isolated mineral grains. The fragments ofbiotite are frequently altered to haematite and clay minerals resulting in reddish brown or black inclusions. Trace amounts of isolated rock fragments are also present in the ceramic paste. Four fine to medium sized fragments of volcanic rock characterized by a dark reddish brown aphanitic groundmass that contains laths of andesine plagioclase. A single reddish brown fragment of a volcanic tuffis also present in the paste of this sherd. About 3% of the paste contains fine sized rounded calcareous micritic inclusions similar in appearance to the calcareous inclusions present in Sample 153. Sample 157: DL-62: Black/White mottled alkaline glaze, INAA Paste Group l The paste of this sherd is a medium brownish yellow colour. The paste contains two major types of inclusions; isolated mineral grains and rounded very fine to fine sized calcareous micritic inclusions. The calcareous inclusions are more numerous that the mineral grains and account for 5% of the ceramic paste. In two cases rounded grains of quartz are present in the matrix of the calcareous inclusions. Sub-angular to sub-rounded isolated mineral grains make up an additional 3% of the ceramic paste. These mineral grains range in size from silt-sized to medium sized. Quartz and untwinned alkali feldspar make up equal proportions of the mineral grains present. The quartz grains display undulose extinction. Quartz is also present as inequi-granular aggregate masses and as two fragments of chalcedony. The untwinned alkali feldspar grains appear fresh and unweathered. Other isolated mineral grains are

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present in the paste , but in trace amounts. Brown biotite is present. The biotite is usually weathered to haematite and clay minerals that has resulting in reddish brown or black opaque inclusions as weathering products. Trace amounts ofrock fragments are also present in the ceramic paste. Three medium sized fragments ofbiotite gneiss are present in the paste of this sherd. Five fragments ofaphanitic reddish brown volcanic tuff are present in the ceramic paste. Two additional fragments of volcanic rock characterized by a reddish brown aphanitic groundmass and containing andesine plagioclase are also present in the ceramic paste. Sample 040: DL-5: Blue-Green glaze , INAA Paste Group 1 The paste of this sherd is a light gray colour . The most distinctive feature of this sherd is the presence of silt-sized to medium sized rounded pores. These pores are either rimmed or filled with crystalline calcite. The calcite likely represents secondary infilling of the pores, rather than an added material. The calcite infilled pores account for about 60% of the ceramic paste. Isolated mineral grains and a trace amount ofrock fragments are also present in the ceramic paste. The isolated mineral grains range from silt-sized to fine sized and are composed primarily of equal amounts of quartz and untwinned alkali feldspar. The quartz grains display undulose extinction. The untwinned alkali feldspars appear fresh and unweathered. Trace amounts of brown biotite , plagioclase and microcline are also present. The biotite has frequently weathered to hematite and clay minerals resulting in opaque reddish brown or black inclusions. Trace amounts of isolated rock fragments are also present in the ceramic paste. Three medium sized fragments ofbiotite gneiss are present in the ceramic paste. Five fragments of reddish gray aphan itic textured tuff are also present. Two fragments of volcanic rock characterized by a reddish brown aphanitic groundmass that contain laths of andesine plagioclase. Sample 044: DL-2: Blue glaze: INAA Paste Group 2 The paste of this sherd is a light yellowish gray colour. The paste contains about 8% silt-sized to fine rounded grain of quartz and silt-sized to fine sized laths ofbiotite in approximately equal proportions. Much of the biotite has weathered to haematite and clay minerals resulting in dark reddish brown or black inclusions. A trace amount of plagioclase and hornblende are also present in the paste of this sherd. Sample 045: DL-49: Blue glaze, barbatine decorated: INAA Paste Group 2 The paste of this sherd is a light yellowish gray colour. The paste contains about 1% silt-sized to fine rounded grain of quartz. Silt-sized to fine sized laths ofbiotite are also present in trace amounts. Much of the biotite has weathered to haematite and clay minerals resulting in dark reddish brown or black inclusions. A single medium sized rounded grain ofuntwinned alkali feldspar is also present in the ceramic paste. Sample 048: DL-36 (East) Black line on blue glaze: INAA Paste Group 1 The paste of this sherd is a medium brown colour. The paste contains three types of inclusions, rounded grains of a calcareous micritic composition, isolated mineral grains and rock fragments. The micritic inclusions account for about 2% of the ceramic paste and range in size from silt-sized to fine. Quartz sands are present in three of the calcareous grains. The isolated mineral grains are composed primarily of brown biotite , quartz and untwinned alkali feldspar. These three mineral make up about 1% of the ceramic paste. Brown biotite is the most common mineral present , followed closely by quartz and untwinned alkali feldspar. The brown biotite ranges from silt-sized to very fine sized. The biotite ranges in appearance from fresh to completely altered to dark reddish brown or black angular inclusions. Quartz is present primarily as sub-angular to rounded silt-sized to medium sized grains. Two fragments of inequi-granular aggregate masses of quartz are also present. The untwinned alkali feldspar grains also range in size from silt-sized to medium sized. The alkali feldspar grains appear fresh and unweathered. Trace amounts of plagioclase, microcline and a single grain of augite make up the rest of the isolated mineral grains. Two fine sized volcanic inclusions characterized by a very dark reddish brown aphanitic groundmass containing laths of plagioclase are also present in the ceramic paste. A single medium sized fragment of volcanic tuff is present in the ceramic paste. The tuff is a light gray colour , stained reddish brown in some areas due to the weathering of small amounts of biotite present in the tuff. A single spherical inclusion of chalcedony is also present in the tuff grain. Two similar spherical chalcedony grains are present in the ceramic paste as isolated inclusions.

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Sample 034: DL-62: Blue glaze: INAA Paste Group 2 The paste of this sherd is a light yellowish gray colour. The paste contains less than 1% silt-sized to fine rounded grain of quartz. Silt-sized to fine sized laths ofbiotite are also present in trace amounts. Much of the biotite has weathered to haematite and clay minerals resulting in dark reddish brown or black inclusions. Sample 134: DL-63: Not Glazed, Incised zig-zag line: INAA Paste Group 1 The paste of this sherd is a light brownish yellow color. The paste of this sherd contains three types of inclusions; rounded grains of a calcareous composition, rock fragments and isolated mineral grains. None of the three types of inclusion account for more than 1% of the ceramic paste. The calcareous fragments have a micritic texture and range from fine to medium sized. Severa] different compositions are represented in the rock fragments. The most common rock type is a volcanic tuff. The tuff grains vary in texture and colour. The majority of the tuff grains are aphanitic in texture and a reddish brown color due to haematitic staining from the weathering ofbiotite present in the grains matrices. One tuff grain is a light gray color and also aphanitic. Two of the reddish brown tuff grains also contain spherical inclusions of chalcedony. Four fine sized fragments ofinequi-granular quartzite are also present. Three fine sized fragments of chert, one of which contains weathered haematite are also present in the ceramic paste. Isolated mineral grains of quartz , untwinned alkali feldspar and brown biotite are also present. Three fine sized plagioclase grains are also present in the ceramic paste. Sample 132: DL-36 (South): Olive green glaze: INAA Paste Group 1 The paste of this sherd is a light reddish brown colour. The ceramic paste contains three types of inclusions ; rounded grains of calcareous material, rock fragments of varying composition , and isolated mineral grains. Only the isolated mineral grains account for 1% of the inclusions. The other inclusions are present in lesser amounts. The isolated mineral grains consist ofroughlyequal amounts of quartz , untwinned alkali feldspar , and brown biotite. Three grains of plagioclase are also present. The isolated mineral grains range from silt-sized to medium sized. The quartz grains display undulose extinction. The untwinned alkali feldspar grains appear fresh and unweathered. The calcareous inclusions have a micritic texture and are rounded. The calcareous inclusions range in size from very fine to medium sized. Three fine sized fragments of biotite gneiss are present in the ceramic paste. A single fine sized volcanic rock fragment characterized by a reddish brown aphanitic groundmass containing laths of andesine plagioclase is present in the ceramic paste. A single medium sized rounded grain ofreddish brown volcanic tuff containing rounded grains of chalc edony is present in the ceramic paste. Sample 070: DL-294: Olive Green glaze: INAA Paste Group 1 The paste of this sherd is a light reddish brown colour. The ceramic paste contains three types of inclusions ; rounded grains of calcareous material, rock fragments of varying composition , and isolated mineral grains. The calcareous inclusions account for about 3% of the ceramic paste . The calcareous inclusions have a micritic texture, are rounded and range in size from very fine to medium sized. Two of the calcareous fragments contain isolated grains of quartz. The isolated mineral grains consist ofroughly equal amounts of quartz , untwinned alkali feldspar , and brown biotite. Three grains of plagioclase are also present. The isolated mineral grains range from silt-sized to medium sized. The quartz grains display undulose extinction. The untwinned alkali feldspar grains appear fresh and unweathered. The isolated grins of biotite range in appearance from fresh to altered to haematite and clay minerals presenting a dark reddish brown or black opaque appearance. The most common rock type is a volcanic tuff accounting for ten inclusions. The tuff grains vary in texture and colour. The tuff grains range from very fine to fine in size. The majority of the tuff grains are aphanitic in texture and a reddish brown colour due to haematitic staining from the weathering of biotite present in the grains matrices. One tuff grain is a light gray color and also has an aphanitic texture. One of the reddish brown tuff grains also contain spherical inclusions of chalcedony. Two fine sized fragments of chert are present in the ceramic paste. One of the chert fragments contains highly weathered biotite D-3

resulting in an area of dark brown staining. Two fine sized volcanic rock fragments characterized by a reddish brown aphanitic groundmass containing laths of andesine plagioclase is present in the ceramic paste. Sample 072: DL-34: Mottled Black/white glaze: INAA Paste Group 1 The paste of this sherd is a medium yellowish gray colour. The paste contains about 3% inclusions that consist primarily of isolated mineral grains. The mineral grains the ceramic paste are silt-sized to medium sized angular to sub-angular grains of quartz, untwinned alkali feldspar, and brown biotite. The quartz grains display undulose extinction suggesting a metamorphic origin. Much of the biotite has weathered to haematite and clay minerals. A trace amount of isolated grains of plagioclase are also present. The untwinned alkali feldspar and plagioclase grains appear fresh and unweathered. The most common rock type in the ceramic paste is volcanic tuff. The tuff grains vary in texture and colour. Thetuffgrains range from very fine to fine in size. The majority of the tuff grains are aphanitic in texture and a reddish brown colour due to haematitic staining from the weathering ofbiotite present in the grains matrices. One tuff grain is a light gray color and also has an aphanitic texture. Two of the reddish brown tuff grains also contain spherical inclusions of chalcedony. Two fine sized volcanic rock fragments characterized by a reddish brown aphanitic groundmass containing laths of andesine plagioclase are present in the ceramic paste. Sample 079: DL-249: Blue glaze exterior , black glaze interior: INAA Paste Group 2 The paste of this sherd is a light yellowish gray colour. The paste contains primarily isolated grains ofrounded quartz. The quartz grains are bimodal1y distributed in terms of size. About 1% of the ceramic paste contains silt-sized rounded quartz grains. Additionally, two quartz grains that fall into the fine to medium size range are also present. One quartz grain displays undulose extinction. A trace amount of brown biotite is also present in the ceramic paste. The biotite appears fresh and unweathered. A single fine sized rounded grain of chert is also present in the ceramic paste. Sample 084: DL-2: Dark Green glaze: INAA Paste Group 2 The paste of this sherd is a medium brown colour. The paste contains sparse silt-sized rounded grains that appear to consist predominately of quartz. Due to the small particle size of the mineral grains , distinguishing mineral by optical means is unreliable. A trace amount of brown biotite is also present in the paste of this sherd. Sample 088: DL-3: Splash glaze sgraffiato: INAA Paste Group 3 The paste of this sherd is a dark reddish brown colour. The paste contains about 5% silt-sized to very fine sized rounded grains of quartz, and untwinned alkali feldspar. Due to small size of many of the mineral grains, the ratio of quartz to untwinned feldspar grains cannot be determined with any precision. The alkali feldspar grains appear fresh and unweathered. Brown biotite is also present in roughly the same amount and particle size as the quartz and untwinned alkali feldspar grains. The biotite ranges in appearance from fresh to weathered to dark reddish brown or black opaque inclusions. A trace amount of fine sized plagioclase is also present in the ceramic paste. Four medium to coarse-sized angular fragments of calcareous material are also present in the paste of this sherd. The calcareous material is micritic in texture. Two of the calcareous fragments contain sub-angular grains of quartz and untwinned alkali feldspar. Sample 082: DL-38: Green glaze: INAA Paste Group 2 The paste of this sherd is a light yellowish gray colour. The paste appears homogeneous and contains only three silt-sized quartz grains and two very fine laths of brown biotite. Sample 087: DL-74: Black/white mottled glaze: INAA Paste Group 1 The paste of this sherd is a light reddish brown colour. The ceramic paste contains three types of inclusions; rounded grains of calcareous material , rock fragments of varying composition , and isolated mineral grains. The calcareous inclusions account for about 1% of the ceramic paste. The calcareous inclusions have a micritic texture , are rounded and range in size from very fine to medium sized. Two of the calcareous fragments contain isolated grains of quartz. The isolated mineral grains consist ofroughly equal amounts of quartz , untwinned alkali feldspar, and brown biotite. Three grains D-4

of plagioclase are also present. The isolated mineral grains range from silt-sized to medium sized. The quartz grains display undulose extinction. The untwinned alkali feldspar grains appear fresh and unweathered. The isolated grins ofbiotite range in appearance from fresh to altered to haematite and clay minerals presenting a dark reddish brown or black opaque appearance. These mineral grains account for an additional 3% of the ceramic paste. A single fine sized fragment of basalt containing andesine plagioclase in a black groundmass composed of magnetite and glass is also present in the ceramic paste. Two fragments of chert/chalcedony are also present in the ceramic paste. One fragment is medium sized while the other is fine in size. Two fine sized grains of reddish brown tuff grains spherical inclusions of chalcedony. Two spherical inclusions of chalcedony are also present as isolated grains in the paste as well. Sample 067: DL-34: Dark Green glaze: INAA Paste Group 2 The paste of this sherd is light yellowish gray colour. The paste contains about 1% sparse silt-sized rounded grains that appear to consist predominately of quartz. Due to the small particle size of the mineral grains , distinguishing mineral by optical means is unreliable. An equal amount of brown biotite is also present in the paste of this sherd. Sample 083: DL-38: Brown Splash on yellow glaze: INAA Paste Group 2 The paste of this sherd is a light yellowish gray colour. The paste is quite homogeneous in appearance and contains only two identifiable grains of very fine sized quartz and two very fine sized weathered grains of reddish brown biotite. Sample 098: DL-74: Splash Glaze Sgraffiato: INAA Paste Group 3 The paste of this sherd is a dark reddish brown colour. The paste contains about 5% silt-sized to very fine sized rounded grains of quartz , and untwinned alkali feldspar. Due to small size of many of the mineral grains , the ratio of quartz to untwinned feldspar grains cannot be determined with any precision. The alkali feldspar grains appear fresh and unweathered. Brown biotite is also present in roughly the same amount and particle size as the quartz and untwinned alkali feldspar grains. The biotite ranges in appearance from fresh to weathered to dark reddish brown or black opaque inclusions. A trace amount of fine sized plagioclase is also present in the ceramic paste. Individual grains of muscovite and augite are also present in the ceramic paste . Six dark reddish brown silty rounded inclusions , one of which is very coarse in size, while the other five fall into the fine to medium sized are present in the paste. These rounded silty inclusions likely represent soil pizolites, indurated relict fragments of weathered soils (Brewer 1969). The paste also contains a medium sized angular fragment of arkose. The arkose is characterized by a dark brown clay cement that contains angular fragments of quartz , biotite and muscovite. A single fine sized grain of chert is also present in the ceramic paste. Sample 147: DL-24: Blue glaze: Unassigned The paste of this sherd is a light yellowish gray color. Pore spaces within the sherd are usually rimmed wit ha slightly darker brown silty material. It is likely that the silty material was deposited in the pores by groundwater. The paste contains two types of inclusions: isolated mineral grains and fragments of volcanic rock. Neither of these materials amount to as much as 1% of the ceramic paste. The isolated mineral grains are composed primarily ofplagioclase and untwinned alkali feldspar. Only a trace of quartz is present among the isolated mineral grains . A trace amount of volcanic rock of varying texture are present in the paste of this sherd. The most common grains consist of fine sized fragments of basalt composed of crypto-crystalline sanidine and cubic magnetite. Two fine sized volcanic rock fragments characterized by a reddish brown aphanitic groundmass and containing laths of andesine plagioclase are also present. Three fragments of very fine grained quartzite are present in the sherd. Two rounded fine sized calcareous grains characterized by a micritic texture are also present in the ceramic paste. A single fine sized grain ofreddish brown tuffwhich contains spherical inclusions ofchalcedony is present in the ceramic paste. A single fine sized bedded gray clay or shale fragment is also present in the ceramic paste.

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Sample 063: DL-12: Blue glaze: Unassigned The paste of this sherd is a light gray color. The inclusions present in the paste are bimodally distributed in terms of size. The majority of the inclusions consist of silt-sized rounded quartz. Also present in the ceramic paste are a single coarse sized angular fragment of quartzite and a rounded medium sized grain of microcline. Two fine sized fragments ofplagioclase are also present in the ceramic paste. Sample 066: DL-15: Green glaze: Unassigned The paste of this sherd is a light yellow colour and has a very homogeneous appearance. Within the paste are well sorted fine sized sub-angular isolated mineral grains and rock fragments that together make up about I% of the ceramic paste. Equal amounts of quartz, untwinned alkali feldspar and brown biotite make up the inclusions present. A trace amount of rock fragment composed of highly weathered untwinned alkali feldspar and brown biotite are also present in the paste of this sherd. The lack of finer sized inclusions combined with the even size distribution of the mineral grains suggests that the inclusions represent an added aplastic or temper .in the ceramic paste. Sample 069: DL-294: Olive Green glaze: TNAA Paste Group 2 The paste of this sherd is a light yellowish gray colour. The paste contains equal amow1ts of quartz and brown biotite that together account for about 1% of the ceramic paste. The quartz grains range in shape from sub-angular to rounded and in size from siltsized to very fine. The brown biotite also ranges from silt-sized to very fine sized. The biotite also ranges from fresh in appearance to completely weathered to hematite and clay minerals resulting in reddish brown stains in the paste. Two very fine sized laths of plagioclase and one very fine sized grain of augite are also present in the ceramic paste. Two fine sized grains of chalcedony are also present in the ceramic paste. Sample 065: DL-2: Black and Turquoise on white glaze: Unassigned The paste of this sherd is a light grayish yellow and contains about 1% silt-sized weathered inclusions of brown biotite. Also present in the ceramic paste are a single medium sized grain of plagioclase, a medium sized area of poorly wedged clay that contains abundant silt-sized quartz, and a very fine sized rock fragments composed of weathered untwinned alkali feldspar and weathered biotite. Sample 055: DL-34: Green glaze: INAA Paste Group 2 The paste of this sherd is a light yellow colour. The paste contains about 1% silt-sized to fine sub-angular to rounded grains of quartz. Silt-sized to very fine brown biotite is also present. Much of the biotite has weathered to haematite and clay minerals staining small areas of the ceramic paste a reddish brown colour. Trace amounts ofuntwinnedalkali feldspar, plagioclase, epidote , and augite are also present in the ceramic paste. Two very fine sized volcanic rock fragments characterized by a reddish brown aphanitic groundmass containing laths ofandesine plagioclase are present in the ceramic paste. Sample 054: DL-74: Blue glaze: Unassigned The paste of this sherd is a light yellow colour. The paste contains 25% well sorted sub-rounded very fine sized sands composed primarily of quartz and brown biotite. Untwinned alkali feldspar is present at about one third the amount of the quartz and biotite. Trace amounts of plagioclase , microcline , and augite are also present in the ceramic paste. Sample 131: DL-36 (South): Black glaze: INAA Paste Group 1 The paste of this sherd is a medium brown colour. Three types of inclusions are present in the ceramic paste rounded calcareous inclusions, isolated mineral grains and rock fragments of differing compositions. The rounded calcareous inclusions account for about 20% of the ceramic paste. The calcareous inclusions are micritic in texture , rounded in morphology and range in size from silt-sized to medium sized. The isolated mineral grains account for an additional 3% of the ceramic paste. The most common mineral in the paste is brown biotite. The biotite ranges from silt-sized to fine sized. The biotite ranges in appearance from fresh to weathered to hematite and clay minerals staining the surrounding ceramic paste dark reddish brown. Some of the biotite has weathered to black opaque inclusions that retain the angular lath-like morphology of the original biotite.

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Quartz is also present in the ceramic paste in roughly equal proportions to the biotite. The quartz grains range in size from siltsized to medium sized. The larger sized quartz grains display w1dulose extinction. Trace amounts of untwinned alkali feldspar, plagioclase , and microcline are also present in the ceramic paste. The untwinned alkali feldspar ranges in appearance from fresh to weathered to sericite and clay minerals. A trace amount of volcanic rock fragments are also present in the ceramic paste. Eight rounded fine to medium sized grains of volcanic tuffwith an aphanitic texture are present in the ceramic paste. Six of these tuff grains are reddish brown while two are light gray in color. A single rounded reddish brown fragment of apbanitic tuff that contains rounded grains of chalcedony is present. Four fine sized grains composed of andesine plagioclase enclosed in a dark reddish brown aphanitic ground.mass are also present in the ceramic paste. Six fine to medium sized angular grains of chert are present in the ceramic paste. DL-2: Red (Ruby) Lusterware: Not part of INAA study The paste of this sherd is a light yellow colour. The paste contains about 20 black silt-sized inclusions that probably represent highly weathered biotite as they conform to an angular lath-like morphology observed in previous sherds. Also present are six silt-sized rounded grains of quartz. DL-2: Green Splash on white glaze: Not part of INAA study The paste of this sherd is pale yellow. The paste contains sparse silt-sized black inclusions like those observed in the previous specimen that are though to be highly weathered biotite. Three silt-sized rounded grains of quartz were also present in the paste of this sherd. DL-2: Blue glaze exterior , black glaze interior: Not part of INAA study The paste of this sherd is a light gray colour. The paste contains two types of inclusions , quartz and brown biotite. The quartz grains are rounded in shape and range from silt-sized to very fine sized. The quartz grains make up less than one percent of the ceramic paste. The biotite ranges from silt-sized to very fine sized. Most of the biotite has weathered to black opaque angular inclusions . A coarse-sized pore containing radiating crystals of pseudo-wollastonite crystals is present in the centre of the sherd. DL-2: Blue glaze exterior , light blue glaze interior: Not part ofINAA study The paste of this sherd is a light brownish gray. The paste contains sparse silt-sized rounded grains of quartz . DL-20: Olive Green glaze exterior: Not part of INAA study The paste of this sherd is a medium reddish brown colour. Three types of inclusions are present in the ceramic paste rounded calcareous inclusions, isolated mineral grains and rock fragments of differing compositions. The rounded calcareous inclusions account for about 3% of the ceramic paste. The calcareous inclusions are micritic in texture , rounded in morphology and range in size from silt-sized to medium sized. The isolated mineral grains account for an additional 2% of the ceramic paste. The most common mineral in the paste is brown biotite . The biotite ranges from silt-sized to fine sized. The biotite ranges in appearance from fresh to weathered to haematite and clay minerals staining the surrounding ceramic paste dark reddish brown. Some of the biotite has weathered to black opaque inclusions that retain the angular lath-like morphology of the original biotite. Quartz is also present in the ceramic paste in roughly equal proportions to the biotite. The quartz grains range in size from siltsized to medium sized. The larger sized quartz grains display undulose extinction. Trace amounts of untwinned alkali feldspar , plagioclase , and microcline are also present in the ceramic paste. The untwinned alkali feldspar ranges in appearance from fresh to weathered to sericite and clay minerals. A trace amount of volcanic rock fragments are also present in the ceramic paste. Two rounded fine to medium sized grains of volcanic tu ff with an aphanitic texture and reddish brown colour are present in the ceramic paste. A single rounded reddish brown D-7

fragment of aphanitic tuff that contains rounded grains of chalcedony is present. One fine sized grain composed of andesine plagjoclase enclosed in a dark reddish brown aphanitic ground.mass are also present in the ceramic paste. One fine sized angular grain of chert is also present in the ceramic paste. A fine sized grain of quartzite wit hsutured grain boundaries is also present in the paste of this sherd. DL-38: Green Splash on white glaze Sgraffiato: Not part of the INAA study The paste of this sherd is a medium reddish brown colour. The paste of this sherd presents a sandy appearance from the presence of about 20% silt-sized inclusions. The inclusions are composed of rounded quartz grains of quartz. Also present in roughly the same amount of as quartz are silt-sized inclusions of brown biotite. The biotite appears fresh and unweathered. Also present in the ceramic paste in slightly lesser amounts than the quartz and biotite are rounded grajns of calcareous substance with a micritic texture.

Discussions of the Results of the Petrographic Analysis Petrographjc analysis was conducted of a sample of sherds from each of the INAA paste composition groups. The petrographic study was conducted the purpose of comparing the current INAA analysis to previous petrographic studies of Early [slamic ceramics. Analysis was conducted usjng a Nikon Optiphot-2 petrographic microscope.

for

Eleven sherds assigned to the Deh Luran INAA Paste Composition Group I were examined through petrographic analysis. Ceramics in the sample included glaze pottery from the Sasanian and Early Islamic Periods. A distinctive characteristic of these sherds was the presence of 5% or less 0.065-0.5 mm rounded calcareous inclusions. The calcareous inclusions have a micritic texture and occasional contain isolated rounded grains of quartz or untwinned alkali feldspar. It is assumed that these rounded calcareous inclusions represent weathered and possibly redeposited soil carbonate, and as such represents a natural inclusion in the paste of the Compositional Group I ceramics just as the mineral grains and rock fragments described below. The paste ofINAA Paste Composition Group 1 ranges from a medium to dark reddish brown color and contains 1-5% 0.010.5mm sub-angular grains of quartz, untwinned alkali feldspar and brown biotite. Trace amounts of plagioclase, reddish brown volcanic tuff ofaphanitic texture with or without secondary chalcedony, andesine plagioclase in a reddish aphanitic groundmass, and biotite schist are also present in the paste of Composition Group 1 ceramics. Individual grains of augite, chert, and basalt were observed in one or more of the sherds, but were not universal to the total sample. A previous petrographic study of Islamic ceramics reports a similar set of inclusions including 5% quartz, 2% each of biotite, felsic volcanics and biotite schist, 1% untwinned alkali feldspar, plagioclase and trace amounts of plagioclase, amphibole, muscovite, clinopyroxene and opaque inclusions designated the "Siraf 4" Petrofabric (Mason 1994:48). However, the calcareous inclusions observed in the current study were apparently not present in Mason's Islamic material from Siraf or Basra. Carbonate has been recognized in a small sample Islamic material through to originate in Hira. However, the rest of the mineral suite recorded for the I-lira ceramics differs considerably from that observed in the Paste Composition Group 1 pottery. Consequently, INAA Paste Composition Group l represents a new source of ceramic production, one with considerable time depth. A sample often sherds from the Deh Luran INAA Paste Composition Group 2 were examined through petrographic analysis. The glazed ceramics examined include Parthian , Sasanian, and Early Islamic period pottery. The paste of the sherds belonging to INAA Compositional Group 2 are characterized by a light yellow or gray very fine featureless paste. The paste contains 3% or less silt-sized rounded grains of quartz with trace amounts of brown biotite, and untwinned alkali feldspar. Trace amounts of medium to coarse sized rounded grains of quartz and untwinned alkali feldspar are also present in INAA Compositional Group 2 ceramics. The results of the petrographic study of INAA Paste Composition Group 2 accords well with the description of the "Basra Petrofabric" (Mason 1994; Mason and Keall 1988). The Basra Petrofabric as identified in an extensive sample of Early Islamic ceramics and kil.n furniture from Basra. Some of the kiln furniture examined by Mason formed a part of Halletts' INAA study. The Basra Petrofabric as identified in ceramics and kiln furniture is characterized by a featureless groundrnass containing 2-3% angular quartz, with a trace amount of amphibole and biotite, all under 0.05mm. in size (Mason 1994:46). Mason also reports a smaller population of0.25 to 1.0 mm of trace to 10% quartz, trace to 3% weathered untwinned alkali feldspar , and trace to l % clear plagioclase (Mason 1994:46). Given the similarity of the petrographic data between the analysis of the Deh Luran INAA Paste Composition Group 2, previously published descriptions of the Basra Petrofabric and Halletts' previous INAA study of Early Islamic Period glazed ceramics, it is likely that these three studies are examining the same source of ceramic raw materials. It is proposed that the resource zone used by Islamic potters living in the vicinity of Basra represents continuity in the use of this source of clay since at least the Parthian Period. D-8

Given the small number of sherds that make up the Deb Luran Paste Composition Group 3, only two sherds were examined. The paste of these two sherds is a dark reddish brown color. The two sherds contain roughly equal proportions of quartz , untwinned alkali feldspar, and brown biotite, which account for 5% of the ceramic paste. These mineral grains rang •e i~ size from 0.065 to 0.5mm . Single grains of moderately well sorted arkose characterized by a reddish brown cement are present in both sherds. Splash-glaze Sgraffiato sherds with the above paste composition have not been previously identified , so no possible source can be assigned for the ceramics that make up Deh Luran Paste Composition Group 3. In summary , based on their paste characteristics, the Parthian, Sasanian , and Islamic ceramics that make up Deb Luran Paste Composition Group 1 cannot be attributed to a previously identified source. It is possible that these sherds originated in Iraq , based on Mason's research suggesting that the mix of vo1canic and metamorphic rocks originated in the Taurus Mountains. (Mason 1994). The Parthian, Sasanian , and Islamic ceramics that comprise Deb Luran Paste Composition Group 2 are likely to have been produced in the vicinity of Basra or elsewhere in the lower Euphrates-Tigris delta indicating a long history of glazed ceramic production in this region. The origin of the Splash-glaze Sgraffiato sherds that make up Deh Luran Paste Composition Group 3 is also unknown.

D-9

APPENDIX E. LEAD ISOTOPE ANALYSIS Table E.1 SAMPLE GROUPS USED FOR LEAD ISOTOPE ANALYSIS SAMPLE NUMBER

CHRONOLOGY GROUP

CERAMIC TYPE

LA-ICP-MS GROUP

INAAGROUP

DVH-002

BLUE GLAZE

EARLY

MPB

UNASSIGNED

DVH-003

BLUE GLAZE

EARLY

MPB

GROUP 2

DVH-005

BLUE GLAZE

EARLY

HPBl

GROUP 1

DVH-008

BLUE GLAZE

EARLY

MPB

UNASSIGNED

DVH-017

BLUE GLAZE-BLACK INTERIOR

EARLY

MPB

GROUP 1

DVH-020

BLUE GLAZE

EARLY

MPB

GROUP2

DVH-034

BLUE GLAZE

EARLY

MPB

GROUP2

DVH-036

MOTTLED YELLOW-BROWN GLAZE

LATE

HPB2

GROUP2

DVH-042

BLUE GLAZE

EARLY

HPBl

GROUP2

DVH-043

GREEN SPLASH ON WHITE

EARLY

HPBl

GROUP2

DVH-044

BLUE GLAZE

EARLY

MPB

GROUP2

DVH-045

BLUE GLAZE-BARBOTINE DECORATED

EARLY

MPB

GROUP 2

DVH-048

UNDERGLAZEDECORATED

LATE

MPB

UNASSIGNED

DVH-049

BLUE GLAZE

EARLY

MPB

GROUP2

DVH-050

BLUE GLAZE-BARBOTINE DECORATED

EARLY

MPB

GROUP 2

DVH-051

BLUE GLAZE

EARLY

MPB

GROUP2

DVH-056

GREEN SPLASH ON WHITE

EARLY

HPBI

GROUP2

DVH-057

BLUE GLAZE-BARBOTINE DECORATED

EARLY

MPB

GROUP2

DVH-061

BLUE GLAZE EXTERIOR-BLACK INTERIOR

EARLY

MPB

GROUP2

DVH-063

BLUE GLAZE INTERIOR-LIGHT BLUE GLAZE INTERIOR

EARLY

MPB

GROUP2

DVH-064

BLUE GLAZE INTERIOR-LIGHT BLUE GLAZE INTERIOR

EARLY

MPB

GROUP 2

DVH-065

BLUE-GREEN AND BLACK SPLASH ON WHITE

EARLY

HPBt

GROUP2

DVH-066

DARK GREEN

LATE

HPBl

UNASSIGNED

DVH-068

COBALT GLAZE ON WHITE GLAZE

EARLY

HNI

GROUP2

DVH-077

BLUE GLAZE-BARBOTINE DECORATED

EARLY

MPB

GROUP2

E-1

Table E.1 SAMPLE GROUPS USED FOR LEAD ISOTOPE ANALYSIS SAMPLE NUMBER

CERAMIC TYPE

CHRONOLOGY GROUP

LA-ICP-MS GROUP

INAAGROUP

DVH-079

BLUE GLAZE EXTERIOR-BLACK INTERIOR

EARLY

MPB

GROUP2

DVH-080

BLUE GLAZE INTERIOR-LIGHT BLUE GLAZE INTERIOR

EARLY

MPB

GROUP2

DVH-082

DARK GREEN GLAZE

LATE

HPBl

GROUP2

DVH-083

BROWN SPLASH ON YELLOW GLAZE

LATE

HPB2

GROUP2

DVH-084

DARK GREEN GLAZE

LATE

HPBl

GROUP2

DVH-100

WHITE MAJOLICA

EARLY

HPB2

GROUP2

DVH-101

BLUE GLAZE INTERIOR-LIGHT BLUE GLAZE INTERIOR

EARLY

MPB

GROUP2

DVH-103

BROWN LUSTER ON WHITE GLAZE

EARLY

HPB2

GROUP2

DVH-105

GREEN SPLASH ON YELLOW GLAZE

LATE

HPB2

GROUP2

DVH-106

GREEN SPLASH ON WHITE GLAZE

EARLY

HPBl

GROUP2

DVH-107

BLUE-GREEN SPLASH ON WHITE

EARLY

HPB2

GROUP2

DVH- 109

GREEN AND YELLOW SPLASH ON WHITE

EARLY

HPB2

GROUP2

DVH-111

GREEN SPLASH ON Sn WHITE GLAZE

EARLY

HPBl

GROUP2

DVH-115

GREEN GLAZE

LATE

HPBt

GROUP2

DVH-116

DARK GREEN PRESS-MOULDED

EARLY

HPBl

GROUP 2

DVH-118

DARK GREEN PRESS-MOULDED

EARLY

HPBl

GROUP2

DVH-120

COBALT ON WHITE

EARLY

HNI

GROUP2

DVH-121

COBALT ON WHITE

EARLY

HNI

GROUP2

DVH-133

BLUE GLAZE

EARLY

MPB

GROUPI

DVH-135

BLUE GLAZE

EARLY

MPB

GROUP2

DVH-137

BLUE-GREEN SPLASH ON WHITE

EARLY

MPB

UNASSIGNED

DVH-138

BROWN DESIGN ON MUSTARD YELLOW GLAZE

LATE

HPB2

UNASSIGNED

DVH-146

DARK GREEN EXTERIOR-BLACK INTERIOR

EARLY

HPBl

GROUP2

DVH-148

BLUE GLAZE EXTERIOR LIGHT BLUE GLAZE INTERIOR

EARLY

MPB

GROUP2

DVH-164

DARK GREEN

LATE

HPBl

GROUP2

E-2

Table E.l SAMPLE GROUPS USED FOR LEAD ISOTOPE ANALYSIS CERAMIC TYPE

SAMPLE NUMBER

CHRONOLOGY GROUP

LA-ICP-MS GROUP

INAAGROUP

DVH-170

DARK GREEN

LATE

HPBl

GROUPS

DVH-171

GREEN AND YELLOW GLAZE

LATE

HPBl

GROUPS

DVH-172

BROWN ON WHITE

LATE

HPB2

GROUPS

DVH-173

DARK GREEN

LATE

HPBl

GROUPS

DVH-177

BLACK GLAZE

LATE

MPB

GROUP4

DVH-179

BLACK GLAZE

LATE

MPB

GROUP4

DVH-181

SGRAFFIATO

LATE

HPB2

GROUP3

DVH-182

BLUE GLAZE

EARLY

MPB

GROUP2

DVH-184

BLUE GLAZE

EARLY

MPB

GROUP2

DVH-191

BLACK SPLASH ON BLUE GLAZE

EARLY

HPBl

GROUP2

DVH-196

BLUE GLAZE

EARLY

MPB

GROUP2

Table E.2 LEAD-ISOTOPE GLASS STANDARDS FROM THE CORNING GLASS MUSEUM SAMPLE NUMBER

PbO CONTENT PERCENT

204pb1206pb

201pbf206pb 204Pbf206pb

Pb-475

3.71

2.0688

0.83543

0.053281

Soda-lime green glass-Greek

Pb-90

21.8

2.0683

0.824

0.05229

Red opaque soda-lime -lead Nimrud 7th c. B.C. or post 220 B.C.

Pb-2357

19.1

2.21554

0.992751

0.060931

Dark blue Lead-barium glass Han Dynasty

E-3

SAMPLE DESCRIPTION

APP NDIX F. Photograph of elected Glazed eramic from the Deh Luran Plain .

Figure . 4. graffito and pla h-glaze .

Figur F. l. Blue Glaze

op, Left to Right: DL-2 19, DL-16, DL-219 Bottom, Left to Right: DL-72, D -49, DL-49, DL-74. hi herd is from a small ve el that wa produced in a pre -type mould.

Top, Left to Right: DL-38 graffito, DL-63 graffito DL-74 Sgraffito Bottom, Left to Right: DL-2 pla h-glaze , DL-56 (DVH-124) Sgraffito, DL-2 pla h-glaze . Figure F. 5. obalt-decorated .

Figure F.2 Monochrome Glaze

Top, Left to Right: D -2 (Blu and Black glaz ), D -2 (Zon 4-2) (DVH-196), DL-62. Bottom, Left to Right: DL-2 (Zon 4-, ), D1-2 (Zon 8-1), DL-2 ( on 8-1) op, Left to Right: DL-62, DL-62, DL-36( entral). Bottom, eft to Right: DL-36 ( outh), DL-74(0xL 1353), DL-36(Ea t).

Figure F.6. Underglaze-Paint d and Mi cellan ou lazed eramic .

Figure F. 3 Luster Ware

Top, Left to Right: DL-2, DL-2(Zone 8-3), DL-2 (Zone 4-6), Bottom, Left to Right: DL-36, DL-2(Zone 3-2), DL-2.

op, Left to Right: Underglazed-Painted DL-74, DL-74, DL-74 Bottom, L ft to Right: DL-74 an painted line on white lead-glaze Iip, D -74 Inci ion filled with black frit on white leadba ed glaze .

Figur F.7. Underglaze-Painted and Miscellaneou Glazed eramics.

op, Left to Right: DL-5 Underglaze-Painted (0 , L 1348) (DVH-194), DL-36 (We t) Cobalt-painted Bottom: DL-74 Underglaze-painted. Figure F.8. Parthian

Figure F. I0. Press-Moulded

op, Left to Right: DL-2 (Zone 8-3), DL-2, DL-2, Bottom, DL-2 (Zone 1), DL-2 (Zone 8) (DVH-118). Figure . I l . Mi cellaneou I lamic Decorated eramic .

eramics .

All four herd are from DL-34. Figure F.9. I lamic White¼are.

op, Underglaze-Paint d \; ith Siu - plash. Both herd are !TomDL-74. Bottom, DL-2 Dark Green pla h on Pea/Olive reen Glaz , DL-74 Mineral-ba ed Matte-painted earthenwar .

Figure. F. 12. row' Foot, DL 62.

Top, Left to Right: Flaring rim DL-2 ( i tern) (Zone 2-6), DL-2, DL-2 Ring-ba e (Zone 4-2) . Bottom, DL-2 (Zone 2-3) Ring-ba e.