Editing Pottery (section)

==Archaeology==
[[File:Working with the pottery.jpg|thumb|Archaeologist cleaning an early mediaeval pottery sherd from [[Chodlik]], Poland.|left]]

The study of pottery can help to provide an insight into past cultures. Fabric analysis (see section below), used to analyse the ''fabric of pottery'', is important part of archaeology for understanding the [[archaeological culture]] of the excavated site by studying the fabric of artifacts, such as their usage, source material composition, decorative pattern, color of patterns, etc. This helps to understand characteristics, [[sophistication]], habits, technology, tools, trade, etc. of the people who made and used the pottery. [[Carbon dating]] reveals the age. Sites with similar pottery characteristics have the same culture, those sites which have distinct cultural characteristics but with some overlap are indicative of cultural exchange such as trade or living in vicinity or continuity of habitation, etc. Examples are [[black and red ware]], [[redware]], [[Siswal#Sothi|Sothi-Siswal culture]] and [[Painted Grey Ware culture]]. The [[Kalibanga#Fabric|six fabrics of Kalibangan]] is a good example of use of fabric analysis in identifying a differentiated culture which was earlier thought to be typical [[Indus Valley civilisation]] (IVC) culture.

Pottery is durable, and fragments, at least, often survive long after artifacts made from less-durable materials have decayed past recognition. Combined with other evidence, the study of pottery artefacts is helpful in the development of theories on the organisation, economic condition and the cultural development of the societies that produced or acquired pottery. The study of pottery may also allow inferences to be drawn about a culture's daily life, religion, social relationships, attitudes towards neighbours, attitudes to their own world and even the way the culture understood the universe.
[[File:Qin Terracotta Army, Pit 1 (9892085143).jpg|thumb|[[Terracotta Army]] following excavation]]
It is valuable to look into pottery as an archaeological record of potential interaction between peoples. When pottery is placed within the context of linguistic and migratory patterns, it becomes an even more prevalent category of social artifact.<ref name="jstor.org"/> As proposed by Olivier P. Gosselain, it is possible to understand ranges of cross-cultural interaction by looking closely at the ''[[chaîne opératoire]]'' of ceramic production.<ref name="See Olivier P 2000">See {{citation |jstor=20177420|title=Materializing Identities: An African Perspective|last1=Gosselain|first1=Olivier P.|journal=Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory|year=2000|volume=7|issue=3|pages=187–217|doi=10.1023/A:1026558503986|s2cid=140312489}} for further discussion and sources.</ref>

The methods used to produce pottery in early Sub-Saharan Africa are divisible into three categories: techniques visible to the eye (decoration, firing and post-firing techniques), techniques related to the materials (selection or processing of clay, etc.), and techniques of molding or fashioning the clay.<ref name="See Olivier P 2000"/> These three categories can be used to consider the implications of the reoccurrence of a particular sort of pottery in different areas. Generally, the techniques that are easily visible (the first category of those mentioned above) are thus readily imitated, and may indicate a more distant connection between groups, such as trade in the same market or even relatively close settlements.<ref name="See Olivier P 2000"/> Techniques that require more studied replication (i.e., the selection of clay and the fashioning of clay) may indicate a closer connection between peoples, as these methods are usually only transmissible between potters and those otherwise directly involved in production.<ref name="See Olivier P 2000"/> Such a relationship requires the ability of the involved parties to communicate effectively, implying pre-existing norms of contact or a shared language between the two. Thus, the patterns of technical diffusion in pot-making that are visible via archaeological findings also reveal patterns in societal interaction.

Chronologies based on pottery are often essential for dating non-literate cultures and are often of help in the dating of historic cultures as well. [[Elemental analysis|Trace-element analysis]], mostly by [[neutron activation]], allows the sources of clay to be accurately identified and the [[thermoluminescence]] test can be used to provide an estimate of the date of last firing. Examining [[sherds]] from prehistory, scientists learned that during high-temperature firing, iron materials in clay record the state of the [[Earth's magnetic field]] at that moment.

===Fabric analysis===
The ''"clay body"'' is also called the ''"paste"'' or the ''"fabric"'', which consists of 2 things, the ''"clay matrix"'' – composed of grains of less than 0.02&nbsp;mm grains which can be seen using the high-powered microscopes or a [[scanning electron microscope]], and the ''"clay inclusions"'' – which are larger grains of clay and could be seen with the naked eye or a low-power binocular microscope. For geologists, fabric analysis means spatial arrangement of minerals in a rock. For Archaeologists, the ''"fabric analysis"'' of pottery entails the study of ''clay matrix'' and ''inclusions'' in the clay body as well as the ''firing temperature and conditions''. Analysis is done to examine the following 3 in detail:<ref name=fab1>[https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/pottery-in-archaeology/fabric-analysis/CC3FB0EED69E6F196A3CA77B64DB355E Fabric Analysis], cambridge.org, accessed 10 July 021. {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210711112504/https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/pottery-in-archaeology/fabric-analysis/CC3FB0EED69E6F196A3CA77B64DB355E|date=2021-07-11}}</ref>

* How pottery was made e.g. material, design such as shape and style, etc.
* Its decorations, such as patterns, colors of patterns, slipped (glazing) or unslipped decoration
* Evidence of type of use.

The [[Kalibanga#Fabric|Six fabrics of Kalibangan]] is a good example of fabric analysis.