Early Medieval ceramics from the Viile Tecii archaeological site (Romania): an optical and XRD study

Mineralogical and petrographic studies of Early Medieval potshards exhumed in the Viile Tecii archaeological site (North Transylvania, Romania) show a ceramic body composed of a microcrystalline to amorphous matrix, various clasts and voids. The microscopical features and XRD patterns indicate that...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Corina Ionescu, Lucretia Ghergari, Marius Horga, Gabriela Rădulescu
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Cluj University Press 2007-10-01
Series:Studia Universitatis Babes-Bolyai: Geologia
Online Access:http://scholarcommons.usf.edu/geologia/vol52/iss2/art4/
Description
Summary:Mineralogical and petrographic studies of Early Medieval potshards exhumed in the Viile Tecii archaeological site (North Transylvania, Romania) show a ceramic body composed of a microcrystalline to amorphous matrix, various clasts and voids. The microscopical features and XRD patterns indicate that illitic-kaolinitic clays were used as raw materials, together with quartzitic sands as tempering material. The ceramic vessels were obtained with the potter’s wheel, but the fabric is only slightly oriented, due either to the fast modeling or to the coarseness of the clayish paste. The thermal alteration of mineral phases points to relatively high firing-temperatures, between 800 and 900°C.
ISSN:1221-0803
1937-8602