Enduring qualities of texture and colors in pottery objects have come about when naturally-occurring minerals where used.

In this thesis, the fabrication technology of Roman lead glazes were examined using a number of materials science techniques: namely, electron probe microanalysis, X-ray diffraction, and inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectroscopy. The overall aim of this work was to discern particular technological styles for a wide group of lead glazes by quantifying the chemical and microstructural features of glaze production. Using experimental replication, it was found that two basic methods of glazing could be identified chemically. When applying PbO alone to an earthenware ceramic, the resulting glaze was in equilibrium with the ceramic as indicated by flat compositional profiles obtained along the glaze cross-section. However, when applying PbO·SiO₂ mixtures to earthenware ceramics, gradient profiles indicative of diffusive mass transfer were obtained from the glaze cross-section. On the basis of these chemical criteria, these two methods of glazing were identified in archaeological material. It has been determined that the earliest lead glazes from Anatolia and Italy (approximately 1^st century B.C.) were made using PbO·SiO₂ mixtures applied to calcareous clays with Fe and Cu oxides added as colourants. Later production (post 2^nd century A.D.), seems to have employed PbO alone applied to non-calcareous clays with no intentionally added colourants. The Roman production of lead glazes was compared to both those of Late Antiquity (4^th – 10^th centuries A.D.) which continued to use PbO applied to non-calcareous clays, and to those of Byzantine and Islamic contexts (8^th – 14^th centuries A.D.) which seem to have used PbO·SiO₂ mixtures applied to both calcareous and non-calcareous clays. It is also argued that the technological features of the Byzantine and Islamic glaze production shared more in common with the contemporary Chinese lead glazing tradition (the Sancai wares of the 7^th century A.D.) which also used PbO·SiO₂ mixtures applied to non-calcareous clays, than with the Late Antique glazing tradition.

My thesis work is about flow. Indeterminate lines symbolize the developing plant form and explore the perception of space by experimenting with the subject's proportion and shape. Movement is also a vital factor of space, a notion found in the early forms of cursive script (grass script) of Far Eastern calligraphy. My individual plant pieces work as dots and lines of cursive script. An installation's ceramic pieces illustrate similar flow and movement when viewed as a whole.

The aim of this work is to classify and analyse the ceramic assemblage of the sector 20 - so-called Citadel - of the site Jandavlattepa in the South of Uzbekistan. This settlement in historical Bactria was inhabited in its latest phase by the Kushans. The here presented pottery was discovered by a Czech-Uzbekistan expedition during the years 2002-2006. This work presents the history and environments of the site in order to enable a complex understanding of the pottery assemblage as a whole, in relation to its contexts. The pottery fragments are divided into the groups according fabric, shapes and forms. The decoration types are also accentuated. All these features help to compare Jandavlattepa with analogical sites of Central Asia from the same period.

The thesis presents the results of evaluation of archaeological finds from the two settlements in Písek (site "nemocnice") and Topělec. Both settlements are dated to the Late Bronze Age. With respect to the fact that only Late Bronze Age sites of smaller extent have been evaluated and published in South Bohemia so far, the studied settlements offer a more complex view on the composition of ceramic finds in this period and region. Both sites provide ceramic finds analogous to those from Central and Wes Bohemia, however, they do not differ significantly from other South Bohemian sites.

in English The submitted thesis adresses the processing of material culture from the archaeological excavation in Velké Přílepy (district of Prague-west), where the settlement of Funnel Beaker culture was uncovered. The study is a sequel to my bacheolor's thesis (defended in 2010) which evaluated only one part of the excavated settlement and significantly improves its corpus of finds. Therefore there is now a complete analysis of the whole widespread settlement area in an open position without any fortification. Close to sixty structures were documented and dated (based on ceramic analysis) to the Siřem and Salzmündphase of Funnel Beaker culture on this researched area. Thanks to the excavation, an exceptionally rich collection of ceramic production from the Early Eneolithic period (10 105 pieces altogether) exists. Other settlements belonging to the Funnel Beaker culture in the vicinity of Velké Přílepy are also considered in this thesis. Together with this settlement, they create a unique area of settlements of the aforementioned culture.

This thesis investigates the history of golf ceramics from their origins in the mid-18th century until ca. 1930. During this period the game of golf experienced enormous popularity, developing into a globally successful sport. In the modern period golf has also fostered a thriving trade for the collecting of golf memorabilia, surpassing that of any other comparable sport. The thesis traces the development and spread of one form of golf collectibles – golf ceramics – and considers both the relationship of the pottery industry to the sport and the reasons behind the achievement of the genre. The modern form of golf likely began in the 13th and 14th centuries as a short game played within town walls. Under pressure from Burgh officials and Kirk ordinances, golfers eventually moved to the linksland and developed the now characteristic long game. In 18th- century Britain, elite golf clubs for gentlemen and noblemen sprang from existing sporting societies such as the Royal Company of Archers. The first examples of golf pottery, a series of 18th - and early 19th - century convivial and commemorative punch bowls, were commissioned as a direct result of the growing competitive and social traditions of the early golfing societies. During the prosperous Victorian era, golf experienced a period of immense growth and geographic expansion, particularly during the "boom" of 1890 to 1905. As golf spread internationally, it became a game primarily for the leisure class, inspiring holiday and resort destinations for the wealthy. Exclusive clubs grew at a rate that far surpassed the availability of public golf, thereby changing the character of the game to one predominantly practised by the rich. The game's growth inspired enterprising pottery manufacturers to produce new and imaginative golf-themed pottery lines, pre-1930. Golf's burgeoning popularity, combined with the affluence of its practitioners, created the ideal consumer audience for decorative and non-utilitarian wares. Between 1895 and 1930, eighty-five or more manufacturers were actively developing golf wares. As the pottery industry recognized the potential of the golf market, inventive new lines were developed that utilized original artwork from renowned illustrators of the era, such as Charles Dana Gibson, Howard Chandler Christy, Palmer Cox, Mabel Lucie Attwell, and Harrison Fisher. This commitment to quality golf imagery indicated that potteries placed the game in a higher institutional priority than other traditional sporting themes, such as cricket, tennis, rugby, or football. Royal Doulton, for example, generated no fewer than twenty ranges specifically for the golf market or adapted to meet the demands of its expanding following. Doulton wares featured illustrative images produced by Gibson, Charles Crombie, Henry Mayo Bateman, Will H. Bradley, and Barbara Vernon (Bailey). Doulton’s commitment to prominent illustration reflected golf’s importance to the financial good footing of the firm. The substantial catalogue of historical golfing wares produced during the period of examination experienced unparalleled success in secondary markets throughout the 20th century. Prominent institutional and individual golf collections emerged, leading to the formation of international golf collecting societies, and golf-specific museums and archives. Interest in golf collectibles advanced to the level where golf became a stand-alone auction speciality. In 2000 and 2001 alone, twenty-three major international golf sales were held. Golf pottery values escalated commensurate with the increased notoriety, availability, and competition. Certainly, no other traditional sport can claim such an extensive collection of wares, or a more enduring legacy in the worldwide ceramics and fine art pottery industry.

Dans ce travail de thèse, nous menons une étude comparative de la céramique de la fin de l’âge du bronze entre deux zones d’études, situées en bordure nord et ouest du Massif Central, la Basse Auvergne et le Quercy. Les ensembles étudiés, issus d’habitats de hauteur, de fosses de plaine et de grottes sépulcrales concernent la phase moyenne du Bronze final. Dans un premier temps, nous développons une méthode de classement typo-chronologique. Cette analyse, par un traitement quantitatif et statistique des critères morphologiques et décoratifs des céramiques, permet de distinguer deux groupes stylistiques selon les régions. Les calages chronologiques de ceux-ci montrent que certains changements dans les formes et les décors se manifestent avec un léger décalage. Dans un second temps, nous nous interrogeons sur l’utilisation des différents types céramiques. Des propositions de classes fonctionnelles sont réalisées à partir d’observations de stigmates d’utilisation et d’analyses technologiques. Ces classes et les correspondances de certaines avec la vaisselle métallique sont ensuite étudiées selon le contexte des gisements. La prédominance, dans les grottes sépulcrales, d’une vaisselle culinaire et de table dévolue aux liquides et de nombreuses correspondances avec des formes métalliques, marque une distinction avec les habitats et traduit des pratiques liées à des repas cérémoniels. Les corpus céramiques de l’habitat de hauteur se distinguent de ceux de plaine par une vaisselle de table collective plus représentée. Une dernière approche concerne l’étude des chaînes opératoires de fabrication des céramiques. L’analyse des préparations des pâtes, des techniques de façonnage et de finition, et des modes de cuisson, permet d’illustrer des changements globaux au cours du temps, communs aux deux zones d’études. Par contre, certains choix techniques s’avèrent plus régionaux et des particularités très localisées peuvent être mises en évidence. Néanmoins, une vaisselle fine, ayant des équivalents métalliques mobilise des savoir-faire distincts aux méthodes de productions à technicité plus élevée, peut manifester une amorce de spécialisation de la production. Ces approches nous amènent à proposer différents échelons géographiques, interrégional, régional ou local, dans les extensions des traditions potières. Ceux-ci dépendent du degré de précision et des associations de critères typologiques et technologiques retenus. / This doctoral research is a comparative study of the late bronze age ceramics from two areas located in West and North of the Massif Central: the Quercy and the Basse Auvergne. The materials analyzed are all dated of the middle phase of the late bronze age and come from various contexts (high ground settlements, lowland pits, and burial caves). At first, we develop a typo-chronological classification method based on quantitative and statistical processing of morphological and decorative attributes of the ceramics that allows distinguishing two regional stylistic variants. Their chronological boundaries indicate that some shape and decorative changes occurred with a slight time lag. Secondly, we question the utilization of these different types. We identified several classes based on use wear and technological features. These vessel classes all together with their metallic equivalent when available were analyzed in regards to site function. In burial cave contexts, food and liquid consumption vessels prevailed; numerous connections with metallic items indicate a distinction with habitation contexts and attest of ceremonial banquet. Ceramic assemblages from high ground contexts can be distinguished from the lowland ones by a larger proportion of collective table vessel. We finally conduct an analysis of ceramic manufacturing following a "chaîne opératoire" approach. We identified same chronological changes in the two research areas based on paste preparation, shaping and finishing techniques, and heating procedures. On the contrary, several technical choices indicate a regional patterning and the existence of local specificities. Nevertheless, a fine vessel equivalent to the metallic one, involved greater skills and possibly denotes the emergence of craft specialization. Based on these results, we stress the need for a multi-scale approach in the interpretation of the extension and spread of typological and technological traits because their accuracy and integration level can vary.

Pottery and livestock reached lithic using people in southern Africa some 2000 years ago. It has been suggested that early ceramics were introduced from further north then spread to the southernmost tip of Africa by an immigrant Khoekhoe herder population. How pottery and small livestock spread in southern Africa is debated. Some scholars believe that migrating Khoekhoe herders were responsible while others state that networks of local hunter-gatherer groups gained livestock and pottery by exchange and diffusion. Some think that both migration and diffusion played a part. The aim of this study is to contribute to this debate by comparing lithic technology in pre-pottery and pottery assemblages in the Central Limpopo Basin and northern Botswana. An abrupt change in lithic technology across the 2000 BP boundary would favour the migration model while gradual or no change would favour the diffusion model. This study focuses on two contemporary sites with Bambata pottery. Assemblages from Toteng 1 and Mphekwane Rock shelter in northern Botswana and the Central Limpopo Basin are analysed. For lithic analysis at both sites, the chaînes opératoires approach is employed. Although the method is not commonly applied to southern African Later Stone Age assemblages, it has broad appeal and potential in other parts of the world. The essential difference between this approach and the commonly applied typological approach in southern Africa is that it encompasses the whole life history of lithic material, from the basic nodule to finished tools. The study focuses much on the technological analysis and this dominates the analytical part. However, typological analysis was also performed in the study in classifying different categories of formal tools.

No description available.