Archaeological Ceramic Book Reviews

By Charles Kolb, Associate Editor for Archaeological Ceramics

Handheld XRF in Cultural Heritage: A Practical Workbook for Conservators.  Anikó, Bezur, Lynn Lee, Maggi Loubser, and Karen Trentelman.  Los Angeles: The Getty Conservation Institute, 2020.  viii + 191 pp., monochrome and color illustrations, tables. The volume is a collaboration between the Getty Conservation Institute and the Institute for the Preservation of Cultural Heritage at Yale University and is posted gratis in PDF at

https://www.getty.edu/conservation/publications_resources/pdf_publications/pdf/handheld-xrf-cultural-heritage.pdf?luicode=10000011&lfid=231522type%3D1%26t%3D10%26q%3D%23%E6%96%87%E5%8C%96%E9%81%97%E4%BA%A7%23&featurecode=1000008&u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.getty.edu%2Fconservation%2Fpublications_resources%2Fpdf_publications%2Fpdf%2Fhandheld-xrf-cultural-heritage.pdf

In 2013 the authors developed and taught the first “XRF Boot Camp,” an intensive four-day workshop for conservators that combined theory with project-based learning in a practical manner. Subsequent Boot Camps were held in 2014 and 2016, each building on the last while incorporating a new special topic. It became clear that a workbook designed for independent study would help participants review what they had learned and would serve as a training resource for new users. The result is this workbook, which provides basic background information on the principles of X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy (XRF), and the main focus is the use of practical exercises that exemplify common challenges encountered in the study of cultural heritage materials. Each chapter has its own sets of exercises and solutions, and bibliography.

“Chapter 1: Basic Safety Considerations” is about creating a safe working environment -- both for the operators and objects under study – which is the first and most important step that must be taken in the use of XRF. Most institutions are required by local ordinances to carry out training in X-ray radiation safety for all operators of the equipment, as well as the completion of a test to ensure that the user understands the safety information provided. The content focuses on understanding radiation exposure, instrumental radiation output, a suggested safety checklist, radiation dose units, and the effects of distance and scatter. “Chapter 2 X-ray Fluorescence Spectroscopy” elucidates the fundamentals of XRF and the instrument parameters that users can control to selectively optimize the detection of elements of interest. The basics of spectral interpretation and how to recognize spurious contributions to the spectra, such as contributions from the instrument itself.  XRF as a noninvasive tool requires no or only minimal preparation of the material to be analyzed. Because the technique itself is nondestructive, it lends itself ideally to the study of works of art and cultural heritage artifacts. This chapter focuses on the fundamental principles of XRF and the XRF Spectrometer, while the exercises emphasize the understanding of the effects of instrument parameters on excitation and spectral interpretation.

“Chapter 3: Practical Exercises on Mock-ups” contains practical exercises on mock-ups to provide readers with more in-depth practice in spectral interpretation and familiarize them with the challenges commonly encountered in the study of cultural heritage materials, including painted surfaces, thin film materials, metals, vitreous materials, and archaeological and ethnographic materials. The effective use of XRF requires an understanding of two variables: 1) how to select the appropriate instrument parameters to collect spectra that will provide the desired information for the particular material under study, and 2) how to interpret the resulting spectra, both in terms of assigning the peaks to the appropriate elements and in terms of recognizing features in the spectra arising from instrumental artifacts or spectral anomalies. This chapter has four components: 1) the detection of Low and High Z Elements (6 exercises examining bone black, alizarin, copper alloys, and lead-tin solder). 2) heterogeneous materials: spot sizes, layers, and mixtures (6 exercises focusing on paints and paper).  3) Sensitivity and detection of minor/trace elements (4 exercises focusing on paint layers and paper). 4) distance/topography (one exercise). The last part of the chapter provides 17 exercises.  

“Chapter 4: Practical Application of XRF to Cultural Heritage Materials” contains the exercises, which are designed to help understand how X-ray fluorescence (XRF) spectrometers work and how to recognize some of the challenges encountered in the collection and interpretation of XRF spectra. Mastering the operation of this instrument is only the first step, however. Though it’s tempting to simply jump in and start collecting spectra, without proper planning and preparation it’s unlikely you will get the good-quality data that will provide the information you need. The content includes a discussion of the Scientific Method, data interpretation and reporting results, different modalities of XRF, complementary techniques, and visual and imaging analysis for organics and inorganics.  The section on complementary techniques discusses the strengths -- and limitations -- of XRF, and how it is best used as part of a larger visual and imaging analysis plan. 

There are four appendices that include useful reference materials, such as the acquisition parameters for the four most common handheld XRF spectrometers, instructions for creating the mock-ups used in the practical exercises, a materials and suppliers list, and selected spectral overlaps.  Appendix 1: Acquisition Parameters for Instrument Models: Particularly four Bruker units, and CHRONO, Thermo Scientific, and Olympus units. Appendix 2: Instructions for Mock-Up Samples (pp. 165-179); Appendix 3: Materials and Instrument Suppliers, and Appendix 4: X-ray Energy Lines, Spectral Overlaps, and Interpretation Guide, which includes the Periodic Table and X-ray Energy Lines, Selected Spectral Overlaps, and Spectral Interpretation Guide. Lastly, there is a Glossary (3 items).

While designed primarily for conservators and conservation scientists, this book provides fundamentals of X-ray fluorescence (XRF) spectroscopy and the application of handheld XRF through hands-on, practical exercises. The workbook was originally designed to be a training tool for those new to the technique and a refresher for more experienced users. With some modifications, the exercises could be adapted to material culture – such as pottery -- beyond painting and other fine art work that is emphasized in this book.

New Light on Canaanite-Phoenician Pottery. Dalit Regev. Series: Worlds of the Ancient Near East and Mediterranean.  Sheffield, UK: Equinox Publishing, 2020.  256 pp., 27 black and white and color figures and maps.  ISBN 9781781798225 (hardback) £85 / $110 ISBN; and ISBN 781781798249 Price (e-PDF) £85 / $110.  Regev (Israel Antiquities Authority) focuses her studies on Canaanite-Phoenician culture, especially trade, pottery, and Aegyptiaca. She received her doctorate in 2006. Having worked in the past at research centers at the Hebrew University and for the Harvard Excavations at Ashkelon, she currently works for the Israel Antiquities Authority. Her major publications are on Phoenician Amphorae (2004), the Phoenician Hellenistic Pottery from Akko-Ptolemais (2009/2010), Egyptian Stone Objects (2013 and 2016), the Phoenician Origins of Eastern Sigillata Ware A (2014); and Phoenician Urns and the Hittite-Canaanite Trade Route (2018).

This book follows a continuous line of development from Canaanite pottery to the Phoenician pottery corpus. Phoenician pottery typically is considered to have first emerged in the Iron Age, and most research is limited to the first half of the first millennium BCE. 

“Introduction” The main concepts and terms used in the book are presented as well as what is included and excluded. There are discussions of the adjective Canaanite-Phoenician, pottery forms, and two main issues related to Canaanite-Phoenician pottery: the longue durée and the ware. “Chapter 1 - The Phoenician Assemblage and Distribution” The primary focus is on pottery groups and the general labels used in the field of ceramics, after which an overview of the Phoenician assemblages and distribution is presented. “Chapter 2 – The Phoenician Amphorae” The general characteristics, use, and importance of amphorae, and what characterized the Canaanite-Phoenician amphora over 2,000 years from the Early and Middle Bronze Age through the Late Roman/Byzantine period. “Chapter 3 - Decorated Ware” The five main styles of decoration in the Canaanite-Phoenician corpus are described: Bichrome, used ritually and domestically, Banded Ware, used during the Late Iron Age-Persian period, Black-on-Red ware, used commercially, the Black Slip group, and the most popular, Red-Slip. The final group began to be produced in the Bronze Age and enjoyed standardization in the Iron Age before evolving subsequently into Eastern Sigillata A and later groups of Terra Sigillata. There were standard forms that comprised a mrzh/Symposion set, used in a religious ceremony that functioned for centuries as a Canaanite-Phoenician religious and civil system. There are important discussions of Phoenician Fine Ware of the 6th-4th centuries BCE: Red Slip and Phoenician Fine Ware of the Hellenistic Period: Eastern Sigillata A.   

“Chapter 4 – Canaanite-Phoenician Coarse Ware” Canaanite-Phoenician coarse ware includes large and small vessels in open and closed forms used in domestic, industrial and ritual settings. Domestic vessels include jugs with four basic shapes (Ridge-Neck, Wide Spouted, Trefoil Mouth and Mushroom Rim) and cooking pots in two shapes (Neckless and Sharply Dropping Rim). Commercial vessels include juglets, bottles in two shapes (“Samian” and Bulbous), and amphoriskoi. Ritual vessels include kraters, urns, small jars, oil-lamps and tripod bowls. Although the Canaanite-Phoenician coarse ware produced in the Levant was not distributed outside Levantine sites, all these forms were locally produced in Canaanite-Phoenician sites in the west, with some variations and local preferences at times. “Chapter 5 – Special Cases” This chapter presents pottery groups that have not been included before in the Canaanite-Phoenician corpus: Late Bronze Age Red Lustrous Wheel-Made Pottery (RLWm), small jars of Hittite form that were introduced into the Canaanite-Phoenician corpus in the late Middle Bronze Age-early Late Bronze I Age, and bent bottles. The first two groups had direct connections to the Canaanite-Phoenician trade networks.

“Chapter 6 – Conclusions.” Regev’s analysis shows the Canaanite predecessors as well as the ongoing continuity of Phoenician forms and techniques during the Hellenistic and Roman periods. There are two areas of focus, both of which will be illustrated from materials drawn primarily from the Levant. The first is Phoenician container products, especially amphorae and bottles, although other coarse ware forms are included. The second is red-slip pottery, which was a constant feature of the Phoenician assemblage. These were mainly open vessels that did not contain other products and were valued for their ritual attributes. And especially this is an important contribution to the archaeology of the Levant, especially elucidating Phoenician Fine War and Eastern Sigillata A (ESA), and concluded that what had formerly been called “Samaria ware,” a red-slipped Iron Age ceramic, should now be identified as Phoenician pottery. Some archaeometric research is referenced.

From Ordinary to Luxury: Islamic Ceramics from Iran, Central Asia and Afghanistan. Pierre Siméon, Pierre and Verena Daiber (eds.) Studies on the Bumiller Collection 1. Wiesbaden: Dr. Ludwig Reichert Verlag, 2020 ISBN-13 9783954903870, ISBN-10 3954903873.  ISBN-13 9783954903870.  192 pp.  190 b-w and 369 color illustrations, bibliography (210 items), no index. Pierre Siméon is a French archaeologist, specialized on the Islamic world with a focus on Central Asia. He completed his MA at the Islamic Art History department at the Paris IV Sorbonne University and holds a PhD from the Islamic Archaeology department at the Paris I Pantheon-Sorbonne University. Since 2000 he has been working with several international teams in archaeological excavations in Bahrain, Mongolia, Pakistan, Yemen, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. Siméon is an internationally active expert with a main focus on the material culture in order to understand the economic and social history of mediaeval Islamic society. Verena Daiber completed her MA in Near Eastern archaeology and Arabic literature at the Free University of Berlin. She participated in excavations in Syria and Lebanon, studying medieval pottery, architecture and text sources. From 2001 to 2006 she was research assistant at the German Archaeological Institute in Damascus. In 2009 she gained her PhD at the University of Bamberg with a thesis on the 18th century public architecture of Damascus. She has been teaching at the Free University of Berlin and the University of Bamberg. Since 2017 she is the curator of the Bumiller Collection / University Museum of Islamic Art in Bamberg. Her focus is on exploring the textual and material culture of medieval Central Arabic lands and Iran.

This book is based on the glazed and unglazed pottery from The Bumiller Collection, assembled by the late Manfred Bumiller (1928-2018) from 1981 on, originally planned as a collection of Iranian medieval metalwork, but soon included a considerable number of ceramics of different qualities – table wares and utilitarian pieces. After a break of more than a decade, this thorough examination of material launches the new series “Studies on The Bumiller Collection” which is housed in the University Museum of Islamic Art in Bamberg, Germany. Pierre Siméon's expertise and hands-on experience were invaluable assets for the assessment of Iranian and Central Asian pottery. A corpus of 188 pieces of glazed and unglazed pottery were studied and grouped into categories of surface treatment. The collection’s asset is its wide range of medieval material, geographically spreading from Iran through the today Central Asian republics as far as Afghanistan.

The individual chapters are preceded by a short introduction by the category treated and, if the material allows, completed by a thorough discussion and analysis of the group. As such, the spheroconical vessels for example are comprehensively treated including a discussion of the archaeological and textual sources that for the first time allow a convincing interpretation of this particular group. As far as possible attributions, comparisons and references also to unknown collections and finds even from remote sites top off the entry of each object and make it available for further study. To make the study complete, each object is described and thoroughly documented with a profile drawing and several color photographs. Furthermore, the integration of the relevant bibliography including the Russian works that are inaccessible for most of the readers, but essential for the understanding of the material, gives new insights into the scholarly approach to Islamic ceramics from Central Asia. No archaeometric analyses are included.

The contents include: “Chapter 1: Unglazed Wares (11th-13th Century).” The focus is on coiled and slip-painted jars, molded jugs, embossed jugs and spheroconical vessels. “Chapter 2: Glazed Wares (19th-18th Century,” Three types are discussed:  1) Monochrome glazed wares (19th -14th centuries):  Green, brown, turquoise, and cobalt blue glazed wares; and opaque white glazed wares are detailed. 2) Slip-painted wares under transparent glaze (10th-14th century): tricolors on slip, the so-called “Buff ware”; bichrome and polychrome slip ware under transparent glaze; solid red and black colored slip; pseudo-luster; black decoration under turquoise glaze; black, blue, and grey painting under transparent glaze; and sgraffiato under splash glaze, with Caucasian, Iranian, and Afghan variants. 3) Overglaze decorated wares (13th-17th century): including Mina’i and Iraqi and Iranian luster ware variants. 

Significantly, this study takes into account the works of Russian colleagues that have gone without adequate acknowledgement for decades due to the language barrier and issues of adequate description and publication. Previously both prehistoric and historic ceramics have been largely neglected and rarely studied in a comprehensive manner.so that this volume is a handbook for anyone working on or is interested in Islamic ceramics from the area that spreads from the Zagros to the borders of China. In addition, this compendium is a significant source of information on provenance, distribution and trade.  The volume’s magnificent color plates volume take up almost a third of the pagination and the expansive, detailed descriptions and line drawings help to fill a major void in our understanding of Central Asian Islamic ceramics from the 11th century onwards.

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