Why Do Pots Break? Understand Ceramic Use Through Fractography

Summary

This is an abstract from the session entitled "Paper / Report Submission (General Sessions)", at the 2024 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology.

Archaeologists are well known for their interest in pottery sherds which are probably the most common thing found on archaeological sites. Ceramics’ ubiquity, their durability, and the changes in manufacturing and decorative techniques enable us to discuss chronology, class, trade, foodways and more. But, we almost never analyse how or why pots broke and ended up in the archaeological record.

This paper will discuss ongoing research using fractography, the science of why materials break, to understand post-medieval archaeological ceramics. Ceramics break in predictable ways when subject to particular stresses. Breakage leaves macroscopic and microscopic signatures in the remains of a pot. These signatures potentially allow a researcher to identify what led to a pot’s demise which, in turn, informs on how people used and cared for their ceramics. Experimental data will be applied to archaeological assemblages to explore historic breakage patterns and the lives and deaths of pots.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for Historical Archaeology 2024   •
• Paper / Report Submission (General Sessions)

Keywords

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Nicole Haddow