Posted on 08/02/2024 9:12:10 AM PDT by SunkenCiv
According to a statement released by Ca’ Foscari University of Venice, Ilaria Caloi and Federico Bernardini of Ca’ Foscari University and Cretan potter Vassiliki Politakis replicated the shapes of Minoan pottery vessels using a type of potter’s wheel and techniques suggested by scholars of Minoan Crete.
These techniques included hand-building methods and throwing-off-the-hump, wheel-throwing from a solid clay ball, wheel-pinching, and wheel-coiling. The experimental replicas were then examined with X-ray micro-computed tomography to produce detailed 3-D images of the joints, voids, and other components of the vessels.
The researchers were able to identify specific differences in the finished pottery that will help them to determine how ancient pots were constructed, without the risk of damaging them.
"This research represents a significant advancement in our understanding of ancient ceramic technologies," Caloi said. "By combining traditional and advanced imaging techniques, we can more accurately reconstruct the methods used by ancient potters, highlighting their craftsmanship and technological capabilities," she concluded.
(Excerpt) Read more at archaeology.org ...
Alignment and orientation of voids in Minoan cupsCa' Foscari University of Venice
Neat.
1) Are my tax dollars paying for this thru some bogus grant?
2) WHY?
Unless these folks think this is of impotence to the general population, I really don’t see a need to be able to reproduce fired clay cups... Why?
some more topics which may appear before this week’s digest.
Study Suggests Hunter-Gatherer Homes Were Well Organized
https://archaeology.org/news/2024/07/29/study-suggests-hunter-gatherer-homes-were-well-organized/
Scraps of Red Fabric Found in Judean Desert Identified
https://archaeology.org/news/2024/07/29/scraps-of-red-fabric-found-in-judean-desert-identified/
Bronze Age Beads Go Abroad
By Jarrett A. Lobell
https://archaeology.org/issues/july-august-2024/digs-discoveries/bronze-age-beads-go-abroad/
Traces of Medieval Life Uncovered in England’s East Midlands
https://archaeology.org/news/2024/08/01/traces-of-medieval-life-uncovered-in-englands-east-midlands/
So, in other words, you have no interest in the topic.
It’s lopsided.
They were on pot.................
Find the Roman Climate Optimum in the graph below, then the red hump to the left of that, then trace that down to the blue dip to the left of that. This graph made from Greenland ice core data has that cooling period bottoming out about 3,200 years ago, thus the beginning of the Minoan Warm Period. I've seen some say it was more like 3,500 to 3,600 years ago.
Another interesting history of the Minoans IMHO is that they are probably the people origin of the Philistines in the Bible (Caphtor in Amos 9:7). 
Only if you are Italian.
2) WHY?
Because it is interesting to learn how people lived.
Knowledge can be sought for it's own sake. In fact people used to consider it the highest form of study.
Is it supposed to be tilted? I only dealt with pottery wheels in college, and tilted wasn’t usually what we were shooting for, although some of my attempts did lean until they fell over. :D
First line of the piece: According to a statement released by Ca’ Foscari University of Venice....
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That is in Italy, so I am guessing our tax dollars are not involved.
I think the point of the question is “tax dollars”. If someone wants to pay for knowledge themselves, that’s great! To expect a debt-ridden nation to fork over tax dollars to learn about a rather unremarkable pottery piece is absurd.
I’ll pay for this faster than I would extraneous research torturing lab animals. This is an ethical experiment, at least, and appropriate research for those in the field.
Ancient Chinese Bronzes - Taoist Music Orchestra
https://youtu.be/C_DzPXDY8qU
Did a paper looking into the development of ancient Hittite pottery back in the day. This would have been a great paper to read.
Fascinating!
A friend of mine has a potters wheel which I’ve used a few times-with mediocre results-those Minoan pots look better than my stuff did-apparently it has never been easy to make a perfect and functional clay vessel using a potters wheel...
1. Not unless you live in Italy.
2. Because many of us are interested in how things were made when there were no machines for mass production. If you aren’t interested, why comment?
I don’t think the source of funding for the study is listed-at least not in the article. Many research grants are financed by wealthy philanthropists and such-it even happens right here in the US. Tax money grants are usually used here to finance the nonsensical s***-like climate change, the sex lives of amoebas-and even animal cruelty like Fauci torturing beagles...
I wasn’t good at pottery-making in college, but I enjoyed using the wheel more than hand-building. A skilled potter can make a beautifully formed vessel easily. One of the students was a grizzled older guy who would come in and make quite large vessels. He seemed to be a pro who just needed the equipment and space, so he apparently audited the course. I suspect he sold his work. He’d come in after I got to the pottery workshop, throw something, put it in the drying area and disappear, leaving me and the occasional rat to bumble along by ourselves.
It’s a public research university as per Wikipedia, so Italy’s tax-payers and whatever donors it might have are footing the bill for part of what it produces.
I don’t have a wheel-but I do like to make bowls and cups by hand forming now and then-I’ve become good enough that my cups actually sit level so you can fill them with coffee, but it took some practice. Hopefully, I can get my kiln hooked up again this Winter and make some gift stuff. I have some molds for cups and such-but pouring slip into a mass-produced mold isn’t the same as making by hand so that each cup can be made a bit different.
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