Ceramic Image Analysis - Archaeological Specimens

These images complement the collection of digital images of ceramics of known recipe (Laboratory-Prepared Specimens). For each group of archaeological ceramic sherds, thin sections (30 µm) were prepared using a blue-dyed epoxy to attach specimens to glass slides. These were then scanned in a high-resolution film scanner (for coarse-grained ceramics a Plustek OpticFilm 7600i, optical resolution 3600 x 3600 ppi, 7 µm/pixel and for fine-grained ceramics a Plustek OpticFilm 120, optical resolution 5300 x 5300 ppi, 5 µm/pixel), making the entire thin section visible. Sand grains appear white and pores blue. Protocols for identifying area percentage of sand and pores were developed using Image-Pro Premier software by Media Cybernetics. Users can download images to replicate our protocols or develop new ones with other image analysis software.

Full details of our image analysis protocols for sand are found in: Reedy, C. L., Anderson, J., Reedy, T. J. & Liu, Y. (2014). Image analysis in quantitative studies of archaeological thin sections.Advances in Archaeological Practice, 2(4), 252-268. doi:10.7183/2326-3768.2.4.252

A full discussion of our protocols for image analysis of pores in ceramic thin sections is found in: Reedy, C. L., Anderson, J. & Reedy, T. J. Quantitative porosity studies of archaeological ceramics by petrographic image analysis. In: P. Vandiver, W. Li, C. Maines, & P. Sciau, eds. Materials Issues in Art and Archaeology X. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, doi: 10.1557/opl.2014.711 (2014).

This work was supported by National Science Foundation grants 1005992 and 1339530.

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