Abstract
Pyrotechnology has always been a core topic in the archaeological debate concerning phases of deep cultural transformations, such as the Chalcolithic period in the Near East (c. 6000-3500 BC). However, previous studies on pyrotechnological installations, such as pottery kilns, pertaining to this period, have often been mainly descriptive, with a limited use of archaeometric investigations. This work presents a multi-method investigation of a Chalcolithic kiln recently discovered in the Bora Plain (part of the larger Peshdar Plain, in Iraqi Kurdistan), which combines stratigraphic analysis, pyrotechnological, micromorphological, and micro-remains analyses. Since this kiln represents the first Chalcolithic architectural feature excavated in the Bora Plain, this work offers precious insights into the pyrotechnology of the period, which is still relatively poorly understood, through the reconstruction of the kiln's use and abandonment processes. The analytical outputs can be used to compare with other Near East kilns from the Chalcolithic and later periods.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 853-872 |
Number of pages | 20 |
Journal | Open Archaeology |
Volume | 8 |
Issue number | 1 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - 1 Jan 2022 |
Externally published | Yes |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:Funding information: This work was funded by the Alexander von Humboldt Professorship award granted to Prof. Karen Radner (LMU) in 2015. Additional funding for the excavation of the kiln was provided by the Rust Family Foundation, with a grant awarded in 2019 to Dr Andrea Squitieri and Dr Mark Altaweel (grant no. RFF-2019-95). For the publication fee, we acknowledge financial support by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft within the funding programme “Open Access Publikationskosten”, as well as by Heidelberg University.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 Andrea Squitieri et al., published by De Gruyter.
Keywords
- Chalcolithic kiln
- Iraqi Kurdistan
- micromorphological analysis
- pyrotechnology
- XRPD
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Conservation
- Archaeology
- Education