Experimental Pottery
Experimental Pottery GC-MS and GC-IR-MS. The purpose of the experimental pottery analysis will be to determine the differences among single and mixed foodstuffs and to compare the n-alkane and fatty acid lipid fractions for equivalent results. Five ding tripods and 5 guan jars made with gritty paste were replicated on a pottery wheel by the professsional potter, Mr. Liu Jiadong of Lianchengzhen, Shandong, China, in collaboration with Anne P. Underhill of Yale University (see Fig. 1). Pots were fired in Mr. Liu’s residential kiln @ 960° C under conditions similar to the Longshan period, and subsequently cooled. The experimental pots were placed on outdoor wood fires near his residence and pig meat, rice, or both were cooked according to the conditions in Table 4. The pots were broken into sherds of the lid, rim, body, base, and foot (ding only) and shipped to the Laboratory of Archaeological Science for further analysis.
Our laboratory plans to extract the fatty acid and n-alkane lipid fractions from these sherds for subsequent analysis by GC-MS and GC-IR-MS.
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Fig. 1. Experimental pots: guan jars (front) and ding tripods (rear).
Table 4. Cooking conditions for the experimental pottery
Ding 1: with lid, cook rice 3 hours
Ding 2: with lid, cook pig meat for 3 hours
Ding 3: with lid, cook both rice and pig meat for 3 hours
Ding 4: no lid, cook both rice and pig meat for 3 hours
Ding 5: without lid boil water only for 3 hours (Control)
Guan 1: with lid, cook rice 3 hours.
Guan 2: with lid, cook pig meat for 3 hours
Guan 3: with lid, cook both rice and pig meat for 3 hours
Guan 4: no lid, cook both rice and pig meat for 3 hours
Guan 5: with lid boil water only for 3 hours (Control)