BAR Jr.: Sherds, Sherds, Sherds

067

“The remains of the city were found buried under a heavy layer of ash and destruction debris … ”

“ … ovens and grinding installations were found in many of the rooms … ”

“ … a large cemetery was discovered on a hill facing the tell on the south … ”

“ … under the floor of one of the rooms the archaeologists uncovered a cache of gold objects … ”

Who destroyed the city? Who lived and worked here? What did these people grind? Who was buried in the cemetery? Why was the gold hidden? To answer these and similar questions, the archaeologist must first determine when these events took place. Dating objects they uncover gives archaeologists answers to other “when” questions.

There are several methods of dating archaeological finds. The most common, however, uses pottery to date the locus^a in which a find was uncovered or to date a stratum.^b For the most part, archaeologists do not find whole pottery vessels; instead, they uncover broken pieces of pottery—sherds—which are strewn all over the site and are buried in the ground. Once a clay vessel is broken and the pieces are discarded, these sherds will not deteriorate under normal circumstances, but survive until their discovery thousands of years later. Then they can tell their story.

Each of these broken pieces of pottery once belonged to a whole vessel. Because it was once part of a whole vessel, each sherd displays some of the characteristics of the intact original—its shape, its size, its decoration, its purpose, its ceramic characteristics. Certain sherds tell archaeologists more about the vessel than others. These telltale sherds, mainly rims, handles, bases, and other parts with special features, are sometimes called “diagnostic sherds.” So-called “body sherds,” as a rule do not have any special features, and are less helpful.

In antiquity, pottery was functional. This means that clay vessels were produced to be useful rather than decorative. There were jars for storing grain, liquids, and other foodstuffs, pots for cooking, bowls for eating or mixing, juglets for storing expensive oils and perfumes.

Since pottery-making was a profession that passed from one generation to the next, certain vessel shapes and methods of production were perpetuated; thus, change in vessel characteristics was slow. Trained archaeologists can identify the evolutionary trend of certain stylistic and technical developments. After studying pottery for many years, archaeologists have developed a “chart” showing how clay vessels were modified from one period to another. A chart can show, for example, how a certain type of jar handle developed through the ages into a different type, or how one kind of rim lost one shape and gained another. Sherds and whole pots possessing these distinguishing characteristics can easily be dated by a trained archaeologist.

The archaeologist then can use pottery sherds or whole vessels, dated by comparison with typological charts, in order to date other artifacts found with the sherds or vessels in a particular locus.

The date assigned to a location corresponds to the latest piece of pottery found there. Let us picture the history of a structure in order to understand why this should be so. Imagine a building constructed about 1000 B.C. The builders may have leveled an earlier building or imported fill to create a flat surface on which to 068construct the building. Pottery from earlier periods is likely to be found in the debris of the earlier building or in the fill. This earlier pottery may now be part of the floor of the new building. People who lived on this floor also left pottery evidence behind. The most recent pottery found on the floor indicates the most recent date of occupancy, the latest time of use of the building. Pottery found beneath the floor probably belongs to a period preceding the construction of the floor, unless, as sometimes happens, somebody dug a pit through and below the floor and “planted” later pottery into the earlier material. With the exception of the contents of pits, it is very unlikely that pottery from a period later than the construction of the floor would be found under it.

During excavation all sherds are collected into buckets as they are dug up. Each bucket containing sherds has a number, usually written on an attached tag, which identifies the exact place—or locus—in which the pottery was found. Such precise identification is very important because the other finds in that locus will also be dated according to the date of that particular basket of pottery. Pottery from the top floor is kept separate from pottery that is part of the floor or that is found below the same floor. Each group of sherds is thus excavated separately, collected into different buckets, and assigned different identification numbers.

Pottery coming out of the ground is usually very dirty and has mud clinging to it. To be able to “read” the pottery—that is, to assign a date to it—excavators must make all the pottery’s features visible. Particular care must be taken to watch for inscriptions. In antiquity, pieces of pottery from the bodies of large jars were used as writing material. These inscribed pieces of pottery are called ostraca (ostracon is the singular term). When a pottery bucket is brought in from the field, it is usually filled with water and left to soak. Next, the pottery is cleaned with a small brush and fresh water, but before brushing the mud away, it is important to check the pottery for inscriptions made in ink. When the sherds are dry, they can be examined, assigned to a particular archaeological period and thus dated.

After assigning dates to each bucket of pottery, specialists select sherds most characteristic of these dates as well as the most doubtful or troubling ones. Those sherds are registered and saved along with their bucket numbers. They are also drawn to scale and their distinguishing features—their color, hardness, and the material mixed with the clay to temper it—are noted.

Archaeologists occasionally discover whole vessels or restorable broken vessels. Whole vessels are usually found only in burials or tombs where they have been placed as offerings to accompany the dead and have been protected in their undisturbed environment. Restorable vessels often are found buried under collapsed walls of houses. Whole and restorable vessels are also carefully registered and drawn; they provide the archaeologist with models against which sherds can be compared.

Registering and drawing assures that there will always be a clear record of exactly where the sherds and whole vessels were found and how they looked.

It is important to remember that pottery—whole or restored vessels and sherds—is significant not for itself so much as for what it can tell about the date of the oven, grinding installation, floor or house with which it is associated.

“The remains of the city were found buried under a heavy layer of ash and destruction debris … ”