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Date: | Wed, 1 Jul 2009 13:27:45 -0400 |
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The Jicarilla Apache and other native groups in certain areas of the
Southwestern US specifically targeted micaceous clays for pottery production
historically, and many contemporary native and non-native potters continue
to use the same clay sources today. As Carl points out, many clays contain
some percentage of mica, but particular deposits found in various localities
around the world are naturally highly micaceous. This is not to say that
crushed mica was not added by some potters to purposefully create micaceous
pastes for either functional or aesthetic reasons, but that naturally
occuring sources are not uncommon. Due to mica's inherent physical
properties, pottery produced using high mica content pastes are apparently
more thermally efficient and potentially more resistant to both thermal and
mechanical shock. As such, some potters specifically targeted micaceous
clay deposits. Here are a couple of links of interest:
http://seiselt.com/PicurisSourceReportNov2005Data%20Removed.pdf
http://smuculture.googlepages.com/FelipeBible.pdf
http://www.felipeortega.com/
Best,
Charles
----- Original Message -----
From: "Megan Springate" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Wednesday, July 01, 2009 9:43 AM
Subject: Mica Temper?
> Forwarded from the Ceramics-L list; I thought perhaps someone here might
> have some thoughts. Please include Christian Gates on your reply
> ([log in to unmask])
>
> --Megan Springate
>
> ---------------------------- Original Message ----------------------------
> Subject: Mica Temper
> From: "Christian Gates" <[log in to unmask]>
> Date: Wed, July 1, 2009 9:26 am
> To: [log in to unmask]
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Some colleagues from Montreal have found an assemblage of what seems to be
> Native American ceramics heavily tempered with mica: mica fragments are
> large, numerous and nearly as important as the clay itself. The pottery
> fragments are very hard and they break more like European ceramics than
> Native American ceramics. The context is a French settlement from the
> XVIIth Century.
>
> Is anyone familiar with such pottery? Can anyone provide me with similar
> examples of Native American or European ceramics heavily tempered with
> mica?
>
> Thank you
>
> Christian Gates St-Pierre
> Archaeologist, PhD
> Ethnoscop inc.
> Montreal, Quebec, Canada
>
>
> Découvrez les photos les plus intéressantes du jour.
> http://www.flickr.com/explore/interesting/7days/
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