STRUCTURAL AND LABORATORY STUDY OF A FEW GRAY PAINTED POTTERIES FROM SHAHR-I SOKHTA

Abstract

Shahr-i Sokhta is one of Iran's biggest prehistoric ancient sites, located in the southeast of ‎Iran, ‎‎near ‎Zabol‎. Early settlements of the site date to the 4th millennium BC. Archaeological ‎excavations over the ‎past few decades in this area have revealed the existence ‎of four ‎different ‎settlement periods from 3200 ‎BC to 1800 BC, including eleven cultural layers‏.‏‎ Continuation of ‎excavations over the ‎decades has led to thousands of valuable ancient ‎finds with Fantastic ‎variety. Valuable cultural findings and ‎discoveries from Shahr-i Sokhta ‎caused the registration ‎of the site as a UNESCO World Heritage in 2014, ‎the 17th Iranian ‎historical piece. Historical ‎pottery is the most numerous findings from the site consisting ‎of ‎three main groups of buff, ‎red, and grey paste wares. Grey wares are one of the most important ‎pottery ‎findings of the site, ‎which itself classifies into two plain and painted subclasses. In this study, three samples ‎of gray ‎painted pottery discovered from the burned city were studied experimentally using various ‎‎laboratory methods, such as X-ray diffraction (XRD) and X-ray fluorescence (XRF) to identify ‎the structure ‎and mineralogical composition of these valuable pottery samples, to be ‎determined the importance and ‎impact of the elements and compounds that make up the pottery ‎body in metamorphosis and change their ‎color during the firing stage to gray. Structural study ‎and analysis of the chemical composition of gray ‎pottery samples in this study showed that the ‎presence of silicate phases and the use of clay soils with a ‎high percentage of iron oxide along ‎with the use of reducing atmosphere and high furnace temperature ‎during firing are the most ‎important factors in Durability and creation of gray color in this group of pottery ‎of the Shahr-i ‎Sokhta has been.‎