Using X-rays to Understand Greek Pottery

Using X-rays to understand Greek pottery?

The Malcolm H. Wiener Laboratory for Archaeological Science's portable XRF makes it possible to do just that. We met with alumnus Emilio Rodriguez Alvarez in the Corinth excavations workroom as he used the portable XRF to research how Corinthian Black-figure pottery is made.

Pottery manufacture requires the craftsman to make a series of technological and stylistic decisions that determine the final product, and these decisions ultimately lead to ceramics that archaeologists may interpret as having been made in Corinthian workshops. By understanding what these colors were made of, this project not only provides new insights into the manufacture of Corinthian pottery, but also expands our knowledge about learning frameworks and potential communities of practice within which Corinthian potters operated.