Exploring the possibility of low temperature glazing in faience from the Djoser Step Pyramid through compositional analysis
Name
821215570-MIT.pdf
Description
Full printable version
Size
9.06 MB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
931470d25e4e5f4423a219e1fd347a10
Author(s)
Whisenant, Lawrence A
Advisor(s)
Linn Hobbs.
Date Issued
2012
Publisher
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Abstract
Egyptian faience, a glazed, non-clay based ceramic material, is found throughout Egypt in a time range pre-dating the Predynastic Period (5500 - 3100 BCE) and extending well beyond the Roman Period (30 BCE - 641 CE). One of the most monumental feats of faience production and one of the first examples of mass production in human history is the collection of approximately 36,000 faience tiles from the Step Pyramid of the Third Dynasty Pharaoh Djoser (2667 - 2648 BCE). Based on past research, these tiles have been supposed to be glazed in a range of firing temperatures from 850°C to 900°C. Recent research of efflorescence-glazed tiles has introduced the possibility that the tiles from Djoser's Step Pyramid may have been glazed at far lower temperatures between 250°C and 350°C, possibly due to the phosphorus content of the tiles. The non-destructive analysis of a tile from the Djoser Step Pyramid, reported in this thesis, has yielded results using methods of x-ray fluorescence, environmental scanning electron microscopy, x-ray energy dispersive spectroscopy, x-ray diffraction and microcomputed tomography. It appears that the tile was glazed by the method of "application." There is evidence that may support hypotheses of low temperature glazing, though the phosphorus content of the faience core and of the glaze does not fully explain the phenomena.
Description
Thesis (S.B.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Materials Science and Engineering, 2012.
Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.
Includes bibliographical references (p. 72-74).
Subjects
Materials Science and Engineering.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Materials Science and Engineering
Terms of Use
M.I.T. theses are protected by
copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but
reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written
permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.
copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but
reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written
permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.
Persistent DSpace Link
