The Ceramic Petrology Group

What is Ceramic Petrology?

Well! To start with, one of our members would contend that the term is a misnomer since petrology is the study of rocks and we are actually using rocks (and minerals) found in ceramic bodies to study ceramics. So, Ceramic Petrology (or Petrography) is the study of ceramics by means of the identification and description of the rock and mineral inclusions incorporated into the pottery body (also known as paste or fabric).

Inclusion analysis has been used to study preparation methods; firing temperatures and conditions; the provenance of raw materials and the trade or exchange of pottery vessels and other ceramics (such as building materials, moulds, crucibles, figurines and clay tobacco pipes).

The same procedures could be used to study unfired clay found on archaeological sites and there is a convergence of interests between ceramic petrologists (sic) and soil micromorphologists.