Reducing firing of an early pottery making kiln at Batan Grande, Peru: A Mossbauer study

Material from field firing experiments using a 2,700-year old Formative kil n at Batan Grande, Peru, was studied by X-ray diffraction and Mossbauer spe ctroscopy. The experiments explore the technology involved in producing the gray and black reduced ware for which Cupisnique and other Formative ceram ics are justly known. During firing, the iron-bearing compounds in clays un dergo characteristic changes which depend on kiln temperature and atmospher e. These changes can be observed in the Mossbauer spectra. By comparing spe ctra of an appropriate clay fired in field experiments and in the laborator y with the spectra of ancient ceramics, a description of Formative firing t echniques in a reducing environment is attempted.