I want to buy a black pot (Philippine techniques)

Cooking pots made by craft specialists in a neighborhood in a small city in the Philippines are hand made, using the paddle and anvil technique, and t hen slipped with an iron-rich clay and polished with a marine shell. They a re fired in an open fire, removed while very hot, and immersed in a bed of rice chaff. The result is a shiny black pot that is easily recognized in th e market as being the product of this neighborhood. Such pots are valued by consumers as more beautiful and durable compared with pots made elsewhere. To see if the iron and carbon surface treatments improve the performance o f the cooking pots, 50 pots were commissioned, with surfaces that varied fr om no treatment to slip only or carbon only as well as both carbon and slip . This collection was tested at the University of Arizona, and results clea rly indicate that heating effectiveness is improved with both slip and carb on present. The surface treatments of red slip and smudge also affect the p erformance of pots for water permeability. However, our tests show no obvio us relationships between strength and different surface treatments. The pro ject illustrates the power of combining ethnoarchaeology with experimental studies in understanding artifact design.