Last year, I sent some #clay that I collected to the University of West Georgia Archaeology Dept and they just sent me the results of their experiment. They tested how the addition of sponge spicules (or fired sea sponge) affects the strength of the fired clay. This method of tempering clay isn't common but evidence of its use can be found in pottery shards throughout the world, including here in SW #Florida. Anyway, how cool to be able to assist in scientific #research.
A poster summarizing students' research results titled "Evaluating the Performance Characteristics of Spiculate-Tempered Pottery." There are four blue squares, one in each corner, filled with text with the headings: Introduction, Methods, Materials, Discussion. The rest of the poster is filled photos of test materials, microscopic images, graphs and tables. If you're really interested in the entire contents of this image, message me and I will send you a pdf with readable text.
Two graduated cylinders. One filled with dry, pulverized gray clay and the other filled with black pulverized burned sea sponge (sponge spicules).
A small, orange-brown, fired rectangle of clay being held by a three-point bend test machine. It's metal with two control panels attached to wires.
About two dozen dark gray bars of clay lined up in rows, sitting on a wooden table in what seems to be an institutional setting (school lab).
