Ceramic petrography: the history of the method and the current state

Petrography methods have long been successfully used in geology to describe and classify rocks. In the late half of the 19th century, they were borrowed by researchers to study clay products in order to establish the component composition of raw materials and minerals used as a non-plastic additives, as well as to determine the degree of their changes in the process of decarbonitization. In addition, petrography makes it possible to study organic residues in the composition of the molding mass in order to determine the firing temperature of the product. Over time, the approach has grown into a separate discipline called ceramic petrography and has become, in fact, an archaeological method of studying clay artifacts, combining traditional archaeological procedures (visual, morphological, typological analyses, etc.) and scientific methods. The article deals with Russian and foreign historiography devoted to the petrographic analysis, mainly of fired vessels. The main emphasis is placed on research that touches on the main milestones of the development of the method itself, as well as characterizing the experience of its application in the study of pottery making in classical antiquity. The article also touches upon the problems of the current state of ceramic petrography in Russian science.