Determining the Firing Temperature of Low-Fired Ancient Pottery: An Example from the Donghulin Site, Beijing, China

The traditional thermal expansion method using a dilatometer fails to accurately determine the original firing temperatures of low-fired ancient pottery. For this reason, we have developed an improved method of determining firing temperatures for low-fired pottery. This paper explains the theory of the improved method and presents the reasonably satisfactory results obtained on ancient pottery from the Donghulin site (c. 10 000 BP). The method and the results are very important for the study of ancient pottery culture and clay moulds used for bronze casting.