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Provide valuable insights into past cultures
- Pottery shards, also known as sherds, are fragments of broken ceramic vessels that are often uncovered during archaeological excavations. These fragments can provide valuable insights into past cultures, including their daily activities, trade practices, and technological advancements.
library.fiveable.me/key-terms/introduction-archaeology/pottery-shardsPottery shards - (Intro to Archaeology) - Vocab, Definition ...
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Jul 19, 2018 · Why sherds and not shards? A definition of sherd , according to Merriam Webster’s online dictionary, is “a fragment of a pottery vessel found on sites and in refuse deposits where pottery-making peoples have lived.”
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Sometimes archaeologists find whole pots during their excavations, but more often than not they encounter broken pieces called sherds. This exhibit looks at archaeologists’ experiences with sherds and what these seemingly insignificant pieces of pottery can tell us about the past.
Archaeologists think that Native Americans made this tobacco pipe for Europeans. It provides evidence of trade between these two groups. The next image shows a cluster of small blue-and-white pottery sherds depicting a boat, a pagoda, and other scenes. The text on the inside of the flip panel reads:
The most useful sherds are called diagnostic sherds - key fragments of areas such as the base or rim that can be used to identify the style of the original object. Each week Into Archaeology provides a new sherd, or a piece of a relevant archaeology topic, excavated from the Internet.
Pottery shards, also known as sherds, are fragments of broken ceramic vessels that are often uncovered during archaeological excavations. These fragments can provide valuable insights into past cultures, including their daily activities, trade practices, and technological advancements.
In some cases the ancients used sherds for writing material, known as ostraca (singular, ostracon) to archaeologists. A sherd with any sign of an inscription on it must be removed before washing and taken directly to the head archaeologist, who gives the ostracon special treatment.
