tOfficial Night Shift Thread

[ladyrockess]

Whoops and functional: relating to the performance of the object and, in some cases, the person using the object.

 

[Darkstone42]

Nope, pure archaeology. The problem with archaeology is that we only have the trash (literally in most cases) they left behind so we have to determine behavior in a VERY limited and constrained construction, but a lot of archaeologists DON'T limit themselves correctly and use junk science and make the most appalling reaches from their results. It's really a messy discipline right now, and I'm fundamentally part of the movement for a pure-science approach with actual theory involved. A lot of people don't like us because we are 100% opposed what my professor calls "fun stories".

Not to mention we'll find a certain type/style of pottery in a particular age-range of deposits, and name is "SportsHoopla" and then people will start referring to the people who made the pottery the "Hooplans" and making all sorts of assumptions about who they were and what they did when it could have been a large and diverse number of cultures who just happened to have similar pottery OR all traded for pottery from the one group or something like that.

It's really a mess.

Which is why we have to be SO careful about what conclusions we draw from what we find. Which is why I'm freaking out about my thesis

Pure science. I approve.

So do you send samples to analytical labs then for dating and composition? Last fall, I read a bunch of papers from the Journal of Archaeological Chemistry where they found out what compounds were used as dyes and other things like that. They even were able to construct an image of one of the paintings Van Gogh painted over. I thought that was awesome.

But yeah, basically I'm asking if you use chemists to your end?

 

[Darkstone42]

Whoops and functional: relating to the performance of the object and, in some cases, the person using the object.

So basically either coming up with a better design to the devices end, or a better way to achieve a known design?

 

[ladyrockess]

So basically either coming up with a better design to the devices end, or a better way to achieve a known design?

Well functional characteristics are related to how temper functions. The larger the chunks (to a point) the better they hold together the clay mixture, and increased surface area also increases performance value, etc.

Of course, it also depends on your firing technique, because in order to use shell temper you need a really hot fire from real wood. It's actually really interesting, because at one point in the Mississippian (after the period I'm studying) everyone used up all the trees so they totally abruptly switched to sand-tempered which is a lot less durable but requires a much cooler fire, so they could burn brush and stuff. My prof says it was totally a drastic switch, like 10-20 years everyone just used up all the trees and switched to brush-fired sand-tempered pottery.

 

[ladyrockess]

And I do the analysis myself. I cut the sherds, clean the cut edge, photograph it with a microscope and run the pictures through ImageJ to do the particle analysis. I take those numbers and run them through statistical analyses to see what patterns pop up.

 

[Darkstone42]

Well functional characteristics are related to how temper functions. The larger the chunks (to a point) the better they hold together the clay mixture, and increased surface area also increases performance value, etc.

Of course, it also depends on your firing technique, because in order to use shell temper you need a really hot fire from real wood. It's actually really interesting, because at one point in the Mississippian (after the period I'm studying) everyone used up all the trees so they totally abruptly switched to sand-tempered which is a lot less durable but requires a much cooler fire, so they could burn brush and stuff. My prof says it was totally a drastic switch, like 10-20 years everyone just used up all the trees and switched to brush-fired sand-tempered pottery.

Interesting. So they went to an inferior product because they no longer had the resources to produce the better one?

 

[ladyrockess]

Interesting. So they went to an inferior product because they no longer had the resources to produce the better one?

Pretty much. Shell temper is a lot more complicated to produce - you have to burn it first, because if you don't burn it first it'll cause the pottery to crumble 24 hours after it's fired.

Sand-tempered pottery is pretty strong for sure, it's just shell-tempered is more shock resistant, if I remember correctly.

 

[Darkstone42]

And I do the analysis myself. I cut the sherds, clean the cut edge, photograph it with a microscope and run the pictures through ImageJ to do the particle analysis. I take those numbers and run them through statistical analyses to see what patterns pop up.

I want to ask so many questions about this part, but I need to sleep, so I'll refrain for now.

Good luck and good night!

 

[ladyrockess]

I want to ask so many questions about this part, but I need to sleep, so I'll refrain for now.

Good luck and good night!

Haha you can ask me later if you remember! Sweet dreams and all that

 

[The Crimson King]

I'm examining the stylistic characteristics of temper in shell-tempered ceramics from the late prehistoric Mississippian era.

I'm trying to determine whether or not the stylistic characteristics show slow and random change over time in the manner of neutral genetic mutations as each new generation of potter unconsciously makes minute changes their manner of processing the shell temper - which should result in stylistic change of the pieces.

I'm postulating that each potter has a certain way of doing things - once you learn to process shell to make it into ceramic temper, you're probably going to do it the same way your whole life unless you find a new way of doing it that results in a functional advantage, which is why I'm avoiding as many functional characteristics as possible.

So basically the idea is that each potter is a single "meme" of genetic information that expresses behaviorally in the production of certain slow-changing stylistic characteristics of shell temper that perhaps, one day we can trace and map the same way we currently map the stylistic traits of ceramic decoration.

LMAO

 

[ladyrockess]

Popcorn and twix...dinner of Halloween champions!

 

[ChiefWhiteHorse]

Stop being such a stereotypical grad student damnit. lol

 

[LeaderOCola]

Stop being such a stereotypical grad student damnit. lol

i'm not one anymore, but I broke the mold.
by far.

 

[ChiefWhiteHorse]

i'm not one anymore, but I broke the mold.
by far.

Me and my woman alternate cooking real food every night.

 

[LeaderOCola]

Me and my woman alternate cooking real food every night.

hmmm, where have I read that ?

 

[ChiefWhiteHorse]

hmmm, where have I read that ?

Another thread? Where I posted about that?

 

[LeaderOCola]

Another thread? Where I posted about that?

you mean I posted it ?
http://www.sportshoopla.com/forums/...ink-rum-instead-eating-dinner.html#post984028

 

[ChiefWhiteHorse]

you mean I posted it ?
http://www.sportshoopla.com/forums/...ink-rum-instead-eating-dinner.html#post984028

LOL yeah leader, I'm intentionally stealing your life story. Get over yourself for shits sake.

 

[ladyrockess]

Oh I ate a real dinner earlier - leftover chicken with corn, peas, and broccoli. But it's Halloween and I wanted junk food.

 

[Disney Plorster]

My favorite quick and cheap dinner is bagel and egg sandwiches with cheese. They don't seem to go out of style for me. I do not like French Onion Soup.