Elemental Compositions of Kota Cina and Singapore Stoneware Glazes: A Preliminary Study

The high-fired stoneware ceramics found in Kota Cina (North Sumatra Province, Indonesia), and in Singapore represent compelling archaeological evidence of their ancient settlement. In this pilot study, I use scanning electron microscopy (SEM-EDS) techniques to analyse the elemental compositions of stoneware glazes from Kota Cina and quantify these recipes using statistical methods. Comparisons are made with glazes from stoneware excavated in Singapore, and with contemporary Chinese ceramics. This aim is to determine if typological similarities and differences between shards correlate with their recipes, and to explore the potential evolution of glaze recipes between sites. Comparisons with Chinese ceramics allow for the contextualisation of these glazes in wider patterns of ceramic production and exchange during the period late eleventh–fourteenth centuries CE. Determining the factors influencing the variety in glaze recipes in Kota Cina and Singapore requires sampling more Southeast Asian and Chinese ceramics belonging to this crucial period.