Rice temper: technological solutions and source identification in the Indian Ocean

This paper defines a group of pottery tempered with rice husk and stem occurring in a restricted range of forms that is found throughout the Indian Ocean between approximately the first centuries BC/AD and the third century AD. Samples from the Red Sea and India are examined petrographically to compare their clay matrix, which isolates a range of variability within a restricted suite indicative of a shared source region. The rice husk temper is further examined biologically and by SEM to identify more closely what parts of it were used, how it may have been processed prior to being added and the technological choice of rice husk and stem as a temper. Given the variability in fabric it is suggested that the making of this pottery was undertaken on a small scale and through comparative studies we isolate the region of Gujarat, India as its source region, enabling the pottery to be used as a trade indicator.