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This paper considers the results of an examination of painted pottery from prehistoric sites of the Prmor'ye region (Southern Russian Far East) in the northwestern part of the Sea of Japan basin. Red-painted and black-painted ceramic wares occur here only in the remains of the Yankovskaya archaeological culture dated to the 1st mil. BCE. Red painting appears as a colored surface coating, and black painting is represented by very simple drawn patterns. Until recently painting decorations have not been intentionally studied. The objects of our investigation are a small series of red-painted and black-painted ceramic fragments originated from archaeological sites. The methods of optical microscopy, SEM-EDS, and Raman spectroscopy were applied to the study of research materials. As a result, the data on characteristics of texture and composition of red and black paints were obtained. Both were determined to be pre-firing paints. Red paint is a clayish substance mixed with natural ochre pigment containing the hematite coloring agent. Black paint is carbon-based. Black carbon and burnt bone are recognized as colorants. The presented materials are new evidence of pottery paint technologies in prehistoric Eurasia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article considers the effect of a filler based on synthetic wollastonite (CaSiO3), which is introduced into a polymer matrix made of ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene, on the tribotechnical parameters of the produced polymer composite material. Behavioral features of composites after friction were investigated by infrared spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy. It was found that the introduction of wollastonite into the polymer matrix contributed to a reduction in the friction coefficient by 23% and the wear rate by four times. In the micrographs of the friction surfaces of the obtained composite, the formation of new secondary structures oriented along the friction direction, different from the initial polymer matrix, was revealed. The presence of wear products (oxidized polymer groups) and CaSiO3 on the friction surfaces was recorded by infrared spectroscopy. It was established that the synthesized CaSiO3 particles were deformed under the action of shear forces and participated in tribochemical processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper considers the results of an examination of a polychrome glazed anthropomorphic ceramic figurine from the Prmor'ye region (southern Russian Far East) discovered at one of the Jin period (1115–1234 CE) archaeological sites. The study attests to the hypothesis about the attribution of this unique art object to the "red-and-green porcelain" produced in Northern China since the mid-Jin period. At present "the red-and-green porcelain" is the object of certain research interest as an important stage of Chinese ceramics history preceding the invention of famous porcelains with overglazed enamel decoration. The main technological features and material properties of the studied object were determined using analytical methods of optical and electron (SEM) microscopy with the use of X-ray elemental composition analysis (EDS, pXRF). The main result of the study presented in the paper includes evidence that the polychrome ceramic figurine found at the Anan'evka walled town in Primor'ey in the south of the Russian Far East belongs to the category of "red-and-green porcelain", or "red-green ware". As supposed, the figurine portrays Zen monk Budai—a person popular in Chinese arts and spiritual culture of the Song and Jin periods. Therefore, the polychrome ceramics figurine from the Primor'ye region may be considered today as the most northeastern case of "red-and-green porcelain" discovered in an archaeological context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]