Introduction
Firing is a “strategic step” (Lemonnier, 1983) of the ceramic production process: its success largely determines the final mechanical, refractory and – to some extent – aesthetic properties of the artifacts. Moreover, in case of failure this step involves the risk of losing all or part of the load to be fired and the associated human labor time. The study of the firing of archaeological ceramics is thus a key factor in interpreting ancient techniques and related social practices. In this regard, significant methodological research has been carried out since the pioneering work of Shepard (1936), leading to the widespread use of the so-called Equivalent Firing Temperatures (EFT) as a way to describe the firing of archaeological ceramics (Tite, 1969a; Tite, 1969b). The EFT is a point estimator tied to standard experimental conditions, defined as “the temperature maintained for one hour which would produce the observed mineralogy or microstructure” (Tite, 1995).
The EFT is u...