Wiktionary
n. A piece of pottery or stone, usually broken off from a vase or other earthenware vessel.
Wikipedia
An ostracon ( Greek: ostrakon, plural ostraka) is a piece of pottery, usually broken off from a vase or other earthenware vessel. In an archaeological or epigraphical context, ostraca refer to shards or even small pieces of stone that have writing scratched into them.
The Ostracon is an academic journal published by the Egyptian Study Society of Denver, Colorado. It publishes research by professionals and by Society members into the art, archaeology, languages, history, and social systems of the Egyptian people.
Usage examples of "ostracon".
His hands full of papyrus rolls and ostraca, Kysen gave him a look of inquiry.
I had not realized, until I overheard the conversation between Walter and Ramses about the masses of ostraca we had found, how badly Ramses wanted to get at those texts.
He knew as surely as if he had seen them that there were more papyri hidden under that sterile surfacemore ostraca, more stelaenew inscriptions, perhaps even the missing fragments of some of the tantalizingly incomplete texts he had translated.
There had been nothing in the chamber but the god and his offering vesselsno papyri, no final plea scratched on an ostracon or on the walls.
His father preferred temples and tombs, but masses of inscribed material were turning up, ostraca and papyri, awaiting decipherment-the job he enjoyed most.
His father preferred temples and tombs, but masses of inscribed material were turning up, ostraca and papyri, awaiting decipherment—the job he enjoyed most.