Towards computerized typology and classification of ceramics

We report on newly developed mathematical and computational tools for morphological description, classification and analysis of archaeological artifacts. The need for such tools is most acutely felt, due to two main factors: (1) The lack of objective, quantitative criteria for shape analysis, classification and comparanda; (2) The overwhelming abundance of data, which renders impossible any extensive comparative typological analysis using traditional methods. We shall describe the main ideas which distinguish our method, and demonstrate its applicability by presenting the analysis of two assemblages of Iron Age ceramics from sites in Israel. (C) 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.