Introduction

When dealing with a collection of vessels, or indeed any other class of object, it is natural to group similar items together and separate them from the groups from which they differ. There may be many different ways of classifying a collection of complete vessels − perhaps by their overall shape or the details of their rim forms, the presence of handles and spouts, their decorative motifs and so on − and in many traditional methods of classification all such factors may be taken into consideration. When the material in question is composed largely of sherds, a different set of problems may arise, although the potential for obtaining evidence about shape and size from body sherds is increasing (see Whalen 1998). Rim sherds may, in some cases, be unique to a particular vessel form − in others the same rim may be shared by a number of forms, but it may be that all the vessels sharing certain characteristics in the rim form are products of a single workshop.

The purposes of classification are perhaps threefold. First there is the practical one that the alternative to classification is treating each and every item as unique, which would undoubtedly generate a vast amount of information, but equally would inhibit any clear view of the material (the wood-for-the-trees syndrome). The second is that the recognition of types allows patterns in the data to be recognised. Third we can use the type as a ‘label’ to attach to other information, and in the case of ceramics the most important additional information is a measure of quantity (Chapter 15).