Digging into Pottery: Scientific Approaches to Archaeological Ceramic Analysis Around the World

Digging into Pottery explores how scientific analysis of ceramics and related materials reveals ancient production methods, provenance, technology and exchange. Spanning diverse regions and periods, it demonstrates the value of interdisciplinary approaches for understanding past societies and material culture. Digging into Pottery brings together studies on the scientific analysis of archaeological ceramics and related materials from a wide range of regions and periods. Inspired by the Annual Meeting of the Ceramic Petrology Group (London, CPG 2023), it highlights how petrography, geochemistry, and complementary analytical techniques reveal production technologies, craft practices, provenance, and patterns of material circulation. Covering the Neolithic, Bronze, and Iron Ages, as well as Roman and medieval periods across regions from East Asia and Mediterranean Europe to pre-colonial and colonial contexts in the Americas, the volume explores both local craft traditions and broader trajectories of technological innovation and cultural interaction. By integrating laboratory analyses with archaeological context, the contributions show how scientific approaches illuminate production organisation, standardisation, exchange networks, and regional diversity in material culture. Alongside ceramics, several studies examine other inorganic materials, such as plaster, underscoring the versatility of analytical methods across different material types and archaeological settings. Collectively, the chapters demonstrate the value of interdisciplinary, multi-analytical research for producing reproducible datasets and linking scientific results to broader cultural and social interpretations.