The Pottery Informatics Query Database: A New Method for Mathematic and Quantitative Analyses of Large Regional Ceramic Datasets

Abstract

There is an increasing demand within the humanities and social sciences to use computers to analyze material culture and discover patterns of historical and anthropological significance. Using southern Levantine Iron Age (ca. 1200-500 BCE) ceramics as a test case, the Pottery Informatics Query Database (PIQD) provides a novel solution for constructing regional ceramic typologies. Beyond digitally archiving 2D/3D-scanned ceramics, the PIQD encodes ceramic profiles as mathematical representations. This method of digital preservation enables rapid queries to be conducted in a mathematically grounded approach. In this sense, the queries are similar to online Basic Local Alignment Search Tool searches developed in the field of genetics by rapidly associating large quantities of digital vessel profiles to each other based on similar morphological traits. The PIQD is an open-source online tool that enables scholars and students to test humanities-related hypotheses against ceramic data in ways that conventional publications or other databases cannot provide. Regional spatial patterning of the ceramic data is delivered over a Google Earth-based user interface. In this paper, we present the PIQD as an objective method for developing a comprehensive ceramic typology of an entire region of archaeological study and provide an arena to conduct novel scientific research. We then demonstrate through a case study its analytical capabilities to handle large datasets of 3D scans and digitized 2D ceramic profiles and generate cultural inferences with the ceramic assemblages of the Iron Age II "Edomite" region located in modern southern Jordan. PIQD adds an important methodological tool to the post-excavation cyber-archaeology tool box.

Cyber-archaeology

“…Data analysis within cyber-archaeology can take a variety of forms and emphasizes using digital data and tools to support our understandings and interpretations of the archaeological record. For example, at UCSD, data analysis includes 3-D modeling for artifact analysis and crowdsourcing of satellite imagery (Levy et al 2012(Levy et al , 2014Smith et al 2014b;Savage et al 2017). As described above, terrestrial SfM techniques (and also 3-D scanners such as the NextEngine Scanner) can be used to produce 3-D models at the artifact scale in the field or lab.…”

“…As described above, terrestrial SfM techniques (and also 3-D scanners such as the NextEngine Scanner) can be used to produce 3-D models at the artifact scale in the field or lab. The UCSD cyber-archaeology workflow has found this to be particularly useful for pottery analysis (Levy et al 2014;Smith et al 2014b). Using a 3-D scanner or SfM to model ceramic sherds can expedite and increase the accuracy of ceramic drawings usually completed by hand.…”

Ceramics in Archaeology

“…The prime example of such a numerical taxonomy of ceramics is that of Clarke (1970) for the Bell Beaker pottery complex of Great Britain. Scholars in have revisited the use of quantitative methods in the 21 st century as computers have become increasingly powerful and capable of analyzing very large quantities of data (Smith et al, 2014).…”

East Texas Caddo Ceramic Sherd Database

“…Finally, in conjunction with a database on 2D/3D-scanned Caddo ceramic vessels from East Texas sites, the East Texas Caddo ceramic sherd database should be made part of a digital database where comprehensive mathematical and quantitative analyses of morphological attributes and decorative elements on sherds and vessels can be conducted (e.g., Smith et al 2014). Queries to such a combined database of vessels and sherds should lead to better understandings of regional Caddo ceramic typologies and their spatial and temporal underpinnings.…”