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

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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.

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Notes

  1. We store the digitized sherd in an array of x- and y-coordinates describing the profile and its distance from its axis of rotation. The array is placed in a .mat: file stored on the server and can be directly accessed by the MATLAB standalone binary functions. Upon user request the raw vector format or normalized smoothed version can be dumped into a PostgreSQL table, for alternative programs to access the vector coordinates of the profile.

  2. The Pottery of Lerna IV (http://csanet.org/archive/adap/greece/lernpot/lernameta.html); PRAP Pottery Database (http://docs.classics.uc.edu/fmi/xsl/prap/pottery_list.xsl?-findall); Worcestershire Online Ceramic Database (http://pottery.rigorka.net/#cms/view/worcestershire_on-line%20ceramic%20database); Saint Mary's University Archaeology Lab Ceramics Database (http://www.smu.ca/academic/arts/anthropology/ceramics/welcome.html).

  3. FARLI (http://apd.farli.org/home); FAMSI Mesoamerican pottery database (http://research.famsi.org/rollouts/rollout_search.php).

  4. Hayton Roman Pottery Database (http://ads.ahds.ac.uk/catalogue/archive/hayton_eh_2007/index.cfm); Gallo-Belgic pottery project (http://gallobelgic.thehumanjourney.net/GB/index.php)

  5. See “The PIQD’s Theoretical Approach to Automatic Classification and Mathematical Representations of Ceramic Morphology” section on the drawbacks to the use of GHT for classification.

  6. The main projects currently involved include the Edom Lowlands Regional Archaeological Project co-directed by T.E. Levy (UCSD) and M. Najjar (Jordan), Lowland to Highlands of Edom project co-directed by N. Smith (UCSD) and T.E. Levy (UCSD), Tel Dor project co-directed by A. Gilboa (Hebrew University and Weizmann Institute), The Jaffa Cultural Heritage Project co-directed by A. Burke (UCLA) and M. Peilstocker (IAA), and the Madaba Plains project including directors O. LaBianca (Andrews University), R.W. Younker (Andrews University), L.G. Herr (Canadian University College), and D.R Clark (La Sierra University).

  7. The one exception is KIS, which had a high level of preservation with nearly complete reconstructible vessels.

  8. See Fig. 8, branch 5.

  9. All figures presented here are autogenerated digital forms derived from MATLAB functions discussed above. These were vectorized and imported into MATLAB from their original 2D illustration or 3D scans and are currently stored in the PIQD. The naming system below each figure refers to the site it originates from and where available the figure’s bibliographic reference or registration number. Illustration of the decoration and burnishing, especially common for bowls in Figure 9, are not displayed here.

  10. By weights, we refer to the ratio between the radius, tangent, and curvature functions used to create the ceramic classification at each level of the type code. The default weights in percentage (radius, tangent, curvature) used for each level are:

    Level 1—20, 80, and 0 %

    Level 2—20, 80, 0 %

    Level 3—30, 50, 20 %

    Level 4—20, 50, 30 %

    Level 5—0, 60, 40 %.

  11. The weights used for the sixth level of classification are: 0, 70, 30 %.

  12. Note that for Fig. 12, only the digital profiles of these jugs are plotted here. Many of the examples in their original illustration had strap handles attached. The sample presented in Fig. 12 is only a representative sample see “Example 3” header for full count of each group.

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Acknowledgments

We are grateful to Professor Ramesh Rao, Director, California Institute of Telecommunications and Information Technology (Calit2), San Diego Division, UCSD, for his long-term support of this project. The research provides a platform for our graduate students involved in the UCSD Center of Interdisciplinary Science for Art, Architecture and Archaeology (CISA3)/Calit2 NSF IGERT TEECH grant. Fieldwork was facilitated by grants from the National Geographic Society, NSF, the UCSD Judaic Studies Program, and private donors. We also would like to acknowledge Kristiana Smith, Brian Tipton, Sorayda Santos, Charlene Wang, Caity Connoll and Ahmad Hasanat for their many hours spent conducting database entry and digitization of the ceramic datasets presented in this paper.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Cyber-Archaeology Laboratory, California Institute for Telecommunications and Information Technology, University of California, San Diego, USA

    Neil G. Smith, Tejaswini Narayanan, Eric S. Olson & Thomas E. Levy

  2. Computerized Archaeological Laboratory, Institute of Archaeology, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel

    Avshalom Karasik & Uzy Smilansky

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  1. Neil G. Smith
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  2. Avshalom Karasik
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  3. Tejaswini Narayanan
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Correspondence to Neil G. Smith.

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Smith, N.G., Karasik, A., Narayanan, T. et al. The Pottery Informatics Query Database: A New Method for Mathematic and Quantitative Analyses of Large Regional Ceramic Datasets. J Archaeol Method Theory 21, 212–250 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10816-012-9148-1

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