Analysis and Publication of Ceramics: The Computer Data-Base in Archaeology

The idea for this volume arose as we were completing the manuscript for the final publication of the Persian-Period remains excavated at Tell el-Hesi (Bennett and Blakely 1989); an undertaking which followed closely at the heels of the final report on the ceramics excavated in a horreurn at Caesarea Maritima (Blakely 1987). As we worked through these materials we experienced acutely the tension which results from attempting to do justice to the information potential of the excavated ceramics within the financial and temporal restraints of particular project budgets and timetables. Faced with the necessity of making innumerable small, sherd-specific decisions regarding both the possibilities and limitations of the materials from Hesi and Caesarea, we concluded that the problems confronting us could not be resolved unless we considered the issues involved in a more theoretical fashion. Chapter of this volume, "Morphology, Composition, and Stratigraphy: A Data Base Concept for Ceramic Study and Publication," is the most recent result of our deliberations on these issues.