Matching sherds to vessels through ceramic petrography: an Early Neolithic Iberian case study

Abstract

This paper addresses an innovative method to test probable but not conjoining hand-made ceramic refits through archaeometric techniques. First, a complete refitting experiment was carried out with the whole ceramic assemblage (1,349 sherds) from the Early Neolithic site of La Lámpara (Soria, Spain). 18 paired ceramic samples featuring a varied post-abandonment casuistry (e.g. burning, weathering and calcite accretions) were selected to conduct thin-sections, studied petrographically in the Laboratory for Conservation and Applied Research (Budapest). Finally image analyses with specialised software provided with quantitative scores for the likelihood between these pairs of non-adjoining sherds.