The 37th annual Clay Minerals Society Meeting in Chicago in 2000 brought together a range of different approaches to the analysis and interpretation of clays and ceramics from archaeological contexts. Addressing topics such as mineral identification and characterisation, material sourcing and regional surveys of the availability of clay sources, a wide range of case studies are presented from prehistoric Greece and Anatolia, Italian ceramics and clays from the Neolithic and Etruscan periods, Gaulo-Roman France and South America pottery production and clays.

A study of six 1st-millenium BC pottery producing sites in the north-central Andes concentrating on production, exchange and interregional relationships. The author describes the geography and the geoenvironment of the sites, research methodology and analysis of the results including triangulation of the stylistic, archaeological, geological and ethnographical data.

This manual is the first of the sort, describing the use of the new portable digital microscopes for analysis of archaeological ceramics in the field or in the laboratory. It is presented like a geology atlas, with a description of the most common minerals and lithic fragments found in ancient ceramic pastes to help archaeologists identify what they see under the microscope. Identification of manufacture, technological features is also addressed, and an analysis protocol is proposed involving digital image analysis. The manual is abundantly illustrated with pictures of archaeological and ethnographic ceramic pastes and raw materials. It is a reference book for all involved in the analysis of archaeological ceramics and a major tool to help identify, classify and choose the best fragments for further analysis.