This volume contains a selection of 43 papers presented at the 5th European Meeting on Ancient Ceramics, at Athens in 1999. This regular meeting provides a forum for the presentation of existing trends in the field of ancient ceramic studies, based on combined scientific/archaeological approaches. These current papers offer an overview of the current status of the highly multidisciplinary research in Europe, both in terms of the many scientific techniques (with a balance between mineralogical and chemical methods) developed and applied, as well as on novel methodological approaches on materials, covering a broad range of periods and geographical regions (from Spain to the Middle East, from Uzbekistan to the Aegean). All the papers of this volume were peer-reviewed for their originality, significance, and technical validity.