Typological Classification and the Chronology of Iron Age pottery in central-southern Britain

Abstract

Pottery has been one of the most popular artefacts in the study of the Iron Age in central-southern Britain because of its advantages of commonality, durability and volume. Pottery studies have provided important clues for understanding the society and culture in the region. These studies also have contributed to constructing the chronologies of the regions. However, pottery studies have tended to be unpopular in recent decades. Despite their crucial importance to the field of Iron Age archaeology, ceramic studies of classification and chronology have not been adequately developed. The lack of these places all related studies at a disadvantage, which can be clearly identified in recent works of the region.

This thesis re-examines the existing fundamental studies of Iron Age pottery. The method of classification and chronology of pottery uses statistical analyses, considering the importance of objectivity and actual data, which appears to be lacking in the existing studies. According to this approach, a new framework of the Iron Age pottery is created. The analysis also addresses other important issues for ceramic studies including classification, stratigraphy and absolute dating. These issues are discussed in order to produce reliable studies in the future by providing useful approaches to ceramic chronology. Most importantly, this thesis aims to emphasise the importance of the classification and chronology of pottery and to encourage the continuous re-examination of these studies.