Computer Use in Pottery Studies at Aphrodisias

Abstract

This article is intended primarily for archaeologists who may know little about computers, but suspect that the computer might be useful to them in their research. The emphasis is on the application of the computer to ceramics at the site of Aphrodisias, Turkey, where this system of field recording has evolved. The excavations at Aphrodisias have unearthed a relatively continuous stratigraphic sample of pottery from the Chalcolithic through to the Roman and Byzantine periods. This rich and varied corpus of material culture is now being analyzed with the aid of the computer. This article familiarizes the reader with the problems, methodology, and computer mechanics used to retrieve these data and shows how such a system can be used when a direct tie-up with a computer is impossible.