Morphometric analysis of Bronze Age funerary vessels from the necropolis of Mokrin

Abstract

Archaeologists commonly use subjective classifications to group ceramic vessels into different classes, but the usefulness of such tools for creating narratives about the past is seldom questioned. After noticing that certain ceramic classes from the Bronze Age necropolis of Mokrin have quite similar shape and size, we decided to undertake a morphometric analysis of vessels from this site. We show that some traditional classes largely overlap in both shape and size, and that the majority of funerary ceramics from Mokrin can be classified into two main morphological classes of vessels: (1) bowls; and (2) one- or two-handled beakers and amphorae. Our results go beyond this study, as they show how quantitative methods can be used in a complementary manner with more traditional tools to gain meaningful knowledge about the past.

Keywords

• Bronze Age
• necropolis of Mokrin
• ceramics
• morphometry
• shape
• size