The Implications of Applying the Vienna System to Published Data on Prehistoric Pottery in Lower Egypt

Abstract

Pottery discovered at Lower Egyptian sites has several features that are distinctly different to those of pottery from Upper Egyptian sites. In this paper, the manner in which data on pottery fabric from Lower Egyptian sites has been classified and presented in published reports will be reviewed and certain problems stemming from this manner of publication will be examined. On the basis of this examination, the type of classification that would be most suited to the integration of all published data on pottery fabric at Lower Egyptian sites (as well as their features) and to the storage of this data as an objective record for future analysis by other researchers will be discussed. It would seem that, although the issue of problematic and biased published pottery data still remains, notating data using a code is one of the most promising methods. This classification method is useful as both a mnemonic device and as an effective means to record and classify the pottery fabric data gathered from Lower Egyptian sites.

Keywords

• pottery
• classification
• Lower Egypt
• integration
• the Vienna System