Oxford Handbook of Archaeological Ceramic Analysis

I had the honor to be invited to contribute a chapter to the Oxford Handbook of Archaeological Ceramic Analysis by the editor Alice Hunt of the Center of Applied Isotope Studies at the University of Georgia. Only recently she informed me that the book is being advertised here and here. Right now production is set for November, maybe it could be a fitting Christmas present?

Thanks to Alice’ great selection of contributers, the book will really be a handbook (albeit at 600 pages you’ll need big hands) in the sense of giving a good and detailed introduction into the various methods for analysis that can be applied to archaeological ceramics. For each method, you’ll get the theoretical background, practical advice as well as some guidance on destructiveness and costs. A section on research design and data analysis will help the reader in deciding which method(s) are best applied to the research question under investigation.

My contribution ​(D. Minc and Sterba 2017)​, which was done together with Prof. Leah Minc of Oregon State University, is on Instrumental Neutron Activation Analysis, including a section about the k₀ method ​(De Corte et al. 1987)​ and on the modified Mahalanobis Distance developed in Bonn by Mommsen and Beier ​(Beier and Mommsen 1994)​.

I really believe that in this book the most current approaches to the analysis of archaeological ceramic are offered in a way that will make this an invaluable reference to anyone working in the field.