Towards the automatic classification of pottery sherds: two complementary approaches

This paper presents two complementary approaches to automatically classify pottery sherds: one that focuses on the sherd’s profile and the other that examines visual features of the sherd’s surface. The methods are validated using a set of pottery sherds that were collected during surveys at the ancient site of Koroneia (Greece), which were carried out by the ‘Ancient Cities of Boeotia’ team (under the directorship of Professor J. Bintliff). Both automatic classification techniques produce good results using different sherd classification criteria, such as shape, production technique and chronology.