Exploring automatic grouping procedures in ceramic petrology

Although a small number of studies have attempted to introduce automatic grouping procedures into thin section petrography of archaeological ceramics, the majority of studies continue to be carried out by non-automatic means. Although such an approach with the single observer grouping samples has a number of advantages, it is problematic when dealing with large numbers of samples. This paper aims to explore different coding systems and statistical analyses for grouping ceramic thin sections. In the example discussed a number of variables are defined, codified and analysed by correspondence analysis, classical multidimensional scaling, non-metric isotonic multidimensional scaling and Sammon …