Ceramic analysis has been concerned with categorizing types according to vessel shape and size for describing a given material culture at a particular time. This analysis' long tradition has enabled archaeologists to define cultural units across time. However, going into the analysis of sub-typological variations is rarely done, although their meanings bear significant consequences on the understanding of ties between individuals and social units. This study, aiming to assess whether it is possible to identify social signatures, focuses on a single archaeological ceramic type. For this propose, we selected a corpus of 235 storage jars from two distinct periods: storage jars from the Intermediate Bronze Age (the 25th -20th century BCE); and the Oval Storage Jar type (hereafter: OSJ) from the Iron Age II (the late 9th-early 6th century BCE). The vessels selected were 3-D scanned to extract accurate geometric parameters and analyzed through an advanced shape analysis. The study results show that integrating computational and objective analysis methods, focusing on the "minute variation" within a single ceramic type, yields substantial insights regarding the relationship between variability and social units. In addition to the methodological guidelines and the suggested "work protocol" for further studies, the results shed light on the social organization of the Intermediate Bronze Age and the Iron Age II in Southern Levant.

中文翻译：

---

陶瓷生产中社会特征的识别——考古案例研究。

陶瓷分析一直关注根据容器形状和大小对类型进行分类，以描述特定时间的给定物质文化。这种分析的悠久传统使考古学家能够跨时间定义文化单位。然而，很少进行对亚类型变异的分析，尽管它们的含义对理解个人和社会单位之间的关系具有重大影响。本研究旨在评估是否有可能识别社会特征，重点关注单一考古陶瓷类型。对于这个提议，我们选择了来自两个不同时期的 235 个储罐的语料库：青铜时代中期（公元前 25 至 20 世纪）的储罐；以及铁器时代 II（公元前 9 世纪末至 6 世纪初）的椭圆形储物罐类型（以下简称：OSJ）。对所选血管进行 3D 扫描以提取准确的几何参数，并通过高级形状分析进行分析。研究结果表明，结合计算和客观分析方法，关注单一陶瓷类型内的“微小变化”，可以对变异性与社会单位之间的关系产生实质性的了解。除了用于进一步研究的方法指南和建议的“工作协议”之外，结果还阐明了黎凡特南部中期青铜时代和铁器时代 II 的社会组织。