Clive Orton is Emeritus Professor of Quantitative Archaeology at the University College London Institute of Archaeology. He has won the London and Middlesex Archaeological Society Ralph Merrifield Award for service to London Archaeology and the British Archaeological Awards Lifetime Achievement Award. He is a member of the Archaeology Data Service Management Committee, a member of the advisory board for the Journal of Quantitative Archaeology, the editor of London Archaeologist, a member of the editorial board for Archaeologia e Calcolatori, chairman of Southwark and Lambeth Archaeological Excavation Committee and chair of Gresham Ship Steering Committee. His most recent books include The Pottery from Medieval Novgorod and its Region (2006) and Sampling in Archaeology (2000). Michael Hughes was Principal Scientific Officer at The British Museum, Department of Conservation and Scientific Research and Senior Lecturer in Forensic Science and Bioscience at the University of East London. His work has been published in Archaeometry, the Journal of Archaeological Science, Studies in Conservation, Medieval Archaeology, Medieval Ceramics and the Oxford Journal of Archaeology, among others.

• Part I. History and Potential: 1. History of pottery studies; 2. The potential of pottery as archaeological evidence; Part II. Practicalities: A Guide to Pottery Processing and Recording: 3. Integration with research designs; 4. Life in the pot shed; 5. Fabric analysis; 6. Classification of form and decoration; 7. Illustration; 8. Pottery archives; 9. Publication; Part III. Themes in Ceramic Studies: 10. Making pottery; 11. Archaeology by experiment; 12. Craft specialisation and standardisation of production; 13. Pottery fabrics; 14. Form; 15. Quantification; 16. Chronology; 17. Production and distribution; 18. Pottery and function; 19. Assemblages and sites; Conclusion: the future of pottery studies.

'… its aspiration [is] to enthuse and inspire … Remarkably, and despite the great breadth of its content, it does both of these things and should entice hordes into the pot shed and keep them effectively employed there. This is how textbooks should be written.' Antiquity