MET-Pottery: Neolithic Ceramic Vessels from the Swiss Plateau

1046 ceramic vessels from 44 archaeological features represent the largest and temporally most highly resolved collection of morphological pottery data for the Central European Neolithic. The dataset was compiled by the University of Bern's MET-project between 2014 and 2018. It includes a spreadsheet of nominal and numeric morphological variables, vessel silhouettes, and typological drawings.

Use Cases

• Analyzing pottery style evolution based on morphological variables and vessel silhouettes.
• Investigating social relations beyond archaeological cultures using mixed-method research (MMR) methodologies.
• Training models for classifying Neolithic pottery types based on morphological features.
• Correlating pottery styles with dendrochronology or C14-dates from wetland and dryland sites.

Strengths

• 1046 ceramic vessels provide a substantial sample size.
• 44 archaeological features from wetland and dryland sites offer diverse contexts.
• Most contexts are typology-independent dated using dendrochronology or C14-dates.
• Includes both tabular morphological variables and image-based silhouette and drawing data.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count for the spreadsheet is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Last update date is unknown; freshness unverified.

Provenance

Source

Institute of Archaeological Sciences, University of Bern

Collection Method

Compiled within the SNSF project 'Mobilities, Entanglements and Transformations in Neolithic Societies of the Swiss Plateau (3900-3500 BC)'.

Time Range

3900-3500 BC (Neolithic period)

Geography

Northern Alpine Space and adjacent regions of Central Europe