The sheer abundance of pottery found on Roman sites throughout Europe and Asia makes it essential to our understanding of the ancient societies that created it. Fortunately for archaeologists, ceramic artifacts combine fragility with durability - although easily broken, the resulting fragments could not be recycled for other uses. Once discarded and buried, potsherds survive indefinitely, and they can be studied using a number of complementary techniques. This book explains how traditional methods of classification have been supplemented by modern scientific and computer-based analysis, thereby encouraging specialists to ask an ever-widening range of questions. Whether the answers include the date of an excavated deposit, the technology of manufacture, or the wealth and trading activity of the settlement, the conclusions which can now be drawn from Roman pottery are proving invaluable in our efforts to intepret the past.