Presentation of ArchAIDE project at the International Workshop "Glaze Technology in the Western Mediterranean: Islamic and Christian traditions" 25 January 2018

1. The development of a typology for the Majolica
products from Barcelona and València between
13th and 18th centuries
A Compositional EDMA approach
Eva Miguel Gascón, Mireia Pinto Monte, Marisol Madrid i Fernández, Jaume Buxeda i Garrigós
Cultura Material i Arqueometria UB (ARQUB, GRACPE), Dept. Història i Arqueologia, Universitat de Barcelona, Montalegre, 6, 08001
BARCELONA (Catalonia, Spain)
(emiguel@ub.edu, mpinto@ub.edu, mmadrid@ub.edu, jbuxeda@ub.edu)

2. Comprehension and dating of archaeological
contexts
Optimize, economize and make knowledge
accessible wherever archaeologists are
working
Automatic recognition
Support archaeologists
in recognizing
potsherds
Use efficient algorithms for
characterization, search and
retrieval of the visual/geometrical
correspondences
Real-time data visualization

3. Traditionally classified based on art history criteria mainly related to decoration
Need of a typology based on forms and archaeological
contexts and not in decorations
Classifications currently encoded in drawings and
written descriptions
Majolica products
Green and manganese Blue Luster Luster and blue

4. Where are we working?
BCN VAL Tota
l
MCB 76 72 148

5. Publications
BCN VAL Total
El Bullidor 6 6
Castell de Boixadors 8 8
QUARHIS 28 28
Sant Miquel de Cardona 5 5
Sineu 28 19 47
Torre del Baró 38 2 40
Castelló d’Empúries 20 3 23
Del rebost a la taula 21 11 32
Castell de Castelldefels 19 19
Manresa 36 36
Mèsquida. Paterna en el renacimiento 52 52
Lerma. Loza gótico-mudéjar de Valencia 14 14
Monestir de l’Assumpció 8 8
Obras Maestras fundación F. Godia 2 2
Total 209 111 320

6. Chronologies
XIII XIII-
XIV
XIV XIV-
XV
XV XVI XVII XVIII Total
BCN 29 0 66 0 54 36 92 8 285
VAL 0 22 11 9 75 46 20 0 183
Total 29 22 77 9 129 82 112 8 468

7. Geometric morphometrics
Geometric morphometrics is the study of the form and/or shape of objects, or subjects, capturing their geometry.
The form of and object, or a subject, is related to its appearance and structure, and morphometry is the measurement
of these external and perceptible characteristics, related to the object’s appearance as well as to its physical and
diachronic constitution.

8. Geometric morphometrics
size
Form consists of
shape
A- Even if object’s forms, as well as mean forms, could have
an orientation in a natural coordinate system, the form
itself is invariant under translation, rotation, and, possibly,
reflection of the object .
B- Shape can be considered the result of a central dilation
of similar forms and, therefore, shapes can be considered as
scale invariants forms that can be related by central dilation
after the appropriate similarity transformations

9. Followed methods for the proposal
This coordinate-free landmark method enables the study of form avoiding the nuisance parameters of translation and
rotation, and the study of shape regardless of size. Landmarks provide configurations of points in the space. The analysis is
performed on the matrix of the Euclidean distances among points. Logratio transformations enable compositional EDMA
and thus shape analysis.
EDMA (Euclidean Distance Matrix Analysis) and compositional EDMA

10. Problems and risks: shape and size

11. Problems and risks: shape

12. First tentative groups

13. Verification of the system

14. Next steps
Carry on drawing more pottery
Problematic landmarks: check and redefine
Verify provenance of pottery
Check correspondence of groups with their decoration style

15. Acknowledgments
This work is part of the Archaeological Automatic Interpretation and Documentation of cEramics (ArchAIDE) project –
693548, 8P36CW – Horizon 2020. Pillar 3 – Societal Challenges. SC6 – Changing World. Europe in a changing world-inclusive,
innovative and reflective societies (European Comission).
Mireia Pinto Monte is indebted to the AGAUR and the European Regional Developmet Fund (ERDF) for the predoctoral
fellowship within the Ajuts destinats a universitats, centres de recerca i fundacions hospitalàries per a la contractació de
personal investigador novell (FI-DGR 2017) program.
Our acknowledge to the Museu del Disseny de Barcelona and the Museu d’Història de Barcelona for the granting access to
their collections.