pottery shards
Broken vessel pieces
Pottery shards are fragments of broken ceramic vessels.
Archaeologists study them to understand ancient cultures—their technology, trade routes, and daily life.
The pieces survive millennia in soil where organic materials decay.
Also spelled *sherds*, the technical term preferred by archaeologists: We found pottery shards scattered across the dig site.
- petrographyScientific rock classification
- clayMoldable earth for ceramics
- typologyClassification by shared traits
- NeolithicFinal prehistoric stone-tool era
- stratigraphyStudy of rock layers
burial mound · ancient ruins · excavation · sherds · museum collection · bowl · vessel · assemblage · broken pieces · provenance · temper · earthenware · stone tools · glaze · Indus Valley · time capsule · refit · mending
- archaeological findsarrowheads, coins, tools, figurines, jewelry
- Greek archaeologyacropolis, Mycenae, agora, Knossos, excavations
- Aegean archaeologyCyclades, Minoan, Minoans, Aegean Sea, bronze age
- Asian PrehistoryPaleolithic, Bronze Age, Chalcolithic, hunter-gatherers, stone tools
- Caribbean archaeologyburial sites, ball courts, three-pointers, cave art, shell beads
- Japanese archaeologyYayoi period, burial mounds, excavation sites, ancient tombs, stone tools