Advancing the morphometric analysis of early medieval Slavic pottery: A semi-automated 3D toolset for virtual sections

This study introduces a semi-automated toolset for the generation of virtual cross-sections from 3D models of hand-made asymmetrical vessels. The toolset is presented through the analysis of early medieval Slavic pottery, with a particular focus on Prague-type ceramics. Developed using both visual and standard programming languages, the toolset extracts key morphometric attributes from 3D scanned pottery, facilitating a detailed analysis. To demonstrate its functionality, the toolset was used on 175 vessels from the Roztoky (CZ) and Přítluky (CZ) sites. For this initial demonstration of data extraction, commonly used morphometric attributes specific to early medieval Slavic pottery in Central Europe were employed, based on modified formulas from established typological systems. This open-source approach offers a fast and accurate solution for pottery analysis, advancing morphometric research in archaeology, especially that based on the automatic extraction of attributes from both 3D models and 2D sections. • A semi-automated 3D toolset for generating virtual cross-sections from handmade asymmetrical pottery. • Efficient extraction of morphometric attributes directly from 3D models, enhancing pottery analysis. • Combines traditional typological formulas with modern similarity measures, including Gower's distance and PCoA. • Concept applicable to various archaeological artifacts beyond pottery, adaptable for different shapes and materials. • Open-source solution allowing customization and accessibility for researchers with minimal programming knowledge.