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Introduction: The 2009 excavation at An Sơn consisted of a large assemblage of ceramic sherds in the occupational layers, some complete or reconstructable vessels in burial contexts and the dense pottery scatter of Trench 1. The morphological and decorative attributes of the ceramics were assessed by examining the entire 2009 assemblage. Since no fabric analysis has previously been conducted on the An Sơn ceramic assemblage, a broad approach has been adopted to uncover the variety of ceramic fabrics, inclusive of both rare and more common rare fabrics. The sampling strategy for the fabric analysis has been designed to characterise the ceramic fabrics over time and to encompass the variety of the assemblage. The methods described here outline the excavation and sampling strategies used to obtain the ceramic sample from the 2009 An Sơn excavation. The methods for assessing morphology, decoration and fabric of the entire ceramic assemblage are explained, together with the macroscopic and microscopic methods used for close examination of a sample for fabric analysis. This chapter presents the methods for the study of the An Sơn chronological sequence and the different uses of space on site. For the ceramics, it discusses the methods for assessing the function of pottery vessels, standardisation in certain forms, and for the comparisons of forms, decoration and fabrics between An Sơn and other sites, together with the statistical procedures applied to conduct these analyses.
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