Standardization and units of measurement used in pottery production: the case of the post-medieval botijuela or Spanish olive jar made in Seville

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to determine the degree of standardization of pottery production and the units of measure that regulated their production. The group chosen to test this methodology is known as the Spanish olive jar. It is a series of productions manufactured in the south of the Iberian Peninsula throughout the Early Modern Period. The methodology begins with the morphometric characterisation of each vessel around a series of quantitative variables. Then, the Test for Normality is performed, and the Product-Moment Correlation Coefficient is calculated. Subsequently, a Cluster Analysis identifies different groups of Spanish olive jars. The Principal Component Analysis provides additional information that allows for a deeper understanding of the groups obtained. As a final step, calculating the Coefficient of Variation allows us to know the degree of standardization of each variable. Finally, once all these data are known, the possible units of measure that governed the production system of the Spanish olive jar can be recognized.