Counting broken objects: the statistics of ceramic assemblages
Clive Orton, Paul A. Tyers · 1991
To estimate and compare the proportions of different types of pottery in ceramic assemblages (‘type’ being defined according to need, e.g., functional type, chronological type), archaeologists need a measure of the amount of each type. The most suitable proposed measure is the ‘eve’ (estimated vessel equivalent), for which each measurable fragment is scored as a fraction of a complete vessel.