The study of potsherds with a view to reconstituting on a posteriori grounds their initial composition, the circumstances of their manufacture and decoration and the techniques used, is of interest not only to archaeologist and the historian, but also to research workers and manufacturers in general. After reviewing the various present-day methods of investigating the problem, the author has applied those that have proved most promising for this particular purpose to the case of siliceous pottery from Anatolia. Besides the traditional methods of chemical analysis, microscopy, dilatometry, thermoponderal and thermodifferential investigation, etc., an entirely new method has been devised for determining the characteristics of closely similar wares, and easily distinguishing between them. It consists in taking measurements as far as the melting-point of the shards, and then studying the anomalies of expansion and shrinkage occurring at temperatures in excess of the initial firing temperature. A systemic study of bodies, glazes and processes of manufacture and decoration has been carried out on the following wares: siliceous Seljuk pottery from Konya; siliceous Ottoman pottery from Isnik; siliceous Ottoman pottery from Kutaiah; so-called Tekfur pottery; and, so-called Rhodes pottery. The demonstration of properties enabling pottery from these sources to be differentiated from that of Isnik represents an important new factor in the controversy surrounding this subject. These Anatolian wares have been compared with those from other Near Eastern centers, especially Achaemenid, Byzantine, Persian, so- called Kubatcha ware from Daghestan, and Turkestan ware. The characteristics of these wares have been determined, and the author deduces the technical relationship of pottery from these centers to the Anatolian pottery discussed in the early part of his study.