Examined is the role of archaeological ceramic classification as it relates to broader and more complex kinds of pottery analyses, particularly physicochemical or technological studies and their interpretation. The first and most elementary level of ceramic study is that of classification or categorization, which involves the observation and description of gross characteristics of a pottery collection and its organization into similarity groups. The second level is that of analysis, the study of attributes of the pottery and their co-occurrence; in this paper the focus is upon technological and physicochemical analyses. The third level of ceramic study is that of interpretation of a ceramic collection, or interpretation of some part or whole of a site or region's cultural development in terms of the pottery recovered from that site or region; discussion in this paper deals with production and trade. See also AATA 20-771.