Identifying amphorae and transport pottery

Shape equals cargo.

Amphora forms are tied to their contents and origin — wine, oil, fish sauce. The rim, handle, and toe shapes classify them, and the standard form series (Dressel’s numbered types and their successors) turns a profile into a date and a trade route.

Stamps on handles name makers or estates; painted inscriptions (tituli picti) occasionally survive to name the actual contents. Fabric analysis pins the production region even on plain body sherds.

The toe — solid spike, ring foot, or rounded knob — was for handling and stacking in ships’ holds, and it survives well; a toe plus a rim can classify a vessel with no body at all.

Measure rim diameter and draw the profile if you can. Even a single stamped handle is worth recording carefully — amphora stamps are indexed, and yours may match a known workshop.

From the guide library inside Collectors Catalogues, a free app for cataloguing antiques and finds with honest, museum-grade records.

More on pottery

Identifying pottery and ceramics — Fabric, surface, and how it was formed.

Identifying terracotta figurines — Mould lines and vent holes.

Identifying tiles and brick — Fabric, stamp, and format.

Identifying Roman samian ware — Glossy red tableware with moulded scenes and potters' stamps.

Identifying Roman coarse wares — The kitchen pottery of the empire — greywares, mortaria, and flagons.

Identifying Greek painted pottery — Black-figure, red-figure, and the glossy slip that defines them.

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