Once the procedure was designed, samples were selected to
test a series of hypothetical sherd-to-vessel associations. These
samples were also chosen because their analysis would inform
on important aspects of site formation processes and prehistoric
cultural practices dealing with the management of refuse and the
reuse of ceramics after their break. In particular, we were interested
in characterizing the completeness of vessels among the
surviving debris. Patterns of diminution and discard of ceramics
were also investigated in order to understand their temporality,
dispersion and degradation before deposition. The Early Neolithic
ceramic assemblage from La Lampara (Soria, Spain) represents a
suitable case study since it meets a series of basic criteria: a) it is
relatively small and manageable allowing for a systematic refitting
and taphonomic assessment; b) it consist of abundant
decorated sherds, including already tested re-fitting fragments,
many of them showing a variety of post-breakage alterations,
and c) all the ceramic collection was carefully documented and
fully published, and ceramic items were retrieved from multiple
undisturbed depositional contexts. La Lampara is a pit site
located at a strategic crossroad from the Mediterranean coast to
the Iberian central Meseta (Fig. 1A). Excavations in the late 1990s