This author defined six types of sherd-to-vessel associations ranging from actual physical refits to more uncertain linkages and isolated examples with no association in the assemblage, known as ‘orphan’ sherds. However, his scheme relies heavily upon visual impressions expressed in qualitative indexes, inhibiting an independent evaluation of the results. Moreover, Bollong does not pay adequate attention to body sherds with no physical matches, which represent the bulk of potsherds in any ceramic assemblage. Ceramic thin section analysis could be a strategy well suited to