This volume represents the proceedings of a conference organised by the Prehistoric Ceramics Research Group (PCRG) in conjunction with its sister organisation, the Ceramics Petrology Group. The conference was hosted by the department of archaeological sciences of the University of Bradford in October 2002. In this title, 13 papers from the conference (devoted to the study of prehistoric ceramics from France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Scandinavia, Southeast Asia, Spain as well as the UK) are presented here.The subjects range from technological studies to ethnographies, associations and chronologies, deposition, theory and the scientific analysis of tempers and residues. Devoted to prehistoric pottery, the authors here do indeed look at patterns on the pots as well as in the data. Also reviewed was the purpose of pottery from the point of view of their 'palaeo-contents' and ancient uses. The contributors were ever mindful throughout that archaeology is the study of past human societies through their material remains and therefore never lose sight of the people behind the pots. The papers include: New Dates For Scottish Bronze Age Cinerary Urns: Results From The National Museums Of Scotland Dating Cremated Bones Project; Organic Residues In Storage Vessels From The Toumba Thessalonikis; Patterns Of Spatial Regularity In Late Prehistoric Material Culture Styles Of The NW Iberian Peninsula; New Pots Or New People? - Archaeoceramological Study Of La Tène