Demonstration of a new fuzzy-sets method for classification of vessels on a sample from the Nitra-Lupka site

The aim of the paper is to present a new statistical method which records the shape of vessels and sorts those vessels into groups based on their shape. This new statistical method - the method of fuzzy similarity allows us to find the most similar vessels according to their shape regardless of their size. It is presented on a sample group of vessels from the Nitra-Lupka cemetery.Cemetery and pottery kilns from the 9th/10th c. in Nitra-Lupka are located in the foreland of the hillfort-fortification. Vessels revealed in graves were burned in these pottery kilns. Vessels are of high quality, although they were produced only on slow-rotating potter's wheel. The results obtained by using of the new method were compared with the results of standard cluster analysis for four different cases of groups of variables. Chi-square-test was used to compare the two selected methods for the classification of vessels into groups.