Amphora stamps: problems of documentation, publication, digitisation

Stamped vessels made in the Mediterranean and Asia Minor in the first millennium BC are one of the most informative categories of archaeological finds and are widely represented at the sites of the Northern Black Sea region. However, a significant part of the amphora stamps found in excavations cannot be used for dating archaeological compounds due to the state of preservation, which makes them difficult to read and identify. The sequence of methods described in the article can significantly improve the reliability of identification of amphora stamps by introducing digital documentation and using mathematical surface visualization algorithms to create contrasting images. In addition, the article details approaches to creating a modern digital corpus of amphora stamps, which can significantly simplify the identification and introduction of stamps into scholarly use, their publication in print and online, and in the future become a tool for mass statistical analysis.