Archaeologists are making increased use of standardised colour descriptions for material they excavate and study, generally employing the Munsell colour system (Munsell 1966). Readings of soil colours are common practice on most excavations, where they may have significance (at least within small areas) for differentiating soil types. Elsewhere standard colour descriptions are found most frequently applied to pottery, where it is felt necessary to provide accurate descriptions of fabric, surfaces, or decoration

Frankel, D.

Australian Archaeology

Flinders Academic Commons

Australian Archaeology    Archived at Flinders University: dspace.flinders.edu.au  Full Citation Details: Frankel, D. 1980. Munsell colour notation in ceramic description: an experiment. 'Australian Archaeology', no.10, 33-37.  MUNSELL COLOUR NOTATION I N  CERAMIC DESCRIPTION: AN EXPERIMENT D .  Frankel  INTRODUCTION ~ r c h a e o l o ~ i s t s  a r e  making increased  use of  s t anda rd i sed  colour  d e s c r i p t i o n s  f o r  m a t e r i a l  t hey  excavate  and s tudy,  g e n e r a l l y  employing t h e  Munsell c o l o u r  system (Munsell 1966). Readings o f  s o i l  c o l o u r s  a r e  common p r a c t i c e  o n  most excava t ions ,  where they  may have s i g n i f i c a n c e  ( a t  l e a s t  w i t h i n  smal l  a r ea s )  f o r  d i f f e r e n t i a t i n g  s o i l  t y p e s .  Elsewhere s t anda rd  co lou r  d e s c r i p t i o n s  a r e  found most f r e q u e n t l y  a p p l i e d  t o  p o t t e r y ,  where it i s  f e l t  necessary  t o  provide  a c c u r a t e c d e s c r i p t i o n s  o f  f a b r i c ,  s u r f a c e s ,  o r  deco ra t ion .  These s t anda rd  Munsell co lou r  d e s c r i p t i o n s  of  p o t t e r y  seem, g e n e r a l l y ,  t o  be used f o r  d e s c r i p t i v e  purposes on ly ,  al though i t  may be  poss ib l e  t o  t a k e  advantage  o f  t h e i r  g r e a t e r  p r e c i s i o n ,  and presumed accu racy ,  t o  a t tempt  a n a l y t i c a l  s t u d i e s  of  i n t e r p r e t i v e  v a l u e .  While engaged on one such at tempt ( ~ r a n k e l  n.d.)  I confronted  a g a i n  a well-known s e r i e s  o f  problems i n  connection with Munsell ( o r  any o t h e r )  c o l o u r  d e s c r i p t i o n s ,  inc luding  ques t ions  of  t h e  e f f e c t s  o f  l i g h t  c o n d i t i o n s ,  v a r i a t i o n s  i n  i n d i v i d u a l s '  co lou r  pe rcep t ions ,  pe r sona l  b i a s e s ,  and v a r i a t i o n s  of  m o t t l i n g  of  t he  m a t e r i a l  i t s e l f .  A gene ra l  awareness o f  t h e s e  poss ib l e  d i s t o r t i o n s  have normally r e s t r i c t e d  t h e  u se  of  Munsell co lou r s  t o  d e s c r i p t i o n  r a t h e r  than a n a l y s i s .  I n  o r d e r  t o  a s s e s s  more c l e a r l y  t h e  e f f e c t  o f  t he se  f a c t o r s  a  s imple  experiment was s e t  up. While s tandard  t e s t s  ( e . g . t h e  Farnsworth-Munsell 100 Hue T e s t )  can be used t o  i d e n t i f y  co lou r  anomalies and t o  grade  people with normal co lou r  v i s i o n  on t h e i r  c o l o u r  a p t i t u d e ,  t h i s  experiment was designed t o  i l l u s t r a t e  i n  a  p r a c t i c a l  way problems o f  co lou r  d e s c r i p t i o n  d i r e c t l y  r e l e v a n t  t o  a r c h a e o l o g i s t s  working wi th  ceramics.  THE EXPERIMENT Ten she rds  of  a  v a r i e t y  o f  co lours  were used: e i g h t  from p r e h i s t o r i c  s i t e s  on t h e  Papuan c o a s t ,  and two Late  He l l ad i c  IIIB s h e r d s  (numbers 4 and 8 ) .  The i r  su r f aces  ranged i n  t e x t u r e  from c o a r s e  and p i t t e d  ( p a r t i c u l a r l y  5 ,  6 and 10) t o  t h e  smooth l u s t r o u s  s u r f a c e  c h a r a c t e r i s t i c  o f  Mycenaean wares. Eight  o b s e r v e r s  each undertook a  s e r i e s  of  readings  on t h e  s h e r d s ,  u s ing  Munsell s o i l  co lou r  c h a r t s  (Munsell 1975). Each obse rve r  made fou r  s e p a r a t e  s e t s  o f  r ead ings ,  with a  minimum of  24 h o u r s  between each .  Sometimes seve ra l  months separa ted  one set of  r ead ings  and t h e  n e x t ,  wh i l e  i n t e r v a l s  of  a t  l e a s t  a  f o r t n i g h t  were comnon. This  was in tended t o  reduce the  p o s s i b i l i t y  of  obse rve r s  Archived at Flinders University: dspace.flinders.edu.auremembering previous readings so  a s  t o  b i a s  l a t e r  ones. With a l l  but one observer ,  two s e t s  of  readings  were made i n s i d e ,  with a r t i f i c i a l  ( f luorescen t )  l i g h t i n g ,  and two outdoors ,  where general  l i g h t  condi t ions  (sunshine  o r  c loud)  were noted.  A l l  but one observer had used Munsell colour  c h a r t s  be fo re ,  and two had had considerable  previous experience. The r e s u l t s  of t h e  experiment a r e  presented i n  Table 1 .  DISCUSSION One of t h e  problems in  deal ing wi th  Hunsell  colour  n o t a t i o n  i s  t o  a s sess  the  s ign i f i cance  of a d i f f e r e n c e  i n  Hue, Value, o r  Chroma. Although t h e o r e t i c a l l y  s tandardised,  a d i f f e r e n c e  of a u n i t  i n  Value or  Chroma does not always appear t o  have t h e  same e f f e c t  i n  a l l  cases .  It i s  not poss ib le ,  the re fo re ,  t o  regard a l l  d i f f e r e n c e s  of one o r  two u n i t s  i n  these  f a c t o r s  a s  unimportant wi th in  the one Hue range,  while a d i f fe rence  i n  Chroma o r  Value between Hues may r e f e r  t o  somewhat s i m i l a r  colours.  We cannot ,  t h e r e f o r e ,  make any easy a s s e r t i o n s  regarding the  uniformity of colour-descr ipt ion,  except  where i d e n t i c a l  readings a r e  obta ined,  without making a s e r i e s  of personal judgements on equivalences,  o r  s i g n i f i c a n t  d i f f e r e n c e s .  Nevertheless some p a t t e r n s  wi thin  Table 1 may be e a s i l y  seen. The most obvious is  the  v a r i a t i o n  i n  co lours  recorded f o r  each sherd,  both between observers and by each observer .  There a r e  d i f fe rences  i n  the  consis tency of  r ead ings  from one observer t o  the  next.  The most c o n s i s t e n t  i s  Observer G ,  who made readings  on four successive days.  A follow-up t e a t ,  t h r e e  weeks l a t e r  ( reading 6 5 )  provided s l i g h t l y  more v a r i a t i o n ,  al though s t i l l  not g rea t .  This observer  claimed not  t o  remember t h e  d e t a i l s  of readings,  and was i n  f a c t  su rp r i sed  t o  f ind such homogeneity. The two observers (B and H) who had most p r i o r  experience were perhaps a l i t t l e  more c o n s i s t e n t  than most o t h e r s ,  although they d i f f e r  from one another .  Other obse rve r s  were l e s s  uniform i n  t h e i r  readings .  There is  o f t e n  a s  much v a r i a t i o n  i n  the  readings by one person a s  i n  t h e  readings  by d i f f e r e n t  observers.  However, where observers  re turned a cons i s t en t  s e t  of observat ions ,  some systemat ic  v a r i a t i o n s  can be picked up - fo r  example Observer D recorded Sherd 9 a s  5YR 6/8 where most o t h e r s  note i t  as  5YR 6 / 6 ,  while  Observer G i s  t h e  only one t o  record 7.5YR 6 /5  f o r  Sherd 1 and 2.5YR 5/7  f o r  Sherd 7 .  There is g r e a t e r  d i v e r s i t y  i n  Hues than i n  Values and Chroma. While t h i s  may p a r t l y  be explained by s i m i l a r  co lours  i n  d i f f e r e n t  Hue ranges i t  may be t h a t  i t  i s  e a s i e r  t o  s e l e c t  more c o n r i s t e n t l y  these  o the r  q u a l i t i e s  of  colour .  Some rherds (e .g .  9 )  a r e  more uniformly recorded by most observers.  The g r e a t e r  v a r i a t i o n  i n  co lour r  of  o t h e r  she rds  may a t  timer be due t o  the p a r t i c u l a r  colour  of  t h e  piece - not  f i t t i n g  i n t o  a standard s l o t  - bu t  is more probably a r e f l e c t i o n  of s l i g h t  mot t l ing  and v a r i a t i o n  o f  ru r face  colours .  Archived at Flinders University: dspace.flinders.edu.auODSLF.VER/OBSERVATION I1 I 2 1 4 No. Date 1 A 1 14-4 some 2 14-9 previous 3 20-9 experience 4 2-10 B 1 4-6 much 2 12-6 previous 3 17-9 experience 4 21-9 C 1 l@-8 some 2 20-9 previous 3 21-9 experience 4 24-9 D 1 20-7 no 2 24-7 previous 3 17-9 experience 4 4-10 E 1 14-9 some 2 17-9 previous 3 21-9 experience 4 24-9 F 1 20-9 some 2 2-10 previous 3 8-10 experience 4 11-10 G 1 17-9 some 2 18-9 previous 3 19-9 experience 4 20-9 5 11-10 H 1 30-5 much 2 17-9 previous 3 18-9 experwe 4 8-10 SHERD NUMBER 5 6 7 8 10 Lisht I 1 I l 1 bondit ions 5Y 7/2 2. 5YR4/8 2.5YR6/8 10YR7/4 5YR6/6 5YR4/3 indoor 10YR8/1 5YR5/4 2.5YR5/6 7.5YR7/4 5YR6/6 5YR4/3 indoor 10YR7/1 5YR4/6 2.5YR7/4 7.5YR7/4 5YR6/6 5YR4/4 Dutdoor-sun 2.5Y8/2 5YR4/6 2.5YR6/8 10YR7/4 5YR6/6 5YR4/4 butdoor-sun 5Y7/1 2.5YR5/€ 2.5YR6/8 10YR6/4 5YR6/6 5YR4/3 10YR8/1 2.5YR5/6 2.5YR6/6 10YR7/4 5YR6/6 5YR4/4 10YR8/1 2.5YR5/6 2.5YR6/8 7.5YR8/4 5YR7/6 5YR4/3 5Y8/1 2.5YR5/6 2.5YR6/8 -:. 5YR7/4 5YR6/6 2.5YR4/4 butdoor-sun 2. 5Y7/2 5YR5/6 5YR6/6 10YR8/3 5YR6/6 5YR4/4 10YR8/1 5YR5/6 5YR6/6 10YR7/3 5YR6/6 5YR4/3 5Y7/2 5YR5/6 5YR6/6 10YR7/4 5YR6/6 5YR4/4 5Y7/1 2.5Y~5/6 2.5YR5/6 7.5YR7/4 5YR7/6 5YR4/4 outdoor-cloud 10YR7/2 5YR5/8 2.5YR5/8 10YR8/6 5YR6/8 5YR4/6 indoor 10YR8/1 2. 5Y~4/8 2. 5YR5/8 2. 5Y8/4 5YR6/8 2.5YR4/8 indoor 2.5Y7/2 7.5Y~5/8 2.5YR5/8 10YR8/4 5YR6/8 5YR4/4 indoor 10YR8/1 2.5YR5/8 2.5YR5/8 10YR7/4 5YR6/8 5YR4/6 Zndoor 10YR7/1 10Yr5/8 2.5YR6/8 10YR8/3 5YR6/6 2.5YR4/8 ndoor 10YR8/1 2.5YR5/8 2. 5YR6/8 10YR8/4 5YR6/8 10YR4/6 indoor 10YR7/1 1 2. 5~~5/8 12.5~~6/8 110~~7/4 12.5YR5/8 110~~4;~ butdoor-sun 5Y7/1 2.5YR4/8 2.5YR5/8 7.5YR8/4 5YR6/8 2.5YR4/6 butdoor-sun 5Y7/1 5YR4/6 10R5/8 10YR8/3 5YR6/6 5YR4/3 bndoor 2.5Y8/2 2.5YR5/6 2.5YR6/6 7YR8/2 5YR6/6 5YR4/4 'ndoor 5Y8/1 2.5YR4/6 2.5YR5/6 7.5YR7/4 5YR6/6 2.5YR2. doutdoor-sun 5Y8/2 1 2.5YR4/8 (2.5YR5/8 110~~8/4 12.5~~6/8 1 2.5YR4/4 butdoor-cloud 2.5Y 7/2 1 5YR4/6 1 2.5~~5/7 110~~7/4 1 5~~6/6 1 5~~4/4 Endoor 2.5Y7/2 2.5YR5/8 2.5YR6/8 10YR8/4 5YR7/6 5YR6/4 kndoor 10YR7/2 2.5YR5/8 2.5YR6/8 7.5YR7/4 5YR6/6 2.5YR3/4 putdoor-cloud 10YR7/2 2.5YR5/6 2.5YR5/6 10YR8/4 5YR6/6 4YR4/6 pufdoor-cloud TABLE 1: FRTNSELL COLOUR READINGS BY EIGHT OBSERVERS Archived at Flinders University: dspace.flinders.edu.au5 .  One i n t e r e s t i n g  and somewhat unexpected r e s u l t  (a l though a  l i t t l e  obscured by the  general  v a r i a t i o n s )  i s  tha t  t h e r e  does not seem t o  be any s i g n i f i c a n t  o r  sys temat ic  d i f f e r e n c e  i n  readings made i n  na tu ra l  o r  a r t  i f  i c a l  l i g h t .  These a r e  s p e c i f i c  points  - what is more important,  however, is t h e  bearing which these d i f fe rences  between observat ions  have on t h e  a c c e p t a b i l i t y  o r  u t i l i t y  of Munsell colour  n o t a t i o n ,  al though t h e  general  range of colours recorded is  reasonably  small f o r  each sherd.  However it i s  equal ly  c l e a r  t h a t  l i t t l e  f a i t h  can be placed i n  the  use of s p e c i f i c  colour  terms. Even allowing the  inexper ience of  some observers i t  might be suggested t h a t  t h e  use of Munsell colour  nota t ion could g ive  a  f a l s e  sense of  accuracy and s t andard i sa t ion .  Whether o r  not such v a r i a t i o n s  a r e  important w i l l  depend on the  purpose of colour recording and d e s c r i p t i o n  and t h e  uses t o  which it i s  put i n  archaeological  r e sea rch  and pub l i ca t ion .  I f  the in ten t ion  i s  d e s c r i p t i v e  only - t o  provide a  ready reference t o  a  standard colour vocabulary - then i t  might be s u f f i c i e n t  t o  c r e a t e  some simpler s e t  of colour  terms r e l e v a n t  t o  the  body of da ta  being reported.  These could be c l e a r l y  def ined a t  t h e  ou t se t  by reference t o  a  range of  Munsell colours ,  but  t h e  Munsell nota t ion i t s e l f  need not be used f o r  each ind iv idua l  p iece ,  a s  tha t  l eve l  of accuracy i s  unnecessary and perhaps mis leading,  I f ,  however, the  recording o f  colour  i s  a n a l y t i c a l  i n  i n t e n t  - fo r  d e l i b e r a t e  comparison of ind iv idua l  sherds  o r  assemblages - t hen  more c a r e f u l  recording must b e  at tempted. Clear s t a t ements  concerning the  l ight-condi t ions  and t h e  exper ience of the  obse rve r s  should be made, together ,  perhaps, with r e p l i c a t i o n  experiments by t h e  observers t o  demonstrate the  accuracy and consis tency o f  t h e i r  work. There i s  a  need fo r  more accura te  (and p a r t i c u l a r l y  non-cultural)  desc r ip t ions  of colours  both on a  simple d e s c r i p t i v e  l e v e l  and fo r  suggest ing i n t e r p r e t i v e  i n s i g h t s  i n t o  t h e  n a t u r e ,  uniformity,  and v a r i a t i o n  of po t t e ry  t r a d i t i o n s .  The purpose o f  t h i s  note  i s  t o  draw a t t e n t i o n  t o  t h e  problems of  us ing Munsell colour  c h a r t s ,  and t o  suggest t h a t  we should not be misled i n t o  a  f a l s e  sense of accuracy because they have been u t i l i s e d .  I would l i k e  t o  thank the  following people who took p a r t  i n  t h e  experiment: Wendy Beck, David Clark ,  A l i s t a i r  Donelly, Denise Gaughwin, Andrew Kel ly ,  David Ri t ch ie ,  Ann Robb, I a i n  S t u a r t  . Divis ion of  P reh i s to ry  La Trobe Univers i ty  Archived at Flinders University: dspace.flinders.edu.auBIBLIOGRAPHY Frankel, D. n.d. Uniformity and Variation in a Ceramic Tradition. Levant. (In press) Munsell Color Company 1966 Munsell Book of Color. ~altimore Munsell Color Company 1975 Munsell Soil Color Charts. Baltimore Archived at Flinders University: dspace.flinders.edu.au

Munsell colour notation in ceramic description: an experiment

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Munsell colour notation in ceramic description: an experiment

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