IV.1 Vector Drawing Programs and Publication of Archaeological Drawings
p. 79-81
Texte intégral
1The drawings produced on the fields are usually reworked with specific software when selected for publication. This section approaches the basic requirements and standards usually applied to the publication of the ceramic drawings.
What is a Vector Drawing and What is it Used for?
2A vector drawing is a digital image which is based on lines, curves, and other shapes within a “vector path” which is fundamentally different from a so-called “raster drawing” which is a picture/photo program with a pre-set set of pixels in which the pixels are manipulated. The vector drawing implies the creation of a digital drawing accurately resuming the drawing done on the tracing paper by using the various tools of dedicated software. A vector program allows the user to scale an image up and down, to blend in and out and change certain aspects without losing any resolution. Moreover, the line size and, if chosen, colours can be constantly manipulated to thicker, thinner and diverse colour schemes depending on what is necessary for the publication or print.
Formats of Vector Drawings
3Vector graphic files are often found with the endings AI, ESP, SVG (see Costa 2020) but can also be done as PDF. In comparison we would find raster program endings such as JPEG, GIF or PNG.
Various Software and their Manuals
4Any design software proposing a toolkit able to draw lines and curves is suitable for ceramic vector drawing. For the digitalisation of their archaeological drawings, most of the ceramic specialists are using Adobe Illustrator but it can also be mentioned CorelDRAW which offers similar results, or Inkscape, a free and open-source vector graphic editor using SVG format. As all software, their manipulation requires some basic knowledge that can easily be acquired via devoted tutorials or literature (e.g. Woelfel 2014). Whichever software chosen, the publication of a ceramic drawing meets standards that are commonly adopted and others that the ceramic specialist can personally define.
The General Standards for Publication
5As many standards exist as there are ceramic specialists; nonetheless common agreement exists on a few points (e.g. Arcelin, Rigoir 1979). As mentioned in a previous section (see Section iii.5), a ceramic technical drawing considers the profile of the pot and its internal features on one side of a half diameter vertical line and its external features on the other side (fig. 38).
Figure 38. General standards for a technical drawing

6The section of the ceramic can be placed either to the left (mainly Latin schools) or to the right (mainly Anglo-Saxon schools), either in solid black or outlined. Additionally, profiles can be drawn closed or left open. Adjacent to the section, the view of the interior part, if not decorated, is usually left blank or with a few lines only to highlight the main inflections of the inner wall of the pot. The lines should not touch the section thus heightening the readability of the drawing, but they can reach the vertical line. On the opposite side and separated by the vertical centre line, the view of the exterior shows all the details observed when looking at the outside wall of the pot. The lines picturing the inflections connect both to the vertical centre line and to the exterior profile.
7Details which can only be seen from above (decoration on the rim for instance) are represented at the top of the drawing and the details figuring underneath (decoration on the base) are placed below. The cross section of a handle is placed next to the profile, with a line showing the exact location of where the measurement was taken. A scale is placed under each drawing or at the bottom right corner of a plate gathering ceramics all drawn on the same scale.
8For the rest, the ceramic specialist can define his own standards according to the habits in his area of research and to the standards of the publication, it being noted that once the standards are defined they must to be strictly followed throughout the entire publication.
Specific Standards and Details
9The outlines are commonly drawn with a thicker stroke than the internal and external details (for instance 0.5pt for the outlines and 0.25pt for the additional lines of the internal and external features). Drawing can be simplified to focus on the typology or with a lot a detail to reproduce the surface treatment (fig. 39).
Figure 39. The different ways to illustrate the same shape according to the type of publication and the choice of the ceramic specialist

10It is preferable to use various grey tones following a chart (e.g. very light grey for white, strong grey for red, etc.) rather than a synthetic colour proposed by the software to provide information about slip and decoration. The slip is, however, more frequently described than pictured as a wide flat tint of colour could render the drawing more difficult to read. Moreover, grey tones are better adapted to all publication formatting even though colour plates are now very widespread in academic periodicals. Since the development of digital photography, detailed drawings are gradually being replaced by a design mixing vectors and pictures (fig. 39). What we gain in the precision given to the surface treatment and decoration is counterbalanced by the time spent on cleaning photographs to incorporate them into the drawings. It also greatly influences the frame of the publication that would be on a large size and in colour. Indeed, such drawings lose their relevancy if they are reduced too much.
11Finally, each published drawing must be labelled immediately below the drawing according to its number of excavation. This will assist readers in reconstructing the assemblages, and linking them to the archaeological context if published separately on various papers.
Archiving
12As for the drawings and photographs, each vector drawing should be labelled according to the labelling scheme implemented for the mission.
Auteurs
Associated member, Deutsches Archäologisches Institut, Berlin, Germany.
Researcher, Section française de la direction des Antiquités du Soudan, Khartoum, Sudan.

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