Pottery, as an artifact, is often used as evidence of exchange patterns among groups during prehistory. This research incorporates paradigmatic classification and petrography to answer questions related to provenience, production mode, and exchange patterns of handmade prehistoric pottery from Gajtan, Zagorë, Kodër Boks, Tumuli 088 and 099 in Shkodër, in Northern Albania. Pottery samples analyzed in this study were collected from test excavations by the Shkodra Archaeological Project (PASH). The results yielded evidence that the area has sufficient local clay sources and other easily accessible natural resources to produce pottery in a domestic mode. Gajtan and Zagorë appeared as two distinct entities, but the former settlement seems to have played a dominant role as a production and distribution center within the region. Results from this study indicate that pots appear to have played an important socio-economic role in northern Albania, across time and space.

The Ackerman Unit of the Tombigbee National Forest has served as the location of numerous archaeological investigations. Despite all of the work done, there is a question of whether a representative sample of the archaeological record has been saved and subsequently whether the reports and findings from the Ackerman Unit of the Tombigbee National Forest are legitimate and can be applied to a larger body or research at the regional, and even national scale. This thesis will evaluate whether a paradigmatic classification of occupations can be used to assess if a representative sample of the archaeological record has been saved, and consequently whether identifiable bias exists among the practitioners who recorded those occupations.