Morphometrics Sort Song and Yuan Long-Necked Vases by Era

Researchers have developed a quantitative method for distinguishing long-necked vases made during China’s Song and Yuan periods by measuring the shapes of the vessels themselves, according to a study published in npj Heritage Science.

The team, led by Rong Han, Muqiong Li and Chunfa Sha, with Stephen R. Drown as co-author, analyzed 60 long-necked vases from the Song–Yuan period. Rather than relying on qualitative visual assessment, the study extracted measurable features from two-dimensional archaeological line drawings of each vessel.

In total, 18 morphological variables were extracted from the drawings. These variables captured aspects of the vessels’ contour morphology, providing a numerical description of each vase’s form that could be compared statistically across the two dynasties.

Statistical tests identified nine of the 18 indicators as showing significant differences between the Song and Yuan periods. According to the study’s results, the morphological differences between vases of the two eras are concentrated primarily in the neck and rim structural systems, as well as in differences of overall scale.

To test whether these key variables could actually separate the vases chronologically, the researchers built a within-fold feature selection model using the significant variables. The model achieved a classification accuracy of 81.7% and an area under the curve (AUC) of 0.912, which the authors report as validating the effectiveness of morphological variables for chronological discrimination of Song–Yuan long-necked vases.

The article, published on 27 October 2026, is an open-access paper released as an accepted manuscript. The publisher notes that this version is shared early to provide faster access to peer-reviewed, accepted research; it is citable and carries a permanent DOI, but remains subject to further edits before the final Version of Record replaces it.

The study’s scope is limited to the 60 vases analyzed and to features measurable in two-dimensional contour drawings, so the reported accuracy applies to this dataset and method rather than to all ceramic classification problems. Even so, the results suggest that neck and rim proportions, together with overall vessel size, carry a strong chronological signal in this class of Chinese ceramics.

Subject of Research: Quantitative morphometric analysis of Song and Yuan Dynasty long-necked vases for chronological attribution

Article Title: An analysis of form variations in Song and Yuan Dynasty long-necked vases from a morphometric perspective

Article References: Han, R., Li, M., Sha, C., & Drown, S. R. (2026). An analysis of form variations in Song and Yuan Dynasty long-necked vases from a morphometric perspective. npj Heritage Science. https://doi.org/10.1038/s40494-026-03070-w

Image Credits: AI Generated

DOI: 10.1038/s40494-026-03070-w

Keywords: morphometrics, ceramics, Song Dynasty, Yuan Dynasty, long-necked vases, archaeology, heritage science, vessel morphology, chronological attribution, statistical classification, analysis, form