We are now working through the resulting images using data mining techniques to define patterns within and between groups in the sample sets. We are condensing the SAXS data to a limited set of less than ten numerical parameters including such quantities as: position and relative intensity of the most dominant Debye-Scherrer lines, azimuthal distribution of line intensities or 'spottiness', and the relative proportion of crystalline versus amorphous scattering. These quantities reflect micro- and mesostructural characteristics of ceramics, such as the character of plastic and non-plastic constituents, representing differential phase states within the vessel; the spatial organization and orientation of clay particles and inclusions, which tells us about techniques of vessel formation, allowing us to determine pottery made by wheel and by hand; water content, porosity, and other aspects of the thermal history of the artifact from which we may derive ancient firing strategies and parameters. The positions of the three most intense lines as well as their average peak width relates primarily to relative amounts of crystal phases which describe characteristics of the starting clay for paste and the vessel firing conditions. Comparison of average versus median intensity for each of the three most intense rings gives a measure of how 'spotty' the diffraction ring is. Spottiness will reflect thermal history and additional parameters of the clay paste as it speaks to the amount of larger crystals in the mix. The slope and intensity of the small angle region will provide an indicator of the amount of ‘internal interface area’ present in the fired bulk. For metals, an expanding conical beam has been used to capture information on the element composition and granular microstructure of at least 1000 crystals, providing an ample basis for generalization. Non-destructive XRF is allowing us to distinguish between metal groups (copper, tin bronze, arsenic bronze, silver, and gold), and identification of the relative proportion of alloy components in a sample. We are quantifying the XRD results for the systematic identification of crystalline microstructure utilizing similar data to that for ceramics (Debye-Scherrer patterning, line intensities, and scattering) that relate to phasing and the metalworking techniques through which the objects were formed (especially casting, annealing, forging followed by annealing, and intensity of cold-working).