The issues of sampling, recording and publication strategies and their influence on the interpretative potential for survey ceramics have been my main research interest since I became the Director of pottery studies for the Troodos Archaeological and Environmental Survey Project in 2000. The project benefited from the experiences of the closely associated, Sydney Cyprus Survey Project, and I inherited the chronotype-system, which has provided the basis for my research on the interpretative potential for survey ceramics ever since. The divisive hierarchic structure of the chronotype-system makes it uniquely adaptable to multiple taxonomic purposes. Sorting a lot of pottery, my main interest has been to develop the chronotype-system’s potential for use related analysis in Cyprus, on Crimea, in Turkey and recently in Greece. In my experience, every survey area presents its own distinctive challenges related to sampling, recording, interpretation and publication generated as much by the physical conditions as the research questions, and in this paper I wish to explore and reflect on my own responses.