Crateology was the 'science' of identifying the contents of Soviet shipments to the Island of Cuba carried out by the Central Intelligence Agency during the Cuban Missile Crisis.^[1]

Crateology has declined as a discipline in recent years due to globalisation and the decline in the usage of custom made wooden crates in favour of standard metal shipping containers. Though making the world intra-connected and smaller, globalisation has resulted in the loss of not merely a science, but a 'beautiful art form'.^[2]