Quantitative Methods in Archaeology

ANT 383M (30740) Fall, 2008
Samuel M. Wilson

 

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29 Aug.
 Introduction to the course; data handling and data types
pick up Exercise 1 or get it from the Web. Introductory readings to catch up on: Kintigh, Keith: "Quantitative Methods Designed for Archaeological Problems", and Whallon, Robert: "Simple Statistics" ; Shennan, Preface and Chapters 1 and 2 		 
5 Sept.
 Spreadsheets and databases; reducing the complexity of data
Drennan, Preface and Chapters 1-3; Exercise 1 due, pick up Exercise 2		 Ex 1 due
12 Sept.
 Issues in data presentation; visual display. Graphical manipulations.  
Exercise 2 due, pick up Exercise 3
Tufte, Edward R. Chapters 4-6 from The Visual Display of Quantitative Information.

 

case studies: Nedra, Nadya
19 Sept.

Characterizations of single variables. Crosstabulations

Shennan, chapter 3 and chapter 4

case studies: Carla
Ex 2 due
26 Sept.
 Information from mapping and surface collection; 2 and 3-dimensional data
Hodder, Ian, and Clive Orton (1976) excerpts from Spatial Analysis in Archaeology. Shennan 5 and 6.
case studies: MJ
3 Oct.
 Surface collection data and "Is this the product of chance?" statistics; The Chi-squared statistic; Shennan, Chapter 7; Drennan, Chapter 13
Exercise 4 due, pick up Exercise 5; (preliminary discussions or projects)
 Ex 3 due
10 Oct.
 "Is this chance?" and other issues in spatial analysis and GIS;
Green, Stanton. "Approaching archaeological space: an introduction to the volume", and Stephen H. Savage, "GIS in archaeological research," in Interpreting space : GIS and archaeology Drennan Chapters 11 and 12
Exercise 5 due, pick up Exercise 6
project previews: MJ, Carla
17 Oct.
 Classification and correlation: "What goes with what?" stats..
Drennan, Chapter 14; Shennan, chapter 9.

Ex 4 due

project previews:Nedra, Nadya
24 Oct.
 Correlation and regression;
Shennan, Chapter 10		 Ex 5 due
case studies:
31 Oct.

Artifact analysis and significance stats, numerical classification.

Shennan Chapter 12; Orton, "What is it?" from Mathematics in Archaeology.

Glascock, Michael D. 1994 Characterization of Archaeological Ceramics at MURR by Neutron
Activation Analysis and Multivariate Statistics. In Chemical Characterization of Ceramic Pastes in Archaeology, edited by Hector Neff, pp. 11-26. Prehistory Press, Madison.
Pick up Exercise 8

case studies:

Ex 6 due
7 Nov.
 Groups, clusters, and factors, numerical classification.
Shennan chapter 11 & 13;
Gilman, Patricia A., Veletta Canouts, and Ronald L. Bishop. "The production and distribution of Classic Mimbres Black-on-white pottery." American Antiquity 1994, Vol. 59(4):695-709.

Ex 7 due
14 Nov.

Overview of multivariate stats -- Principal Components Analysis
Shennan Ch. 11


21 Nov.
 Sampling, probability

Shennan Chapter 14, Drennan, Chapters 16 and 17 (and review 7 and 8 as necessary)
The statistics underlying radiocarbon dating. Exercise 8 due. (presentations); Shennan Chapter 14. 		Ex 8 due
5 Dec.
 Last Class - Multivariate stats.

Drennan Chapter 16, Shennan Chapter 15. 		presentations:
wilson
anthro
UT
8/08