Bayesian statistics (Other Keyword)

DOCUMENT Citation Only Gerardo Aldana.

In 2013, an innovative study applied Bayesian statistical analysis to new AMS 14C samples taken from a Classic Maya lintel originating at Tikal. Because the lintel was inscribed with a Maya Long Count date, the authors argued that the results of their study confirmed the Calendar Correlation Constant known as the GMT. There are, however, two key problems with this new study and its conclusions. The first is an error of interpretation of the hieroglyphic text; the second is the questionable...

DOCUMENT Citation Only Andrew Cabaniss. Kristen Mann.

Twentieth century excavations contributed greatly to our knowledge of domestic contexts throughout the Aegean. These excavations occupy a broad spectrum in terms of sampling strategy, data collection quality and publication extent. Architectural studies of household behavior have received particular attention, and explorations of settlement social organization through household archaeology are ongoing. Yet few methodologies explicitly address this issue of diverse publication levels and...

DOCUMENT Citation Only Magdalena Schmid.

This study aims to improve the dating resolution of archaeological and environmental data from the earliest sites of human occupation in Iceland in order to understand better the timing, scale and rate of the colonization of Iceland. This can be achieved through critical examination of the whole corpus of approximately 650 sites which is now accessible; through cross-referencing of different dating methods – primarily tephrochronology, radiocarbon dating and typology – and through application of...

DOCUMENT Citation Only Zackary Gilmore. Asa Randall. Kenneth Sassaman.

One of archaeology’s unique strengths is the ability to construct cultural histories that span vast spatiotemporal scales. It is imperative, however, that these so-called "big histories" be balanced with consideration of the actual events through which they were experienced and contributed to by real people occupying diverse contexts. In the southeastern U.S., the initial adoption of pottery technology has been variously portrayed as either a protracted diffusionary process with few discernable...

DOCUMENT Citation Only David Thulman.

Many archaeologists struggle to make sense of radiocarbon dates, especially those with large overlapping sigmas. Even with modern analytical techniques that increase precision, the results can be confusing. Bayesian statistics, which employs prior information to constrain posterior results with sets of radiocarbon dates, can lessen confusion and increase precision without using ad hoc measures, such as averaging or ignoring dates with large errors. The power and utility of Bayesian analyses is...

DOCUMENT Citation Only Jesse Wolfhagen.

Archaeologists investigate past hunting and herding strategies using models of animal survivorship derived from long bone fusion and/or mandibular tooth wear patterns. As biological and behavioral variation makes estimating precise biological ages problematic, researchers typically assign "age stages" that describe ranked age groups. Ordered logistic regression models take advantage of the information in these rankings to estimate and analyze patterns in ranked/ordered data based on other...