The Expanding Bayesian Revolution in Archaeology

This collection contains the abstracts of the papers presented in the session entitled "The Expanding Bayesian Revolution in Archaeology" at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Over the past three decades, archaeologists have become familiar with Bayesian inference's role in calibrating and modeling radiocarbon dates. The benefits of the Bayesian statistical paradigm, driven by straightforward software applications, have led to its association with radiocarbon calibration and chronology construction. However, Bayesian statistical inference may be applied more broadly to evaluate hypotheses. Archaeologists can and do apply Bayesian methods to answer diverse questions across different subjects and specialties. This symposium highlights Bayesian inference in archaeological research that includes and goes beyond calibrating radiocarbon dates and chronological applications. Beyond showcasing the broad variation of archaeological research questions answered by Bayesian inference, this symposium brings researchers together to chart a path forward to expand the training and use of the Bayesian paradigm in archaeology.