Additional statistical and graphical methods for analyzing artifact orientations and site formation processes from total station proveniences

Summary

The orientations in three dimensions of clasts within a deposit are known to be informative on processes that formed that deposit. In archaeological sites, a portion of the clasts in the deposit are introduced by non-geological processes and these are typically systematically recorded with total stations during excavations. By recording a second point on elongated clasts it is possible to quickly and precisely capture their orientation. The statistical and graphical techniques for analyzing these data along with some comparative data are already well published. This paper advances this area of research by presenting methods to address some shortcomings in current methodologies. These include 1) a method for calculating confidence intervals on orientation statistics, 2) a method for assessing the probability that two assemblages have different orientations in three dimensions is presented based on permutations testing, and 3) a method is presented to examine spatial variability in orientations based on a moving windows approach. The raw data plus the R code to implement these methods and those already described in McPherron (2005) will become open access to help further their use in assessing archaeological site formation processes.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 82nd Annual Meeting, Vancouver, BC (2017)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 16098