Tools for Quantitative Archaeology: Spreading Numeracy to a Generation of Southwestern Archaeologists

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Attention to Detail: A Pragmatic Career of Research, Mentoring, and Service, Papers in Honor of Keith Kintigh" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

More than any other scholar in the American Southwest, Keith Kintigh is responsible for spreading numeracy – the ability to understand and work with numbers – to the current generation of Southwestern archaeologists. His Tools for Quantitative Archaeology (TFQA) software package provides access to statistical methods developed specifically for archaeology that are not available in most commercial statistical software packages, including tools for spatial analysis, diversity and distance measurements, and chronology. But these are not merely tools, they represent a philosophical approach to data that emphasizes the quantification of uncertainty; Keith’s programs don’t just produce an "answer," they help researchers to understand the strength of patterning in their data. A review of work by scholars who have published analyses using TFQA demonstrates the profound impact that Kintigh’s quantitative approach has had on the discipline.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Attention to Detail: A Pragmatic Career of Research, Mentoring, and Service, Papers in Honor of Keith Kintigh   •
• Society for American Archaeology 84th Annual Meeting, Albuquerque, NM (2019)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 23150