Why a Bayesian Archaeology? A Pain-Free Introduction

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Bayesian Archaeology" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Bayesian inference and its underlying philosophy offer an alternative to null hypothesis significance testing (NHST), the conventional statistical framework in archaeology. Due to new technological advances, Bayesian inference has become an essential component of broader scientific efforts and progressively prevalent in archaeological research. Here, without using the mathematical or statistical vernacular, I provide a sensible explanation of Bayesian statistics compared to NHST. I follow by clarifying why Bayesian inference (1) is a natural and powerful approach, (2) offers straightforward interpretations, and (3) applies to and might be desirable in archaeological research. To finish this talk, I briefly review how many archaeologists are currently using Bayesian statistics to solve analytical problems. Moreover, this talk will highlight potential areas where Bayesian inference's creative application might produce informative solutions. I will use examples from experimental and observational research on the analysis of butchery marks and the dietary evolution of prehistoric peoples on the North American Great Plains.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 86th Annual Meeting, Online (2021)   •
• Bayesian Archaeology

Keywords

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 33620