Quantifying Archaeology
“The first edition of this book was well received…this substantial revision will remain one of the best books of its kind on the market.”—Mike Baxter, Department of Mathematics, Statistics and Operational Research, Nottingham Trent University
“…a very readable and quite useful volume. Shennan writes in a very accessible style. The book accommodates a variety of different levels of comfort with math and statistics.”—Mary K. Whelan, Department of Anthropology, University of Iowa
Quantitative reasoning is central to archaeology; quantitative methods are a vital part of every archaeologist's mental tool kit. This new edition of Stephen Shennan's extremely popular textbook introduces students to the basic quantitative methods used within the discipline as well as some of the more advanced methods.
Shennan explains the relevant areas of statistics in terms easily assimilated by archaeology students; instead of introducing statistics as it is taught in other disciplines, he draws his working examples from archaeological sources. Exercises at the end of each chapter also directly relate to issues likely to arise within the study of archaeology.
This new edition has been extensively revised to take into account recent developments in the field. New areas include a detailed examination of correspondence analysis, estimation and testing with the normal distribution, randomization tests, and a completely rewritten account of the issues raised by sampling. More generally, students will gain a knowledgeably skeptical attitude toward results of quantitative analyses, a feel for the way in which archaeological questions can be translated into quantitative terms, and a basis for talking to statisticians about data-analysis problems.