Quantitative Methods in Archaeology Using R

Abstract

Quantitative Methods in Archaeology Using R is the first hands-on guide to using the R Statistical Computing System written specifically for archaeologists. It shows how to use the system to analyze many types of archaeological data. Part I includes tutorials on R with applications to real archaeological data showing how to compute descriptive statistics, create tables, and produce a wide variety of charts and graphs. Data transformation and missing values are also covered. A chapter on confidence intervals and hypothesis testing introduces these statistical concepts and provides examples of several approaches including bootstrapping. Associations between variables including Chi-square tests, and simple linear regression completes the section on basic statistics. Part II addresses the major multivariate approaches used by archaeologists including multiple regression (and the generalized linear model); multiple analysis of variance and discriminant analysis; principal components analysis; correspondence analysis; distances and scaling; and cluster analysis. Part III covers specialized topics in archaeology including intra-site spatial analysis, seriation, and assemblage diversity. David L. Carlson is a Professor of Anthropology at Texas A&M University where he has been teaching quantitative methods and the R statistical system to anthropology graduate students for eight years. His research focuses on the application of quantitative methods to discover and understand patterning in the distribution of artifacts on archaeological sites. He is a co-author of Clovis Lithic Technology (2011).