Defining and Measuring Diversity in Archaeology
Another Step Toward an Evolutionary Synthesis of Culture
Published on 18. July 2022
Book
Hardback
358 pages
978-1-80073-429-6 (ISBN)
Description
Calculating the diversity of biological or cultural classes is a fundamental way of describing, analyzing, and understanding the world around us. Understanding archaeological diversity is key to understanding human culture in the past. Archaeologists have long experienced a tenuous relationship with statistics; however, the regular integration of diversity measures and concepts into archaeological practice is becoming increasingly important. This volume includes chapters that cover a wide range of archaeological applications of diversity measures. Featuring studies of archaeological diversity ranging from the data-driven to the theoretical, from the Paleolithic to the Historic periods, authors illustrate the range of data sets to which diversity measures can be applied, as well as offer new methods to examine archaeological diversity.
Reviews / Votes
"I think it is an important volume for archaeologists to mine the work of all of these incredible researchers for a greater understanding of what diversity can tell us about within our assemblages and regions, and the chapters provide approaches for a diversity of archaeological materials that has something for almost any archaeologist no matter what their specialty or focus." * Christopher Wolff, University at AlbanyMore details
Language
English
Place of publication
Oxford
United Kingdom
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Product notice
Library binding
Illustrations
Index; 68 Illustrations
Dimensions
Height: 235 mm
Width: 157 mm
Thickness: 24 mm
Weight
672 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-80073-429-6 (9781800734296)
DOI
10.3167/9781800734296
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Metin I. Eren | Briggs Buchanan
Defining and Measuring Diversity in Archaeology
Another Step Toward an Evolutionary Synthesis of Culture
E-Book
07/2022
1st Edition
Berghahn Books
€24.49
Available for download
Metin I. Eren | Briggs Buchanan
Defining and Measuring Diversity in Archaeology
Another Step Toward an Evolutionary Synthesis of Culture
E-Book
07/2022
1st Edition
Berghahn Books
€24.49
Available for download
Persons
Metin I. Eren is an Associate Professor of Anthropology at Kent State University and a Research Associate at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History. He is Co-Director of the Kent State University Experimental Archaeology Laboratory and has conducted research in North America, Europe, Africa, and Asia. A master flintknapper, Eren knaps, uses, shoots, and breaks stone technologies from across the Stone Age to figure out how they work and to better understand technological evolution.
Content
List of Illustrations
Foreword
Michael J. O'Brien and David Hurst Thomas
Introduction: On the Challenges of Measuring Diversity in Archaeology
Briggs Buchanan and Metin I. Eren
Chapter 1. Dispersion and Diversity: Parfleche Variation on the Great Plains vs. the Columbia Plateau
Stephen J. Lycett
Chapter 2. The Diversity of North America's "Old Copper" Projectile Points
Michelle R. Bebber and Anne Chao
Chapter 3. Diversity in Hunter-Gatherer Architecture
Brian Andrews, Danielle Macdonald, and Brooke Morgan
Chapter 4. The Potential of Coverage-Based Rarefaction in Zooarchaeology
J. Tyler Faith and Andrew Du
Chapter 5. Diversity and Lithic Microwear: Quantification, Classification, and Standardization
W. James Stemp and Danielle A. Macdonald
Chapter 6. Intensification Mechanisms Driving Dietary Change among the Great Plains Big Game Hunters of North America
Erik Otarola-Castillo, Melissa G. Torquato, and Matthew E. Hill
Appendix 6.1: Summary Information for Archaeological Sites Used in This Study
Chapter 7. Challenges and Prospects of Richness and Diversity Measures in Paleoethnobotany
Alan Farahani and R. J. Sinensky
Appendix 7.1: Abundance of Reproductive Plant Parts Recovered from the Las Capas Site, Southeastern Arizona, 1220-730 BCE 205
Chapter 8. Quantifying Evenness of Paleoindian Projectile Point Forms within Geographic Regions of Eastern North America
Matthew T. Boulanger, Ryan P. Breslawski, and Ian A. Jorgeson
Chapter 9. Thinking about Diversity in Material Culture at Multiple Scales
Steven L. Kuhn
Chapter 10. Measuring and Comparing Class Diversity in Archaeological Assemblages: A Brief Guide to the History and State-of-the-Art in Diversity Statistics
Robert K. Colwell and Anne Chao
Epilogue: Diversity Metrics are Convenient, but Their Archaeological Meanings Are Still Obscure
R. Lee Lyman
Index
Foreword
Michael J. O'Brien and David Hurst Thomas
Introduction: On the Challenges of Measuring Diversity in Archaeology
Briggs Buchanan and Metin I. Eren
Chapter 1. Dispersion and Diversity: Parfleche Variation on the Great Plains vs. the Columbia Plateau
Stephen J. Lycett
Chapter 2. The Diversity of North America's "Old Copper" Projectile Points
Michelle R. Bebber and Anne Chao
Chapter 3. Diversity in Hunter-Gatherer Architecture
Brian Andrews, Danielle Macdonald, and Brooke Morgan
Chapter 4. The Potential of Coverage-Based Rarefaction in Zooarchaeology
J. Tyler Faith and Andrew Du
Chapter 5. Diversity and Lithic Microwear: Quantification, Classification, and Standardization
W. James Stemp and Danielle A. Macdonald
Chapter 6. Intensification Mechanisms Driving Dietary Change among the Great Plains Big Game Hunters of North America
Erik Otarola-Castillo, Melissa G. Torquato, and Matthew E. Hill
Appendix 6.1: Summary Information for Archaeological Sites Used in This Study
Chapter 7. Challenges and Prospects of Richness and Diversity Measures in Paleoethnobotany
Alan Farahani and R. J. Sinensky
Appendix 7.1: Abundance of Reproductive Plant Parts Recovered from the Las Capas Site, Southeastern Arizona, 1220-730 BCE 205
Chapter 8. Quantifying Evenness of Paleoindian Projectile Point Forms within Geographic Regions of Eastern North America
Matthew T. Boulanger, Ryan P. Breslawski, and Ian A. Jorgeson
Chapter 9. Thinking about Diversity in Material Culture at Multiple Scales
Steven L. Kuhn
Chapter 10. Measuring and Comparing Class Diversity in Archaeological Assemblages: A Brief Guide to the History and State-of-the-Art in Diversity Statistics
Robert K. Colwell and Anne Chao
Epilogue: Diversity Metrics are Convenient, but Their Archaeological Meanings Are Still Obscure
R. Lee Lyman
Index