ASM565 Quantitative & Formal
Methods in Archaeology
Keith Kintigh -School of Human Evolution & Social Change
Spring 2009
|
ASM565 Quantitative & Formal
Methods in Archaeology |
Class Meets: TTh 1:30-2:45 Discovery 201
SLN 18118
Office Hours:T 2:45-4:00 & Th 10:30-11:45 (or by appointment)
Quantitative and Formal Methods in Archaeology is an intensive introduction to the use of quantitative and formal analysis in archaeology. Basic concepts will be discussed with emphasis on the role of quantitative methods in solving archaeological problems. The major objectives of the course are:
No prior knowledge or use of computers or statistics is required and I anticipate that many students will have little or no such experience. However, the course will require a substantial commitment of time, iincluding extensive use of computers in campus facilities (or at home). We do not cover GIS methods or other spatial analysis techniques, these are taught in other graduate courses.
Readings. The course is based largely on material presented in two main texts (Quantifying Archeology [2nd edition] by Stephen Shennan, and The Elements of Graphing Data by William Cleveland), with some additional topics presented in lectures and other readings (on Blackboard). As optional texts you can consider, Exploratory Multivariate Analysis in Archaeology by Mike Baxter, which is out of print, and Biometry [3rd edition] by Sokal and Rohlf.
You will almost certainly want to own a copy of Shennan-but make sure you get the 2nd edition, which is substantially different from the first edition. Cleveland is expensive and while it is quite useful to read, you may not need to actually buy a copy. Baxter's volume is useful and highly recommended for more advanced methods, and you may well want to try to acquire a used copy . An unusually sensible treatment of more basic material is Robert Drennan's Statistics for Archaeologists: A Commonsense Approach. I have not ordered copies of Drennan for the bookstore, but Amazon.com can send you a copy for around $37. You will want a statistics book that you can use for general reference. If you don't have a statistics book you like from an earlier course, I recommend Biometry (3rd edition) by Sokal and Rohlf, published by Freeman, 1995. John Davis's (1986) Statistics and Data Analysis in Geology (3rd edition) is similarly useful. A possible source for used textbooks is http://www.campusbooks4less.com/
Quite a number of additional readings is assigned, and a much larger number is optional or recommended; they will be available on Blackboard.
Statistical Packages. We will be using two statistical packages: SYSTAT and my Tools for Quantitative Archaeology (Kintigh 2007). Built-in or on-line manuals for both of these will be valuable resources.
SYSTAT has a free version called MyStat that can be downloaded (for Windows only, from www.systat.com/products/mystat). It does not have all of the features of the full SYSTAT but the methods we need are available and iit will easily handle problems of the size that we need for the exercises. The full SYSTAT is available on the University network and MySTAT is iinstalled on some SHESC Computer Lab machines.
TFQA (Tools for Quantitative Archaeology) is a package of programs that I have written. It is available free to the ASU community for work associated with the university (i.e., if you want to use it for a job with a CRM firm, you--or they--should buy a copy). You can download an installtion file from the course Blackboard site. You can run it from there on any of the SHESC computer lab machines or you can copy this directory onto a thumb drive and take it home and copy it into your program files folder. The most up-to-date documenation is available on-line at http://tfqa.com/doc. A somewhat outdated pdf version is in a \doc directory with the software.
The attendants at the network sites can help you with basic problems of logging on and getting printouts but will probably not be of much help with SYSTAT or TFQA. You'll need to talk to or email me or other students familiar with the programs for more help. You can do everything required using resources available on campus. However, if you want to do analyses at home, you will need to use MyStat or acquire a copy of SYSTAT. (I believe that you can get a 1 year license at the Computer Store in the Computing Commons relatively inexpensively.)
Problem Sets. Problem set text and data and other course handouts will be made available through the course area on Blackboard. You should all be automatically signed up for that. We will also be making a little use of Microsoft Access. This software is widely available, and will mostly be used just for preparing data for analysis in Systat. Microsoft Excel is a highly useful auxiliary program for almost any kind of quantitative work, but you should recognize that it is useless for creating scientific graphics (which Systat and MyStat do very well). l.
The course will be focused on topics covered in the major texts (Shennan & Cleveland), supplemented by lectures. In addition, a number of readings, mainly from the archaeological literature, will be assigned. Students will learn the basics of using computers for archaeological data analysis with commercial statistical software. Problem sets, which require the application of a variety of quantitative techniques to archaeological data, will be assigned almost every week and will be due, without fail, in class on the assigned date, at least a week after they are passed out. Since we will discuss them during the class period in which they are due, late problem sets will not be accepted under normal circumstances.
Grades will be based mainly on the problem sets, graded on a scale of 0-10. Problem set grades are based both on the quality of the analysis of the data and the quality of the argument that is made concerning the anthropological questions. You should be thorough in answering all questions posed in the problem sets, and present your results in a brief essay that references supporting tables and figures. Unless otherwise specificed, problem sets should be typed but the write-up should not exceed two or three (as specified in the assignment) double-spaced pages of text (11 point or larger, 1" margins) exclusive of figures, tables and any calculations (which can be hand written). Figures and tables need not be of publication quality, but they should always be clear and well-labeled. I mean this about the double spacing and page limit; longer papers will be down-graded.
In your writeups, you should briefly state the problem and you may assume the reader has a reasonable knowledge of the methods we have discussed. Basically, you should present the results as you would in an article (other than giving somewhat less background on the methods). Nonetheless, you must compactly and precisely state what the procedures that you employ actually do (look at the the TFQA documentation or the Kintigh 1990 article for examples). You must be very clear about what exactly procedures have been employed (don't say correlation if you mean the product moment correlation coefficient; don't say factor analysis if you mean principal components analysis), the set of data analyzed along with any transformations, exactly what has been shown quantitatively, and exactly what of substance you conclude. On the web, I have posted an article I wrote on writing about quantitative analysis (and in general in archaeology) that was published in the SAA Archaeological Record along with George Cowgill's list of the things to remember when you forget everything else. I suggest that you read those two things and take them to heart.
You may wish to coordinate your work times with other members of the class so you can discuss any problems that arise. While I encourage you to discuss the methods and issues and help each other with computer problems, you will need to execute the procedures and write up the problems sets independently.
There will be no midterm or final exam, although I may opt to give quizzes in class concerning the readings.
25 class sessions; no class: Mar 10, 12 (Spring Break), Mar 24, 26 (CAA Williamsburg), and Apr 21, 23 (SAA Atlanta).
1. Introduction to the Course (1 session)
2. Data, Coding, Forms, Data Manipulation, and Databases (2 sessions, 2-3)
3. Univariate EDA (3 Sessions, 3-5) & Descriptive Statistics (2 sessions, 3-5)
4. Binomial and Gaussian (Normal) Probability Distributions: (3 sessions, 6-8)
5. Classical and Bayesian Approaches to Inference and Estimation (1.5 sessions, 9-10)
6. Goodness of Fit Tests; Two-way and Multi-way Tables & Table Standardization; Chi Square, G Square, Fisher's Exact, and Monte Carlo Tests of Independence; (3 sessions, 10-13)
7. Bivariate EDA, Plots, and Linear Regression (2 sessions, 13-15)
8. Residuals, Linear Correlation, Rank Order Correlation (1 sessions, 15-16)
9. Multiple Regression (.5 session, 16)
9. Similarity & Distance Measures, Cluster Analysis, Numerical Taxonomy (3.5 sessions, 16-19)
10. Multivariate Analysis: Principal Components & Factor Analysis (2 session, 20-21)
11. Multivariate Analysis: , MDS, Discriminant Analysis and Principal Coordinates Analysis (1 session, 22)
12 Multivariate Analysis: Correspondence Analysis (1 session, 23)
12. Seriation and Chronological Ordering (1 session, 24)
13. Sampling in Archaeology (.5 session, 25)
14. Spatial Analysis (.5 session, 25)
15. Mathematical Modeling & Simulation (1 session, 26)
16. GIS, and Predictive Modeling
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2006 Tools for Quantitative Archaeology: Programs for Quantitative Analysis in Archaeology.
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1982 Heuristic Approaches to Spatial Analysis in Archaeology. American Antiquity 47(1):31-63.
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1987 Solving Mixture Problems in Archaeology: Analysis of Ceramic Materials for Dating and Demographic Reconstruction. Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 6(1):1-28.
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1999 Spatial and Multivariate Analysis, Random Sampling Error, and Analytical Noise: Empirical Bayesian Methods at Teotihuacan, Mexico. American Antiquity 64(1):137-152.
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1996 A Test of the Relationship Between Site Size and Population. American Antiquity 61(3):573-579.
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