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Limitations of Archaeological Inference: An Information-Theoretic Approach with Applications in Methodology

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

John S. Justeson
John S. Justeson*
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, University of California, Berkeley
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Abstract

A framework is established for the application of information-theoretic concepts to the study of archaeological inference, ultimately to provide an estimate of the degree to which archaeologists, or anthropologists in general, can provide legitimate answers to the questions they investigate. Particular information-theoretic measures are applied to the design elements on the ceramics of a southwestern pueblo to show the methodological utility of information theory in helping to reach closer to that limit.

Type
Articles
Information
American Antiquity , Volume 38 , Issue 2 , April 1973 , pp. 131 - 149
Copyright
Copyright © Society for American Archaeology 1973

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