Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-gbm5v Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-23T07:46:48.784Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

The Proper Place of Multivariate Techniques in Archaeology

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

R. G. Matson*
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology and Sociology, University of British Columbia, 2075 Wesbrook Mall, Vancouver VGT 1W5, Canada

Abstract

The case made by Thomas (1978) for avoiding the use of multivariate techniques is critically reviewed. The purpose of these techniques and the nature of archaeological data are argued to be quite different from what he proposed.

Type
Comments
Copyright
Copyright © Society for American Archaeology 1980

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

References Cited

Hill, J. N. 1978 Individuals and their artifacts: an experimental study in archaeology. American Antiquity 43:245257.Google Scholar
Lipe, W. D., and Matson, R. G. 1971 Human settlement and resources in the Cedar Mesa area, S.E. Utah. In The distribution of prehistoricpopulation aggregates, edited by Gumerman, G., pp. 126151. Prescott College Press, Prescott, Arizona.Google Scholar
Lipe, W. D., and Matson, R. G. 1975 Archaeology and alluvium in the Grand Guch-Cedar Mesa area, S.E. Utah. Four Corners GeologicalSociety Guide Book, 8th Field Conference, CanyonJands, 1975, pp. 6771.Google Scholar
Matson, R. G. 1971 Adaptation and environment in the Cerbat Mountains Arizona. Ph.D. dissertation, Department of Anthropology, University of California, Davis. University Microfilms, Ann Arbor.Google Scholar
Matson, R. G., and Lipe, W. D. 1975 “Regional sampling: a case study of Cedar Mesa, Utah. In Sampling in archaeology, edited by Mueller, J., pp. 124143. University of Arizona Press, Tucson.Google Scholar
Matson, R. G., and Lipe, W. D. 1977 Seriation of Pueblo ceramic assemblages from Cedar Mesa, S.E. Utah. ms. available from theauthors.Google Scholar
Matson, R. G., and Lipe, W. D. 1978 Settlement patterns on Cedar Mesa: boom and bust on the Northern Periphery. In Investigations of the Southwestern Research Group, edited by Euler, R. and Gumerman, G.. Museum of Northern ArizonaBulletin 50:112.Google Scholar
Mueller, J. W. 1974 The use of sampling in archaeological survey. Society /or American Archaeology Memoir 28.Google Scholar
Pokotylo, D. L. 1978 Lithic technology and settlement patterns in Upper Hat Creek Valley, B.C. Ph.D. dissertation, Departmentof Anthropology and Sociology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver. Available on microfichefrom National Library of Canada, Ottawa, Ontario K1A ON3.Google Scholar
Pokotylo, D. L. 1979 An archaeological impact assessment of the proposed Hat Creek thermal electric development:phase I. In Annual Report for the Year 1976: Activities of the Provincial Archaeologist's Office of BritishColumbia and Selected Research fleports, edited by B. Simonsen, pp. 100156. Victoria, British Columbia.Google Scholar
Pokotylo, D. L., and Beirne, P. 1978 Preliminary inventory, assessment and impact evaluation of cultural heritage resources in the Upper Hat Creek Valley, B.C. Office of Contract Archaeology, Department of Anthropology and Sociology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver.Google Scholar
Thomas, D. H. 1978 The awful truth about statistics in archaeology. American Antiquity 43:231244.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Washburn, D. 1977 A symmetry analysis of Upper Gila area ceramic design. Papers of the Peabody Museum of Archaeologyand Ethnology 68.Google Scholar
Washburn, D. 1978 A symmetry classification of Pueblo ceramic designs. In Discovering past behavior; experiments inthe archaeology of the American Southwest, edited by Grebinger, P., pp. 101121. Gordon and Breach, New York.Google Scholar
Washburn, D., and Matson, R. G. 1979 Use of multidimensional scaling to display sensitivity of structural pattern analysis to spatial andchronological change. Paper presented at the 1979 S.A.A. meetings, Vancouver, B.C.Google Scholar
Wood, J. J. 1978 Optimal location in settlement space: a model for describing locational strategies. American Antiquity 43:258270.CrossRefGoogle Scholar