Defining and measuring diversity in archaeology : another step toward an evolutionary synthesis of culture / edited by Metin I. Eren and Briggs Buchanan.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Eren, Metin I., 1982- editor.

Buchanan, Briggs (Briggs Wheeler), editor.

George Clapp Vaillant Book Fund.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Archaeology--Statistical methods.

Archaeology.

Material culture.

Cultural pluralism.

Biodiversity.

Cultural Diversity.

material culture (discipline).

Medical Subjects:

Cultural Diversity.

Biodiversity.

Physical Description:

xxxiv, 324 pages : illustrations (some color), color maps ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

New York : Berghahn, 2022.

Summary:

"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"-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Introduction. On the challenges of measuring of diversity in archaeology / Briggs Buchanan and Metin I. Eren

Dispersion and diversity : parfleche variation on the Great Plains vs. the Columbia Plateau / Stephen J. Lycett

The diversity of North America's "Old Copper" projectile points / Michelle R. Bebber and Anne Chao

Diversity in hunter-gatherer architecture / Brian Andrews, Danielle Macdonald, and Brooke Morgan

The potential of coverage-based rarefaction in zooarchaeology / J. Tyler Faith and Andrew Du

Diversity and lithic microwear : quantification, classification, and standardization / W. James Stemp and Danielle A. Macdonald

Intensification mechanisms driving dietary change among the Great Plains big game hunters of North America / Erik Otárola-Castillo, Melissa G. Torquato, and Matthew E. Hill

Challenges and prospects of richness and diversity measures in paleoethnobotany / Alan Farahani and R. J. Sinensky

Quantifying evenness of paleoindian projectile point forms within geographic regions of eastern North America / Matthew T. Boulanger, Ryan Breslawski, and Ian Jorgeson

Thinking about diversity in material culture at multiple scales / Steven L. Kuhn

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 archaeologically, but their archaeological meanings are still obscure / R. Lee Lyman.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Local Notes:

Acquired for the Penn Libraries with assistance from the George Clapp Vaillant Book Fund.

Other Format:

Online version: Defining and measuring diversity in archaeology

ISBN:

9781800734296

1800734298

OCLC:

1302332912

Publisher Number:

99992925224