Sampling in Archaeology

by Clive Orton

• ISBN13: 9780521562263
• ISBN10: 0521562260
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2000-06-05
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

The first overview of sampling for archaeologists for over twenty years, this manual offers a comprehensive account of the applications of statistical sampling theory which are essential to modern archaeological practice at a range of scales, from the regional to the microscopic. Bringing archaeologists up to date with an aspect of their work which is often misunderstood, it includes a discussion of the relevance of sampling theory to archaeological interpretation, and considers its fundamental place in fieldwork and post-excavation study. It demonstrates the vast range of techniques that are available, only some of which are widely used by archaeologists. A section on statistical theory also reviews latest developments in the field, and the formal mathematics is available in an appendix, cross-referenced with the main text.

Author Biography

Clive Orton is Reader in Quantitative Archaeology at the Institute of Archaeology, University College London.

Table of Contents

List of illustrations	vi
List of tables	ix
Acknowledgements	x
All the world's a sample	1	(13)
A little of what you fancy?	14	(26)
If this is the sample, what was the population?	40	(27)
Covering the ground	67	(45)
What's in a site?	112	(36)
The answer lies in the soil	148	(29)
`But many sanguine people hope, to see them through a microscope'	177	(14)
`In its depths, what treasures'	191	(15)
Beyond random sampling	206	(4)
Appendix	210	(14)
Bibliography	224	(24)
Index	248