Statistical tools for investigating contemporaneity and co-location in archaeological records
For many archaeological and palaeo-environmental problems issues of contemporaneity are paramount. A widely discussed example is whether or not the first modern humans in Europe were contemporary with Neanderthals. There are two key reasons why such issues are difficult to resolve. First there is no formal, universal definition of contemporaneity. Second, the dates of the relevant phenomena are not precisely known, because the available evidence about them arises from radiocarbon dating. In this thesis, we tackle both of these obstacles by providing a clear, flexible definition of contemporaneity and recommending the use of probabilistic statements about contemporaneity in order to quantify the temporal uncertainty.
McColl, Lynsey Jane
Statistical tools for investigating contemporaneity and co-location in archaeological records. For many archaeological and palaeo-environmental problems issues of contemporaneity are paramount. A widely discussed example is whether or not the first modern humans in Europe were contemporary with Neanderthals. There are two key reasons why such issues are difficult to resolve. First there is no formal, universal definition of contemporaneity. Second, the dates of the relevant phenomena are not precisely known, because the available evidence about them arises from radiocarbon dating. In this thesis, we tackle both of these obstacles by providing a clear, flexible definition of contemporaneity and recommending the use of probabilistic statements about contemporaneity in order to quantify the temporal uncertainty.
statistical tool_investigate contemporaneity location archaeological_record many archaeological palaeo environmental problem issue contemporaneity paramount widely_discuss example whether first modern_human europe contemporary neanderthals two_key reason issue difficult resolve first formal universal definition contemporaneity second date relevant phenomenon precisely know available_evidence arises radiocarbon_date tackle obstacle provide_clear flexible definition contemporaneity recommend use probabilistic statement contemporaneity order quantify temporal uncertainty