Order from Chaos: Unraveling Culture History Digitally

Cotsen Institute of Archaeology

Primary contact information

C. Roger Nance, Ph.D.
Research Associate
Cotsen Institute of Archaeology
(818) 888-9308
rognance@sbcglobal.net

Additional project researchers

Jan de Leeuw, Distinguished Professor and Chair, Department of Statistics

Project description

In archaeology, without reliable and detailed ceramic sequences, it is impossible to unravel the complex culture histories of prehistoric civilizations.  Traditional methods of deriving archaeological sequences often fail to work on large sites, where deposits were mixed or churned through intensive human activity.  Our digitally innovative method shows this problem can be overcome through construction of large computerized data sets and use of modern, multi-variate statistics.  An example of this approach involves research on three prehistoric site collections from the state of Jalisco in Mexico.  Correspondence Analysis put major ceramic types as well as excavated sherd samples from these sites on a two-dimensional grid, with each aligned chronologically along the horizontal (X) axis.  Minor (small-frequency) types were then found to cluster along different portions of this axis in ways that confirm these types are in chronological order as well.

Supporting UCLA Agencies: Cotsen Institute of Archaeology, Dr. Charles Stanish, Director; Fowler Museum, Dr. Wendy Teeter, Curator of Archaeology; Department of Statistics, Dr. Jan de Leeuw, Chair and Co-Researcher. Community Support: Westside Pavilion, Ms. Erica Boatman-Dixon, former Marketing Director. Volunteers/Co-Researchers: Ms. Kathi Prado, Dr. David Verity. Illustrator: Ms. Helle Girey.

Project video