6  Count data and seriation

6.1 Introduction to Count Data in Archaeology

  • Understanding Count Data
    • Definition and significance of count data in archaeological contexts (e.g., artifact counts, feature frequencies).
    • Example: Overview of typical archaeological datasets involving count data.
  • Challenges in Analysing Count Data
    • Issues with skewness, overdispersion, and zero inflation.
    • Example: Common problems encountered in archaeological count data analysis.

6.2 Basic Statistical Methods for Count Data

  • Poisson and Negative Binomial Distributions
    • Introduction to Poisson distribution and its application to count data.
    • Example: Fitting a Poisson model using glm in R.
    • Introduction to the Negative Binomial distribution for overdispersed data.
    • Example: Fitting a Negative Binomial model using MASS::glm.nb.
  • Goodness-of-Fit Testing
    • Assessing the fit of count data models.
    • Example: Performing a chi-square goodness-of-fit test in R.

6.3 Introduction to Seriation

  • What is Seriation?
    • Overview of seriation techniques and their importance in archaeology for ordering artefacts or sites chronologically.
    • Example: Historical applications of seriation in archaeology.
  • Seriation Techniques
    • Introduction to different seriation methods (e.g., frequency seriation, contextual seriation).
    • Example: Basic seriation using traditional methods.

6.4 Using the tesselle Package for Seriation

  • Introduction to tesselle
    • Overview of the tesselle package and its tools for seriation.
    • Example: Installation and loading of tesselle.
  • Practical Seriation in R
    • Performing seriation.
    • Example: Applying seriation to an archaeological dataset (e.g., pottery styles, stratigraphic data).
  • Visualizing Seriation Results
    • Creating visual representations of seriation results.
    • Example: Plotting seriation outputs.
Hands-on Practice
  • Case Study: Seriation of Archaeological Artefacts
    • Step-by-step walkthrough of a seriation analysis using count data.
    • Example: Seriation of pottery fragments or lithic tools using tesselle.
  • Q&A and Troubleshooting
    • Addressing common issues in count data analysis and seriation in archaeological contexts.