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Seriation, Stratigraphy, and Index Fossils: The Backbone of Archaeological Dating
1. An Introduction to Time and Dating. Preliminary Considerations. Relative and Absolute Time. Continuous and Discontinuous Time. Direct and Indirect Dating. Scientific Dating. Time and Its Measurement. Nominal Scale Measurement. Ordinal Scale Measurement. Ordinal Scale Measurement. Interval Scale Measurement. Ratio Scale Measurement. Beyond Measurement Ideational and Empirical Units. 2. The Creation of Archaeological Types. Initial Considerations. Constructing Chronological Types. Chronological Types in Americanist Archaeology. Typological issues Begin to Take Shape. Typology in Retrospect. 3. Seriation Historical Continuity, Heritable Continuity, and Phyletic Seriation. What Is Seriation? Seriation in Americanist Archaeology. The Key Historical and Heritable Continuity. Continuity and the Study of Organisms. Tracing Lineages. Detecting Heritable Continuity. Historical Continuity, Heritable Continuity, and the Study of Artifacts. Culture Traits. W.M. Flinders Petrie and Artifacts from Egyptian Tombs. John Evans and Gold Coins from Britain. A. V. Kidder and Pottery from Pecos Pueblo. The Gladwin-Colton-Hargrave System. Projectile Point Evolution. 4. Seriation Frequency Seriation and Occurrence Seriation. The First Frequency Seriation. How Do Occurrence and Frequency Seriation Work? The Seriation Model. Requirements and Conditions of Seriation. Occurrence Seriation. Frequency Seriation. Meeting the Conditions of the Seriation Model. Temporal Resolution and Rates of Change. Absolute Seriation. A Final Note. 5. Superposition and Measuring Time Discontinuously. Strata, Stratigraphy, and Superposition. Stratigraphic Excavation. Stratigraphic Excavation in Historical Context. Early Stratigraphic Excavation. On the Eve of the `Revolution'. The Real Revolution. What Was the Revolution? After the Measuring Time with Strata. Measuring Time at Gatecliff Shelter, Nevada. The Final Proof Is in the Spade, But. 6. Cross The Use of Index Fossils. Folsom and Clovis Points. George C. Vaillant and the Mexican Formative. James A. Ford and the Lower Mississippi Valley. Measuring Time Discontinuously. 7. Final Thoughts on Archaeological A Cash of Two Metaphysics. Measuring Time Continuously. Measuring Time Discontinuously. Concluding Remarks. References. Index.
272 pages, Paperback
First published June 1, 1999
2 people want to read
About the author
Michael J. O'Brien
57 books2 followersMore info: http://www.tamusa.edu/officeofthepres...
My main areas of research focus on the integration of evolutionary theory into the social sciences, in particular archaeology and anthropology.
In the late 1990s, I began concentrating on the use of phylogenetic methods, especially cladistics, in archaeology. This was extremely controversial, as was the application of evolutionary principles to cultural phenomena generally. Today, however, evolutionary theory is well at home in archaeology, and studies employing phylogenetic methods appear routinely.
No one thinks or works in a vacuum, and over the years I've benefited from collaborative interactions with numerous archaeologists and other social scientists, especially Lee Lyman and Todd VanPool (University of Missouri) and Alex Mesoudi (Durham University). More recently, I have collaborated extensively with Mark Collard (Simon Fraser University), Briggs Buchanan (University of Tulsa), and Matt Boulanger (University of Missouri) on various aspects of Paleoindian occupation of North America.
I also collaborate with Kevin Laland (St Andrews University) on niche-construction theory as it applies to the archaeological record and with Alex Bentley (Bristol University) and Buz Brock (University of Missouri) on a wide range of topics, especially human learning and decision making in the face of unclear risks and payoffs. Our new paper, "Mapping collective behavior in the big-data era," came out earlier this year in Behavioral and Brain Sciences.
On the personal side, I have a wonderful wife, Gloria, five grown kids, and a lazy cat, Marley, who pretty much rules the house.
My main areas of research focus on the integration of evolutionary theory into the social sciences, in particular archaeology and anthropology.
In the late 1990s, I began concentrating on the use of phylogenetic methods, especially cladistics, in archaeology. This was extremely controversial, as was the application of evolutionary principles to cultural phenomena generally. Today, however, evolutionary theory is well at home in archaeology, and studies employing phylogenetic methods appear routinely.
No one thinks or works in a vacuum, and over the years I've benefited from collaborative interactions with numerous archaeologists and other social scientists, especially Lee Lyman and Todd VanPool (University of Missouri) and Alex Mesoudi (Durham University). More recently, I have collaborated extensively with Mark Collard (Simon Fraser University), Briggs Buchanan (University of Tulsa), and Matt Boulanger (University of Missouri) on various aspects of Paleoindian occupation of North America.
I also collaborate with Kevin Laland (St Andrews University) on niche-construction theory as it applies to the archaeological record and with Alex Bentley (Bristol University) and Buz Brock (University of Missouri) on a wide range of topics, especially human learning and decision making in the face of unclear risks and payoffs. Our new paper, "Mapping collective behavior in the big-data era," came out earlier this year in Behavioral and Brain Sciences.
On the personal side, I have a wonderful wife, Gloria, five grown kids, and a lazy cat, Marley, who pretty much rules the house.
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