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Close-Proximity Analysis: A Rapid Method for the Ordering of Archaeological Materials

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Colin Renfrew  and
Gene Sterud
Colin Renfrew
Affiliation:
University of Sheffield, Sheffield, England
Gene Sterud
Affiliation:
University of California, Los Angeles, California
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Abstract

A simple graphical method is presented for the seriation or ordering of archaeological assemblages or types. Like most seriation methods, it requires the tabulation of coefficients of similarity between the units in question. By a consideration, restricted to the most similar neighbors of each unit in turn, a uniquely determined structure usually emerges within a few minutes. When the archaeological material is such that it may be seriated well, this structure compares closely with computer seriations of the same data. The method is illustrated by the reexamination of seriations by other workers and is exemplified by graphical and computer seriation of the Cycladic cemeteries of the Aegean Early Bronze age.

Type
Research Article
Information
American Antiquity , Volume 34 , Issue 3 , July 1969 , pp. 265 - 277
Copyright
Copyright © Society for American Archaeology 1969

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