Archaeology Wordsmith

Results for bias:

bias: CATEGORY: measure
DEFINITION: Systematic overestimate or underestimate of a parameter or measurement.
biased sample: CATEGORY: technique
DEFINITION: Sampling technique in which certain units have more chance of inclusion than others.
accuracy: CATEGORY: measure
DEFINITION: The degree to which measured values come close to actual values; opposite of bias.
disjunction: CATEGORY: measure
DEFINITION: A bias in a date that occurs when the dated event is older than the target event and age is overestimated.
disparity: CATEGORY: measure
DEFINITION: A bias in a date that occurs when the dated event is younger than the target event and age is underestimated.
ethnocentrism: CATEGORY: term
DEFINITION: The belief that one's own ethnic group is superior to all others. Observational bias in which other societies are evaluated by standards relevant to the observer's culture.
gap: CATEGORY: measure
DEFINITION: A source of bias in tree-ring dating representing the length of time between the formation of a dated ring and the date when the tree was cut. A gap and hiatus constitute a disjunction.
hiatus: CATEGORY: measure
DEFINITION: A source of bias in tree-ring dating where a period of time intervened between the cutting of the tree and the date of interest (target event). The gap and hiatus combine to make a disjunction.
longevity: CATEGORY: term
DEFINITION: The expectation of the life span of a person, culture, etc. Man's expectation of life is one of the simplest ways of measuring his ability to cope with his surroundings. It can rarely be calculated for an ancient population because too few skeletons are usually found to provide an adequate statistical sample for skeletal analysis. Even then the results may be biased, since infants often failed to qualify for ceremonial burial and so may not be represented. The age distribution of even a few skeletons, however, may give useful results.
mean square error: CATEGORY: measure
DEFINITION: A measure of the efficiency of a possibly biased statistic or estimate, based on squared deviations from the parameter.
multiple working hypotheses: CATEGORY: technique
DEFINITION: The simultaneous testing of alternative hypotheses to minimize bias and maximize the chances of finding the best available choice.
Nahal Oren: CATEGORY: site
DEFINITION: Cave and open terrace site on the western slope of Mount Carmel, Israel, occupied from the early Upper Palaeolithic (Kebaran, c 16,300-13,850 BC) to the early Aceramic Neolithic (PPNA) and PPNB (Pre-Pottery Neolithic B). Natufian levels show a strong bias towards the selective hunting, or possibly herding, of gazelle and this continued through to the PPNA levels. There was a growing assemblage of processing tools such as mortars, suggesting that plant-gathering was becoming more important. The material culture included chipped stone tools, ground stone tools, bone tools, stone vessels, and art objects. Natufian and PPNA buildings were round houses with central fireplaces. In the PPNB, they switched to rectangular houses with paved floors; these were sited on the artificial terrace outside the cave, constructed in the Natufian phase. A cemetery of early Natufian date is associated with the site: bodies were buried individually, usually tightly flexed with knees drawn up to the chin; old mortars were used as grave markers. Grave goods include carved stone and bone work; the most notable example was a gazelle's head.
PIE: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: Pottery Information Equivalent
CATEGORY: ceramics
DEFINITION: A unit containing as much statistical information as a single complete vessel but based on the sum of completeness indices of sherds. The PIE values yield unbiased estimates of the proportion of each pottery type in a sampled population.
sample: CATEGORY: technique
DEFINITION: Any subset of a population; a set of units selected from a population. In statistics, a sample refers to a representative group of objects, cases or items, selected from a larger population. The degree to which a sample is truly representative is controlled by the size of the sample and biasing factors affecting its selection. The larger the sample and the smaller the bias, the more representative the sample. All groups of archaeological material are samples, selected through preservation and choice of site, of an original population. The term sample is also used to describe the small sections cut from artifacts in order to do dating and analysis.
stratified random sampling: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: stratified sampling; stratified sample
CATEGORY: technique
DEFINITION: A probabilistic sampling technique used to cluster and isolate sample units when regular spacing is inappropriate for cultural reasons. The region or site is divided into natural zones or strata, such as cultivated land and forest, and units are then chosen by a random-number procedure to give each zone a number of squares proportional to its area, thus overcoming the inherent bias in simple random sampling. In stratified sampling, the population is divided into classes and simple random samples are drawn from each class.
stratified systematic sampling: CATEGORY: technique
DEFINITION: A probabilistic sampling technique which combines elements of simple random sampling, stratified random sampling, and systematic sampling -- in an effort to reduce sampling bias.

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