Defining and Measuring Diversity in Archaeology: Another Step Toward an Evolutionary Synthesis of Culture

Calculating the diversity of biological or cultural classes is a fundamental way of describing, analyzing, and understanding the world around us. Understanding archaeological diversity is key to understanding human culture in the past. Archaeologists have long experienced a tenuous relationship with statistics; however, the regular integration of diversity measures and concepts into archaeological practice is becoming increasingly important. This volume includes chapters that cover a wide range of archaeological applications of diversity measures. Featuring studies of archaeological diversity ranging from the data-driven to the theoretical, from the Paleolithic to the Historic periods, authors illustrate the range of data sets to which diversity measures can be applied, as well as offer new methods to examine archaeological diversity.

Table of Contents:
List of Illustrations Foreword Michael J. O’Brien and David Hurst Thomas Introduction: On the Challenges of Measuring Diversity in Archaeology Briggs Buchanan and Metin I. Eren Chapter 1. Dispersion and Diversity: Parfleche Variation on the Great Plains vs. the Columbia Plateau Stephen J. Lycett Chapter 2. The Diversity of North America’s “Old Copper” Projectile Points Michelle R. Bebber and Anne Chao Chapter 3. Diversity in Hunter-Gatherer Architecture Brian Andrews, Danielle Macdonald, and Brooke Morgan Chapter 4. The Potential of Coverage-Based Rarefaction in Zooarchaeology J. Tyler Faith and Andrew Du Chapter 5. Diversity and Lithic Microwear: Quantification, Classification, and Standardization W. James Stemp and Danielle A. Macdonald Chapter 6. Intensification Mechanisms Driving Dietary Change among the Great Plains Big Game Hunters of North America Erik Otárola-Castillo, Melissa G. Torquato, and Matthew E. Hill Appendix 6.1: Summary Information for Archaeological Sites Used in This Study Chapter 7. Challenges and Prospects of Richness and Diversity Measures in Paleoethnobotany Alan Farahani and R. J. Sinensky Appendix 7.1: Abundance of Reproductive Plant Parts Recovered from the Las Capas Site, Southeastern Arizona, 1220–730 BCE 205 Chapter 8. Quantifying Evenness of Paleoindian Projectile Point Forms within Geographic Regions of Eastern North America Matthew T. Boulanger, Ryan P. Breslawski, and Ian A. Jorgeson Chapter 9. Thinking about Diversity in Material Culture at Multiple Scales Steven L. Kuhn Chapter 10. Measuring and Comparing Class Diversity in Archaeological Assemblages: A Brief Guide to the History and State-of-the-Art in Diversity Statistics Robert K. Colwell and Anne Chao Epilogue: Diversity Metrics are Convenient, but Their Archaeological Meanings Are Still Obscure R. Lee Lyman Index

About the Author :
Metin I. Eren is an Associate Professor of Anthropology at Kent State University and a Research Associate at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History. He is Co-Director of the Kent State University Experimental Archaeology Laboratory and has conducted research in North America, Europe, Africa, and Asia. A master flintknapper, Eren knaps, uses, shoots, and breaks stone technologies from across the Stone Age to figure out how they work and to better understand technological evolution.

Review :
“I think it is an important volume for archaeologists to mine the work of all of these incredible researchers for a greater understanding of what diversity can tell us about within our assemblages and regions, and the chapters provide approaches for a diversity of archaeological materials that has something for almost any archaeologist no matter what their specialty or focus.” • Christopher Wolff, University at Albany