| foreshaft | Part of an arrow, designed to detach with the point after impacting the animal in order to preserve the longer shaft of the arrow, which falls away.
|
 |
|
|
| conservation | Preservation and restoration of archaeological materials in the laboratory and museum.
|
|
|
|
| restoration | Altering the material and/or structure of an artifact or structure to return it to a more original condition.
|
|
|
|
| hydrophilic | Chemical compounds with an affinity for water which are used to remove water from artifacts during conservation.
|
|
|
|
| classification | The process of putting objects into groups on the basis of shared characteristics.
|
|
|
|
| grouping | The process of sorting things into piles, or groups, of similar items without predetermined categories.
|
|
|
|
| typology | A formal system of classification for assigning time and space meaning to archaeological materials.
|
|
|
|
| guide | A listing of the different types, or species, that are present, and the distinguishing characteristics of each.
|
|
|
|
| keys | Condensed guides, listing the characteristics of important types.
|
|
|
|
| fossile directeur (French: indicator fossil ) | A single fossil species as a marker of a time horizon.
|
|
|
|
| additive techniques | Ways of making things like ceramics or building a house that involve incremental steps and the addition of material to the object or structure. A bigger object is made from smaller pieces. Compare subtractive techniques.
|
|
|
|
| subtractive techniques | Ways of making things like stone tools or wood carvings that involve the continuous removal of material from a larger original piece. Compare additive techniques.
|
|
|
|
| function | The use of an artifact; the action or activity for which it was made.
|
|
|
|
| style | A distinctive way of being or doing.
|
|
|
|
| seriation | An archaeological method for ordering.
|
|
|
|
| data | Information; the observations and measurements of archaeological materials.
|
|
|
|
| observations | The values recorded in a data set.
|
|
|
|
| scale of measurement | Measurements can be made using nominal, ordinal, or ratio scales of numbers.
|
|
|
|
| nominal scale of measurement | Basic information recorded as unordered observations, often descriptive.
|
|
|
|
| ordinal scale of measurement | Ranked information with an ordered relationship between numbers.
|
|
|
|
| ratio scale of measurement | Measurements with a true zero point made using an instrument.
|
|
|
|
| descriptive statistics | Numbers that are used to condense information in order to summarize and compare different sets of data.
|
|
|
|
| inferential statistics | Numbers that are used for making decisions about data and describing relationships among variables.
|
|
|
|
| range | A measure of the spread of values using the minimum and maximum.
|
|
|
|
| mean | The average for ratio scale data calculated by dividing the sum by the number of observations.
|
|
|
|
| median | The exact middle number of the nominal or ordinal values.
|
|
|
|
| mode | The most common category in nominal or ordinal data or the highest peak in ratio scale data.
|
|
|
|
| variance | A single measure of spread or range in ratio data.
|
|
|
|
| standard deviation (s.d.) | The square root of the variance, a single measure of spread.
|
|
|
|
| normal curve | The standard, or normal, shape of measured values plotted in a frequency diagram.
|
|
|
|
| chi-square (x2) | A statistical test of association for nominal scale information.
|
|
|
|
| bar graph | Visual display of data; basically a tally sheet with bars instead of tally marks, used to display nominal or ordinal scale data.
|
|
|
|
| histogram | A graph of the number of measurements in interval form.
|
|
|
|
| coprolites | Preserved ancient feces.
|
|
|
|
| scatterplot | A single graph combining two sets of numbers simultaneously.
|
|
|
|
| correlation | A measure of association between two sets of numbers.
|
|
|
|
| association | A statistical term referring to related groups, or subsets, within a sample that have similar values. The members of the group are said to be associated.
|