Pub Date : 2021-06-10DOI: 10.1093/oso/9780198871156.003.0004
R. Lyman
To determine the origin of archaeological spindle graphs, and to track the frequency of use of each of several types of graph used to diagram culture change, a sample of North American archaeological literature was examined. Numerous series of monographs and volumes of journals in both the archaeological and the paleontological literature were inspected. If a graph of biological (paleontological) or cultural (archaeological) change was included in a publication, that piece of literature was recorded along with the type of graph included. To record such data, a classification of graph types was developed based on categories of statistical graphs (e.g., bar graph, line graph, pie graph, time range, spatio-temporal rectangle). More than 900 pieces of literature on North American archaeology published between ~1880 and ~1960 were inspected, and more than 450 pieces of literature on paleontology were inspected. Because different graph types are constructed under different guidelines, they require an understanding of graph grammar—the rules for constructing, deciphering, and interpreting graphs.
{"title":"Materials and Methods","authors":"R. Lyman","doi":"10.1093/oso/9780198871156.003.0004","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780198871156.003.0004","url":null,"abstract":"To determine the origin of archaeological spindle graphs, and to track the frequency of use of each of several types of graph used to diagram culture change, a sample of North American archaeological literature was examined. Numerous series of monographs and volumes of journals in both the archaeological and the paleontological literature were inspected. If a graph of biological (paleontological) or cultural (archaeological) change was included in a publication, that piece of literature was recorded along with the type of graph included. To record such data, a classification of graph types was developed based on categories of statistical graphs (e.g., bar graph, line graph, pie graph, time range, spatio-temporal rectangle). More than 900 pieces of literature on North American archaeology published between ~1880 and ~1960 were inspected, and more than 450 pieces of literature on paleontology were inspected. Because different graph types are constructed under different guidelines, they require an understanding of graph grammar—the rules for constructing, deciphering, and interpreting graphs.","PeriodicalId":293812,"journal":{"name":"Graphing Culture Change in North American Archaeology","volume":"86 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-06-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"116080963","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-06-10DOI: 10.1093/oso/9780198871156.003.0011
R. Lyman
Graphs are analytical tools and communication tools, and they summarize visually what has been learned. Granting that a major purpose of archaeology is to document and explain culture change, it is odd that the hows and whys of graphing culture change have received minimal attention in the archaeology literature. Spindle graphs will likely continue to be the most frequently used graph type for diagraming change, but continued development of computer software may result in new graph types and styles. Recent modifications to spindle graphs include scaling bar thickness to temporal duration of the represented assemblage. Classic data on temporal change in kaolin pipe stem hole diameters can be graphed using a regression line, a bar graph, and a spindle graph; the different graphs highlight that how phenomena are classified, how data are graphed, and one’s theory of change are mutually influential. Deciding which graph type to use in any particular situation will depend on what the researcher hopes to illustrate, along with the goal to produce a readily deciphered graph. The majority of archaeological graphs that appeared in the twentieth century depict variational evolution. Once developed in the late 1940s, spindle graphs quickly became the graph type preferred by North American archaeologists. There is weak circumstantial evidence archaeologists may have borrowed the idea of spindle graphs from paleontology, but it seems more likely the idea was stumbled upon by early archaeologists who perceived unimodal pulses in artifact frequencies over time and developed general models of those pulses.
{"title":"Final Thoughts","authors":"R. Lyman","doi":"10.1093/oso/9780198871156.003.0011","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780198871156.003.0011","url":null,"abstract":"Graphs are analytical tools and communication tools, and they summarize visually what has been learned. Granting that a major purpose of archaeology is to document and explain culture change, it is odd that the hows and whys of graphing culture change have received minimal attention in the archaeology literature. Spindle graphs will likely continue to be the most frequently used graph type for diagraming change, but continued development of computer software may result in new graph types and styles. Recent modifications to spindle graphs include scaling bar thickness to temporal duration of the represented assemblage. Classic data on temporal change in kaolin pipe stem hole diameters can be graphed using a regression line, a bar graph, and a spindle graph; the different graphs highlight that how phenomena are classified, how data are graphed, and one’s theory of change are mutually influential. Deciding which graph type to use in any particular situation will depend on what the researcher hopes to illustrate, along with the goal to produce a readily deciphered graph. The majority of archaeological graphs that appeared in the twentieth century depict variational evolution. Once developed in the late 1940s, spindle graphs quickly became the graph type preferred by North American archaeologists. There is weak circumstantial evidence archaeologists may have borrowed the idea of spindle graphs from paleontology, but it seems more likely the idea was stumbled upon by early archaeologists who perceived unimodal pulses in artifact frequencies over time and developed general models of those pulses.","PeriodicalId":293812,"journal":{"name":"Graphing Culture Change in North American Archaeology","volume":"60 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-06-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"126535580","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
京公网安备 11010802042870号
京ICP备2023020795号-1
扫码关注我们
求助内容：
应助结果提醒方式：