Quantifying the Present and Predicting the Past: Theory, Method, and Application of Archaeological Predictive Modeling

Description

Editors: Judge, W. James and Sebastian, Lynne

Publisher: Bureau of Land Management

Pub Date: 1988

Binding: Paperback

Condition:  Good.  Previous owner’s name in ink on inside front cover, sunning to spine,  wear to corners.  Binding tight.  Lower front cover corner at spine foot has an approx. 1/2″ tear at spine.  No bends or folds.

Notes: Archaeologists can’t possibly survey an enormous tract of land without a large field crew and unlimited time.  Predictive modeling becomes a necessity.   However, sampling and predictive modeling are not the same.   Models are “hypotheses or sets of hypotheses which simplify complex observations whilst offering a largely accurate predictive framework structuring these observation.” (David Clarke, Page 1)  “…models are selective abstractions, which of necessity omit a great deal of the complexity of the real world.  Those aspects of the real world selected for inclusion in a model are assumed to be significant with respect to the interests and problem orientation of the person constructing the model…Thus all models reflect, to a considerable degree, subjectivity on the part of the observer.”  This volume is pretty much a basic text on predictive modeling.