Limitations of Archaeological Inference: An Information-Theoretic Approach with Applications in Methodology

1 April 1973

journal article
Published by Cambridge University Press (CUP) in American Antiquity

Vol. 38 (2) , 131-149
https://doi.org/10.2307/279360

Abstract

A framework is established for the application of information-theoretic concepts to the study of archaeological inference, ultimately to provide an estimate of the degree to which archaeologists, or anthropologists in general, can provide legitimate answers to the questions they investigate. Particular information-theoretic measures are applied to the design elements on the ceramics of a southwestern pueblo to show the methodological utility of information theory in helping to reach closer to that limit.

Keywords

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