Problematizing Bayesian approaches to prehistoric chronologies

Pettitt, Paul; Zilhão, João

doi:10.1080/00438243.2015.1070082

Cited by 28 publications

(16 citation statements)

References 65 publications

(50 reference statements)

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“…Despite the uncertainty surrounding these methods in connection with the evaluation of human settlement (Contreras andMeadows 2014, Torfing 2015), we concur with other authors in considering this as a useful tool for observing general tendencies (Shennan et al 2013). Recently, there has been a notable increase in the use of summed probabilities of calibrated dates, as an efficient way of taking a panoramic view of historical processes, that it serves more specifically as an approximate demographic indicator (Gamble et al 2005;Timpson et al 2014;Timpson et al 2015;Pettitt and Zilhão 2015;Balsera et al 2015b;Downey et al 2016;Drake et al 2016).…”

Section: Methodssupporting

confidence: 69%

New insights into the neolithisation process in southwest Europe according to spatial density analysis from calibrated radiocarbon dates

Puchol

Castillo

Gordó

2017

Archaeol Anthropol Sci

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The agricultural way of life spreads throughout Europe via two main routes: the Danube corridor and the Mediterranean basin. Current archaeological literature describes the arrival to the Western Mediterranean as a rapid process which involves both demic and cultural models, and in this regard, the dispersal movement has been investigated using mathematical models, where the key factors are time and space. In this work, we have created a compilation of all available radiocarbon dates for the whole of Iberia, in order to draw a chronological series of maps to illustrate temporal and spatial patterns in the neolithisation process. The maps were prepared by calculating the calibrated 14C date probability density curves, as a proxy to show the spatial dynamics of the last hunter-gatherers and first farmers. Several scholars have pointed out problems linked with the variability of samples, such as the overrepresentation of some sites, the degree of regional research, the nature of the dated samples and above all the archaeological context, but we are confident that the selected dates, after applying some filters and statistical protocols, constitute a good way to approach settlement spatial patterns in Iberia at the time of the neolithisation process.

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Section: Methodssupporting

confidence: 69%

New insights into the neolithisation process in southwest Europe according to spatial density analysis from calibrated radiocarbon dates

Puchol

Castillo

Gordó

2017

Archaeol Anthropol Sci

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“…Bayesian analysis was used to estimate the age of the sedimentary layers and to check the probability of a match between this model and particular dates, as is usually practiced in chronological studies in the archaeology of the Palaeolithic (see, e.g., Blockley et al ; Higham et al , ; Bobak and Połtowicz‐Bobak ; Pettitt and Zilhão ). The sequence model of OxCal version 4.2.4 (Bronk Ramsey ) was applied, with the sedimentary layers in Nietoperzowa Cave as described by Chmielewski () and Madeyska‐Niklewska () used as phases for OxCal model purposes.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Towards a Chronology of the Jerzmanowician—a New Series of Radiocarbon Dates from Nietoperzowa Cave (Poland)

et al. 2017

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The period around 50 000–35 000 years ago constitutes one of the most debated research issues in European archaeology of the Palaeolithic. In this time period, the transition from the Middle to the Upper Palaeolithic took place. Locally, in different areas of Europe, this shift is recorded in so‐called transitional assemblages. The eastern fringe of these transitional assemblages is represented by the Jerzmanowician, the unit described on the basis of a lithic assemblage from Nietoperzowa Cave (Poland). The unit is a part of a European transitional complex called the Lincombian–Ranisian–Jerzmanowician. Up to now, the radiocarbon dates presented in the literature have only allowed us to set the age of the Jerzmanowician at c.40 000–45 000 ka cal bp. In this study, we present 42 new radiocarbon dates. We attempt to set the archaeological record of the Jerzmanowician from Nietoperzowa Cave in an accurate chronological framework, based on Bayesian statistical processing of radiocarbon dates. We conclude that the lower boundary of layer 6 in Nietoperzowa Cave can be statistically located in the range 44 000–42 000 cal bp and the upper limit for the Jerzmanowician is estimated to c.31 000 cal bp. New data raises a question on the correlation with upper layer 4. In the light of the new chronology, the attribution of the archaeological inventory from layer 4 to the Jerzmanowician seems questionable.

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“…(…) Based on the principle of "garbage in, garbage out" we must surely treat even the simplest of models as speculative, and therefore subject to scrutiny. P. B. Pettitt and J. Zilhao [94] With the established psychic nucleation of the relatively autonomous and independent neuropsychological complex called epigenetic function of the real or state of consciousness, the world ceases to be just lived to be also interpreted.…”

Section: From Speech Communication To the World Generated By Naming Itmentioning

confidence: 99%

Paleoanthropology of Consciousness, Culture and Oral Language

Messori¹

2019

OALib

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It is presented an updated version of my previous paleoanthropological interpretation of the available utilitarian and non-utilitarian Paleolithic finds (Messori 2016), aimed at establishing the earliest human developmental stages of consciousness, culture and oral language. The environmental transformations to which Earth has gone to meet from its formation to the Archean period of the Precambrian Era, during which the terrestrial proto-biological phenomenon develops, are briefly discussed. By following the quantum elec-and independent psychic complex called epigenetic function of the real, or consciousness, the essential requirement for there to be a fully established cultural production. The slow process that went from a musically established sound emission (second half of Lower Paleolithic), to a fully syntactical and semantics codification of a suitably emitted and articulated range of sounds, that through time became speech communication, namely oral language (first half of Middle Paleolithic), is discussed. The slow process to which oral language has gone from acquiring the power to re-create the world by naming it-semantic baptism-as an act of legitimation of reality (Upper Paleolithic), to becoming an instrument of power in the hands of the male gender (Neolithic), which thanks to it tames Nature and subjugates the generatrix power of women's uterus (where the pneuma is transmuted into offspring by which the progeny is re-created) to the generatrix power of oro-larynx (where the pneuma is transmuted into speech by which the World is re-created), is also discussed.

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Problematizing Bayesian approaches to prehistoric chronologies

Cited by 28 publications

References 65 publications

New insights into the neolithisation process in southwest Europe according to spatial density analysis from calibrated radiocarbon dates

New insights into the neolithisation process in southwest Europe according to spatial density analysis from calibrated radiocarbon dates

Towards a Chronology of the Jerzmanowician—a New Series of Radiocarbon Dates from Nietoperzowa Cave (Poland)

Paleoanthropology of Consciousness, Culture and Oral Language

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