Statistics and Graphs in the Study of Flint Assemblages. II. A Preliminary Report on the Statistical Analysis of the Younger Palaeolithic in Northwestern Europe (pl. I; figs. 2-5)

Abstract

(p. 24)

The method presented here is the product of a long period of study, with frequent revisions and recalculations, with the aim of attaining a method of presentation which would combine the maximum of useful information with the minimum of difficulty and the greatest possibie simplicity in obtaining and utilizing the results, and which is applicable not only to the Upper Palaeolithic but also, with suitable adjustments, to the Lower Palaeolithic, the Mesolithic, and the lithic content of the Neolithic. Although at first sight the measuring procedure may seem rather complicated, it is in fact not so when one has acquired some experience with it. After some practice, and with an assistant to note down the data so that the measurer may work without having to lay aside his measuring instruments, a site such, as Meiendorf, with c. 500 implements, can be counted and measured and the results calculated in a day; sites of medium size can be done in half a day.

Since a number of investigators have aiready adopted or signified their willingness to adopt this method, it has aiready become possibie to provide this summary of its useful features.