6 Exercise 1
To generate a basis for discussion for our second session, please explore this set (Table 6.1, and available in ‘BurialSim2_sim.csv’) of radiocarbon ages on 20 samples from 10 burials (thinking about the same cemetery that we explored above). Estimate the span of use of the cemetery. Assume a terrestrial diet for all individuals. Drop dates that you don’t trust - but justify excluding them.
In short: apply chronometric hygiene, build a bounded phase model (or other model, if you think something else is more appropriate!), and account for offsets as you deem necessary. Then generate plot a KDE (and/or other pdfs, as you prefer), and estimate a span. Be prepared to justify your choices, but keep in mind that for our purposes right answers don’t really matter - this exercise is intended to be exploratory.
| LabID | material | burial | c14age | c14std |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| LabXX-21 | gourd | 11/92 | 955 | 29 |
| LabXX-27 | human bone | 11/92 | 893 | 21 |
| LabXX-28 | human bone | 11/92 | 935 | 32 |
| LabXX-22 | textile | 11/92 | 914 | 27 |
| LabXX-23 | textile | 12/92 | 963 | 32 |
| LabXX-36 | charcoal | 13/92 | 1443 | 34 |
| LabXX-24 | wood | 13/92 | 1190 | 35 |
| LabXX-39 | charcoal | 14/92 | 1211 | 27 |
| LabXX-25 | wood | 14/92 | 1052 | 33 |
| LabXX-26 | wood | 14/92 | 1659 | 21 |
| LabXX-34 | cane | 15/92 | 1063 | 26 |
| LabXX-29 | human bone | 15/92 | 1095 | 26 |
| LabXX-30 | human bone | 15/92 | 1085 | 18 |
| LabXX-32 | camelid bone | 16/92 | 1126 | 30 |
| LabXX-31 | human bone | 16/92 | 1125 | 31 |
| LabXX-33 | camelid bone | 17/92 | 1083 | 28 |
| LabXX-38 | charcoal | 17/92 | 1099 | 34 |
| LabXX-35 | cane | 18/92 | 1172 | 26 |
| LabXX-37 | charcoal | 19/92 | 1114 | 23 |
| LabXX-40 | charcoal | 20/92 | 1219 | 32 |