Bayesian Approach to Interpreting Archaeological Data, 1996, 402 p., schémas, rel. -

The authors explore the processes through which archaeologists analyse their data and how these can be made more rigorous and effective by sound statistical modelling. They assume relatively little previous statistical or mathematical knowledge. Introducing the idea underlying the Bayesian approach to the statistical analysis of data and their subsequent interpretation, the authors demonstrate the major advantage of this approach, which allows the incorporation of relevant prior knowledge or beliefs into the analysis. It provides a coherent way of updating beliefs from those held before observing the data to those held after taking the data into account. A variety of real case studies are presented, covering applications in area such as radiocarbon dating, spatial analysis, provenance studies and other dating methods.