Definition: American archaeologist Stanley A. South, currently at the University of South Carolina, has advanced the study of historical archaeology in the application of statistics. His pioneering 'mean ceramic date' technique uses the statistic method of central tendency to determine the age of a historic occupation based on the average date of all the ceramic sherds in it.
South also pioneered the use of pattern analysis in historical archaeology, dividing an artifact assemblage into meaningful subsets (kitchen, clothing, architectural group).
South also pioneered the use of pattern analysis in historical archaeology, dividing an artifact assemblage into meaningful subsets (kitchen, clothing, architectural group).
Sources
There's a retrospective of South's work online at the USC newspaper, published in June 2005 when his memoir came out, called New book by Stan South looks back at 53-year career.This glossary entry is part of the Dictionary of Archaeology. Any mistakes are the responsibility of Kris Hirst.
