Methods of cluster validation for archaeology
Mark S. Aldenderfer · World Archaeology · 1982
Despite increasing sophistication in their use of cluster analysis, archaeologists have yet to apply objective validation methods to the results of their research. Validation methods are a mixed bag of procedures and statistics which measure the adequacy of results obtained from a clustering process. There are many different methods, and most are biased in favor of particular types of clustering algorithms. This paper introduces the concept of validation, and presents the use of four readily available procedures as applied to an archaeological problem.