Comment on A. C. Spaulding, “Statistical Techniques for the Discovery of Artifact Types”
James A. Ford · American Antiquity · 1954
First let me say that I am thoroughly sympathetic to all efforts toward development of more accurate methodology. But the application of statistics and other techniques to our problems, without regard for basic culture theory, cannot be regarded as an advance in technique. For years there have been arguments as to whether cultural types — pottery types to be specific — were pre-existing units in culture history that could be discovered by a good archaeologist and missed by an incompetent one. I have been on the negative side in these debates — which arise, it seems to me, because people are talking about two different things. It is well known that any given culture is a classificatory device which offers its bearers patterned ways of meeting the problems of existence.