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Costs of Shell Analysis

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Alan Koloseike
Alan Koloseike*
Affiliation:
Department of Sociology and Anthropology University of Windsor
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Abstract

Excavation of a coastal site often involves the temptation to perform a quantitative analysis for mollusc shell present in the midden. A major factor in such an analysis is the time expense involved. This paper presents the minimal time costs for the sub-processes of standard shell analysis. Time costs for an actual shell analysis are reconstructed to illustrate the use of sub-process rates and as an independent check on the rates as reported. An adequate standard shell analysis is an expensive undertaking. The time and/or money involved might well be applied to more productive research.

Type
Reports
Information
American Antiquity , Volume 35 , Issue 4 , October 1970 , pp. 475 - 480
Copyright
Copyright © Society for American Archaeology 1970

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References

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