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The Size Effect: An Explanation of Variability in Surface Artifact Assemblage Content

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Abstract

The reuse of certain categories of artifacts combined with natural site formation processes, such as sedimentation and erosion, is suggested to result in the disproportionate occurrence of “large” artifacts on the surface of sites. This phenomenon, known as the size effect, is investigated with artifact assemblage data from several stratified Eastern North American sites.

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for American Archaeology 1978

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