Measuring Archaeological Diversity: An Application of the Jackknife Technique

Abstract

The jackknife technique is applied here to measures of diversity in an archaeological context. As described, the technique requires no assumptions about the underlying structure of the data being analyzed and, thus, is offered as an alternative to simulation and regression approaches. Most important, with jackknifing it is possible to attach statistical significance to differences in diversity, allowing for more meaningful comparisons between archaeological assemblages.