Exploring Romano–British finds assemblages

Abstract

This paper presents a synthesis of current approaches to the comparison of archaeological assemblages. It draws its data from Roman Britain but the methodology discussed is equally applicable to other periods and places. Different types of assemblages including those of small finds, broken vessels and animal bones are discussed, and the problems relating to quantification are considered. The different sorts of questions that may be asked of data of varying quality are examined, and it is shown that even ‘poor quality’ data can provide useful insights into past societies. It is argued that to explore the full richness of the data available, multivariate statistics are an invaluable tool and this is illustrated by exploration of two groups of assemblages using Correspondence Analysis. Finally, attitudes within the archaeological community which may prove a barrier to further advances are examined.