Statistical Modelling of Artefact Compositional Data

Abstract

Model‐based methods for clustering artefacts, given their chemical composition, often assume sampling from a mixture of multivariate normal distributions and/or make explicit assumptions about the way in which a composition is formed. It is argued that, analysed within a modelling framework, several important and apparently competing methodologies are more similar than would initially appear. The opportunity is taken to note that models for populations are often not compatible with models for compositions, and that dilution correction—which can be accomplished in a variety of ways—can be interpreted as an attempt to resolve this problem.