The Distribution of later Bronze Age Metalwork from Lincolnshire

Abstract

A number of distinctive physiographic regions fall wholely or partly within the county of Lincolnshire: the limestone and chalk uplands of the Lincoln Edge and the Wolds, the valleys of the Trent, Ancholme and Witham, and the low lying areas of the Isle of Axholme, the Fens and the Marsh (fig. 1). The scatter of finds of Later Bronze Age metalwork shows considerable local variation (fig. 2).These differences in distribution can be analysed statistically using the Chi Squared test (Gregory, 1963, 151–66). A comparison is made between the observed distribution of objects (o), and the pattern expected if the distribution was the product of random factors alone (e). A null hypothesis is tested by applying the formula:.The probability that the null hypothesis is true can then be shown graphically (Lindley and Miller, 1953). A high reading (e.g., more than 95 per cent) would indicate that the observed distribution was consonant with a random scatter, while a low reading (e.g. less than 5 per cent) would suggest that some factor other than chance governed the distribution.