Event Title
Indigenous Stone Structures and Cluster Analysis
Location
Hart 117
Start Time
10-5-2018 1:10 PM
End Time
10-5-2018 1:40 PM
Description
In the course of my 5-year study of indigenous stone structures of the eastern seaboard of the US and Canada, I have recovered locational information on over 5,500 sites containing structures of various types: rock piles, cairns, stone rows, U-shaped structures, standing stones, split-filled boulders, balanced rocks, marked stones, petroglyphs, stone circles, effigies, mounds, platforms, enclosures, and niches. More than half of these sites are found in well-defined site clusters, some of which overlap modern political boundaries. This suggests that their creation precedes the creation of those boundaries, further suggesting their indigenous origin. Two types of cluster analysis – variance mean ratio and nearest-neighbor – were used to determine whether the clusters are statistically real, or if they are simply random placements. The conclusion is that there is close to 0% probability that they are randomly distributed. The implications of this will be explored.
Indigenous Stone Structures and Cluster Analysis
Hart 117
In the course of my 5-year study of indigenous stone structures of the eastern seaboard of the US and Canada, I have recovered locational information on over 5,500 sites containing structures of various types: rock piles, cairns, stone rows, U-shaped structures, standing stones, split-filled boulders, balanced rocks, marked stones, petroglyphs, stone circles, effigies, mounds, platforms, enclosures, and niches. More than half of these sites are found in well-defined site clusters, some of which overlap modern political boundaries. This suggests that their creation precedes the creation of those boundaries, further suggesting their indigenous origin. Two types of cluster analysis – variance mean ratio and nearest-neighbor – were used to determine whether the clusters are statistically real, or if they are simply random placements. The conclusion is that there is close to 0% probability that they are randomly distributed. The implications of this will be explored.
Comments
Moderator: Joseph Seggio