Transitions, Urbanism, and Collapse in the Bronze Age - Essays in Honor of Suzanne Richard - Jesse C. Long, Jr.

Transitions, Urbanism, and Collapse in the Bronze Age - Essays in Honor of Suzanne Richard - Jesse C. Long, Jr.

15. Testing the Statistical EB IV Ceramic Study: New Excavations in Area C at Khirbat Iskandar

Transitions, Urbanism, and Collapse in the Bronze Age - Essays in Honor of Suzanne Richard - Jesse C. Long, Jr.

Stanley Holdorf [+-]
Khirbat Iskandar Expedition
Stanley Holdorf is a lawyer and independent scholar who has served since 1994 in various roles for the Archaeological Expedition to Khirbat Iskandar, Jordan, notably as Information Specialist and Camp Manager. His research interests include applying statistical measures to ceramic distributions for stratigraphic analysis.

Description

This paper focuses on a quantitative study of the Khirbat Iskandar Area C EB IV ceramics. The original statistical probability study, published in Volume 1 of the Expedition (Holdorf 2010), demonstrated a correlation between three ceramic phases and three stratigraphical phases excavated in Area C. In a second application, the innovative study was able to link the chronology of the tombs in the vicinity with the site’s three-phase typo-chronology. Further, the quantitative results, when applied to Bab adh-Dhra‘, both the site and the cemeteries, offered a first-time quantitative correlation between the phasing of two regionally separated EB IV sites. Renewed excavations in Area C in 2016 and 2019, intended to recheck the critical three-phase EB IV stratigraphic/ceramic chronology of the area, allows us to test hypotheses put forth in the quantitative study of the area. This paper represents a preliminary study of the 2016 and 2019 ceramics, using the methods of the previously published quantitative analysis and phasing in Area C. Although a relatively small sample, this analysis, nevertheless, provides an opportunity to test some of the conclusions drawn previously. The paper offers a summary of previous work along with a first glimpse at the new discoveries in Area C, with a discussion of the process and lessons learned from the previously published quantitative study.

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Citation

Holdorf, Stanley. 15. Testing the Statistical EB IV Ceramic Study: New Excavations in Area C at Khirbat Iskandar. Transitions, Urbanism, and Collapse in the Bronze Age - Essays in Honor of Suzanne Richard. Equinox eBooks Publishing, United Kingdom. p. 225-235 Nov 2021. ISBN 9781781797204. https://www.equinoxpub.com/home/view-chapter/?id=37736. Date accessed: 11 Dec 2024 doi: 10.1558/equinox.37736. Nov 2021

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