Tutorialforarchaeologists:

Howtoperformacorrespondenceanalysis
apractitionersguidetosuccessandreliability
FrankSiegmund
(HeinrichHeineUniversityDsseldorf)
(draft,version0.9;March20th,2014)*

(1)Introduction
Correspondenceanalysis(CA)isawidelyknownandwellreasonedmultivariatestatisti
calmethodforbringingdata(casesasvariables)intoasequence,whenthedatafollow
aunimodalmodel.Thetermmultivariatemeansstatisticprocedures,whichtakemore
thantwovariablesintoaccountatonceinsteadofdescribingonlyonephenomenonor
lookingfortherelationbetweentwovariables,likestatureandbodyweight.Awell
knowngraphforaunimodalmodelisabellshapedcurve(fig.1).Thetermunimodal
modelismeantasacontrasttolinear(orsimilar,likequadratic,exponential,...)models.
Letuskeepthingssimpleandgiveexamplesknowntoeveryone:Therelationbetween
statureandbodyweightortherelationbetweenthevelocityandtheweightofcarsand
theirgasolineconsumptionisfollowingalinearmodelmoreorless.Ingeneral,taller
peopleareheavierandshorterpeoplearelighter.Theheavieracarisandthequicker
thedriverismovingit,themoregasolineitconsumes.Agoodexampleforunimodal
behaviour is the usual relation between age and body weight: New born babies get
heavierwhengrowingup,youngadultsgetheavierfurtheron,butmostpeopleloose
weightwhengettingold.Theshorthistoryofthedevicesfordatastorageinacomputer
isanotherexampleofaunimodalmodel.Thishistoryisalreadyclosetothearchaeologi
calapplicationsofCA.Mechanicalsolutionstostoreinformationlikepunchedtapesand
punchedcardswerereplacedbymagneticdevicesinthe1960s.Aftersomeyearsthe
hugeWinchesterdeviceswerefollowedby8inchfloppydisksinthe1980s,thenby
5.25inchfloppydisks,thenby2.5inchdisks,thenbyrewritableCDsuptoouractual
USB sticks. This is exactly the way archaeologists think about time and artefacts: A
specialkindofobjectoftennamedasatypebyarcheologistsisntstillinvented,its
frequencyintheworldiszero.Whenitisinventeditoccursinlowfrequenciesfirst,and
whenbecomesfashionableitisproducedandusedinhighfrequencies.Aftersometime

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thefrequenciesbecomelower,becauseotherusefulalternativesareinventedandcome
intocommonuse,andaftersometimethetypeisntinuseanylonger,whichresultsin
frequenciesclosetozeroagain.ToapplyaCAcorrectfromanstatisticalpointofview,
thedatamustntfollowthebellshapedcurvestatisticallynamedasnormaldistribution
exactly,theyareonlyexpectedtoshowonemaximumsomewhereinthemidpartand
minimaonbothends.
Unimodal models arent exotic and restricted to archaeology and to the question of
chronology.Anotherexampleareplantsandanimals,thatprefercertainenvironmental
conditions.Theygrowbestoveracertainspanoftemperature,humidity,acidity,...and
equallyavoiddeviationsfromthisoptimum.Alongtheirenvironmentalconditionsthey
showaunimodalbehaviour.
AnothercharacteristicofCAisitsrobustness,itcanbeappliedtovariouskindsofdata.
CAisabletoworkwithnames(presence/absenceinformation),withcountedfrequen
cies(abundanceinformation)aswellaswithmeasuredobservations,whilemanyother
multivariate statistical methods handle measured observations only. This is another
reasonforthefrequentuseofCAinarchaeology.TheapplicationofCAisntlimitedto
archaeology.Onthecontrary,itiswidelyusede.g.insocialsciencesorinbiologyand
ecology.ThebookDistinction:ASocialCritiqueoftheJudgmentofTaste(1984)from
thefamousFrenchsociologistPierreBourdieugivesanearlyexampleofitsapplication
insociology.
Ifyouwanttoanalyseamultivariatedataset,butyouareunsure,whetheryourobser
vationsfollowaunimodalmodel,butalinearmodelinstead,thesuitableandcompara
blelinearmethodisPrincipalComponentAnalysis(PCA),amethodbelongingtothe
widefamilyoffactoranalyses.ApplyingPCAtounimodaldataendsinerroneousresults,
asapplyingCAtodatafollowingthelinearmodel.Wewilllookatanexamplelateron.In
practise,PCAismoresensibletoslightviolationsagainstitsmodelexpectations,while
CAismorerobustagainstviolationsoftheexpectedmodel.
(2)ThetheoryandaimsofCA
Whenlookingattheactual(March2014)Wikipediaarticlecorrespondenceanalysis,
CAseemstobeahighlycomplicatedmethod.Intruth,itisnt.Itiseasytounderstand,
andeasytocalculateandtoperform.However,weneednttoexplainthetheoryhere,
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becausetherearegoodbooksdoingitbetter(seechapter4),andweneednttocalcu
lateaCA,becausetherearecomputerstodoso(chapter3).Wemustonlyrecognizeits
aim:torearrangethesequenceoftherowsandcolumnsofatableinaway,thatthe
tableisdiagonalizedattheend.Usuallythesetablesconsistofmanyemptycellsorcells
with zero, and all the other cells with frequencies e.g. should be agglomerated to a
diagonalcloudinthemidofthetable,startingatitsupperleftsideandendingatits
lower right side, or vice versa (fig. 1). After achieving this aim, the observations are
arrangedafteraunimodalmodel:eachrowandeachcolumnofthetablestartswitha
minimum(emptycellsorzerocells),followedbyamaximumandfollowedbyamini
mumagain.TheinputintoaCAisunsortedinformation(adisorderedtable),theresult
ofaCAisanewsequenceoftherowsandcolumnsofatable.

Fig.1.Exampleofawelldiagonalizedmatrix,wheretherowsandcolumnsfollowtheunimodal
model.
Intheearlystagesofthismethoditwasperformedbyarepeatedlymechanicalrearrangingofthe
sequenceoftherowsandthecolumnsofatable.First,thesequenceoftherowswasoptimised,then
thesequenceofthecolumns,thenthesequenceoftherowsagain,andsoon,uptothefinalstable
solution.Thereforethismethodwasalsonamedassequencing,orsequencedating,andsometimes
asseriationorordinationinthesenseofsortingandresorting.Apictureofahelpfulmechanical
solutioncanbefoundatPrin(1980,fig.23).Thefirstcomputersoftwarewasanautomatisationof
thisrepeatedresortingofrowsandcolumnsonly.Nowadaysthemathematicalsolutionismuchmore
sophisticatedandachievedbycalculation,attheendtheCAproposesanewsequenceoftherowsand
columnsandthetablehastoberearrangedonlyonce.InEnglishaswellasinGermanliteraturethe
aspectofchangingthesequenceofrowsandcolumnswasnamedastoorderandordination,the
termisstillinuse.
PRIN,P.(1980).Ladatationdestombesmrovingiennes:historique,mthodes,applications.Genve:
Droz.
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(3)SoftwaretoperformaCA
MostofthewidelyusedprogramsforCAarefreewareoropensourcesoftware,avail
ablewithoutanyfinancialcosts.Youhavetoonlylearnhowtheywork.Thefollowinglist
isapersonalselectionoftheauthor,whohashimselfextendedpracticewithWinBASP
andPAST.Alloftheseprogramsaredistributedwithdocumentation.Itisreallyusefulto
readtheirinstructions.

WinBASP:TheBonnArchaeologicalSoftwarePackage,Version5.43(byScollar,Irwin
etal.)
source:http://www.unikoeln.de/~al001/
[Ifthereareanyproblemswiththisorotherlinks,pleaselookforitbyGoogle]

LookforBaspPasttoo,whichhelpsexchangingdatasetsbetweenWinBASPandPAST
(andotherspreadsheets).
Becautious,thereisasoftwareerrorinBaspPast:WhentransformingdatafromWinBASPtoPAST,thelast
typefromtheWinBASPlistvanishes.Whenyouknowithappens,youcanpreventitwithasimpletrick.
BeforetransferringthedatatoPAST,addanewlasttype(withoutanymeaning)tothedatasetinWin
BASPandthenuseBaspPastforchangethedatasettoPAST.;)

PAST3.0:PAleontologicalSTatisticsVersion3.0(byHammer,yvind)
source:http://folk.uio.no/ohammer/past/index.html
Version3.0ofPASTisunderconstructionintheyears201314.Ifyouhaveproblems
withit,taketheolder,stableversion2.7.
Hammer,.,Harper,D.A.T.&Ryan,P.D.(2001).PAST:Paleontologicalstatisticssoftwarepackagefor
educationanddataanalysis.PalaeontologiaElectronica4(1):9pp.
http://palaeoelectronica.org/2001_1/past/issue1_01.htm

CAPCA2.2(byMadsen,Torsten),anaddintoMsExcel2003or2007
source:http://archaeoinfo.dk/

Othersoftwaresolutionsareavailableat:

WinSERION3.1(byStadler,Peter)
source:http://www.winserion.org/

ThereareseveralpackagesforCAinR,see:http://www.rproject.org/

CANOCO5(byterBraak,Cajo,Univ.Wageningen),apowerfulpackage,butithasto
bepaid.Moreinformation:
http://www.wageningenur.nl/en/ExpertiseServices/ResearchInstitutes/plantrese
archinternational/show/Canocoforvisualizationofmultivariatedata.htm

ThistutorialismainlyforcomputersrunbyMSWindows.Mostofthesespecialpro
gramsrunonlyinWindows,soweareboundtothissoftwaresystem.Theonlyexception
knowntomeisthepowerfulstatisticalpackageRwhichisdistributedforLinuxand
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MAC,too.ThereareseveralpackageswithinRtocalculateaCA.Risforfree,itis
reallypowerfulandoftenusedbypeopleworkingwithstatisticsprofessionally.Butall
myexperiencewithintroducingbeginnersintostatisticsshowsthatRseemstobe
highlycomplicatedtothem.
Ihavebeentold,thatbyemulatingWindowsonaMAC,WinBASPcanbeused,butI
havenoexperiencewiththis.AMACversionofPASTwasannouncedinOctober2013as
forthcoming,atestversionforMACOSXcanbedownloaded(sinceMarch2013)at:
http://folk.uio.no/ohammer/past/Past3.dmgIdonthaveanyexperienceswithit.
(4)Literature
CA was invented several times by different researchers and therefore got different
namesatitsbeginnings.InGermanye.g.itwasnamedasSeriationwhenintroduced
mathematicallybyKlausGoldmannandErnstKammererin1972.Theytookthetermfor
itfromSirWilliamMatthewFlindersPetrie(18531942),whonamedasimilarprocedure
inthelate19thcenturyasseriation(Petrie1899),butitwasdonewithoutmathematics
andcomputersinthesetimes.Nowadaysthescientificcommunityfollowsthename
proposedforitbythefirstoneeverpublishingtheactualtheoryandstatisticalproce
dure,theFrenchstatisticianJeanPaulBenzcri(19731976,Lanalysedesdonnees.2
vols).ThestatisticalliteratureaboutCAisoverwhelminglynumerousandeasytofind.If
youwanttoreadasmuchasnecessaryandasfewaspossible,takethebookofMichael
J. Greenacre (2007) including many practical advices, while Greenacre (1984) is fre
quentlycitedastheactualstandardintroductionintothetheoryofCA.
GREENACRE, M. J. (1984). Theory and application of correspondence analysis. London:
AcademicPress.
GREENACRE,M.J.(2007).Correspondenceanalysisinpractice.2nded.BocaRaton:Chap
man&Hall.

Therearenumerousapplicationsofcorrespondenceanalysisinarchaeology,toomany
tomakeashortlisthere.Theyareeasytofindwiththeusualsearchenginesorlibrary
catalogues. At the end of this text you will find a selected list (Further readings).
EveryoneplanninganarchaeologicalresearchprojectwithaCAshouldtakeoneorafew
ofthemasanexample.Itisusefultochooseexampleswhichareclosetothetopicof
theirownresearchproject,whichisanotherreasontoavoidafixedlistofliterature
here.Asanexceptionmyownbookmightbeallowedtobementionedhere(Siegmund
1998),whereIhavedevelopedachronologyforalargesampleofEarlyMedievalgraves
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fromWesternGermany,andabookonEarlyMedievalchronologyinEnglishlanguage
(Baylissetal.2013),whichgivesaverydetailedinsightintothemethodologyandthe
realworkingprocessofananalysis.
SIEGMUND,F.(1998).MerowingerzeitamNiederrhein.RheinischeAusgrabungen34.Kln:
RheinlandVerlag.
BAYLISS, A., HINES, J., HILUND NIELSEN, K., MCCORMAC, G. & SCULL, CHR. (2013).AngloSaxon
graves and grave goods of the 6th and 7th centuries AD: a chronological framework.
EditedbyJ.Hines& A. Bayliss.TheSocietyforMedievalArchaeologyMonograph33.
London:TheSocietyforMedievalArchaeology.
InItalianlanguage:ALBERTI,G.(forthcoming).[titlestillunknown].ArcheologiaeCalcolato
ri2013(inpress).See:http://soi.cnr.it/archcalc/

(5)Startingwiththepracticalpart:thechoiceofsoftware
CAmeansworkingwithtables.Itisnotjustputtingdataintoatable,tocalculatetheCA
andtohaveafinalresultthen.Oncontrary,itmeansworkingintensivelywithsucha
tableforsometime,changingthingsandexperimentingwithseveralideastogetgood
andstableresultsattheend.Iftherearemanydata,thesetablescouldgetreallylarge
anddifficulttooversee,andaddingorchanginginformationtothesetablesiserror
prone. Therefore I like the program WinBASP, although it looks oldfashioned now.
WinBASPhaspowerfultoolstosupporttheinputandthemanagementofdata,espe
ciallywhenthesedataarebasedoriginallyonlistsinsteadoftables(like:typexyzoccurs
ingravesa,b,c,d,...).IdonthavepracticalexperiencewithWinSERION,butitsdata
management seems to follow a similar concept. Everyone planning a project with
numerousgraves(orfeatures)andtypesshouldhavealookatthesetwoprograms,they
could be very useful. Whenever there is a small table only, the program PAST is my
preference.Itisfreeandreallywelldone,anditoffersmuchmorestatisticalprocedures
thanCAonly.ThisshorttutorialthereforeisbasedonPAST.Ifyouwanttofollowthe
practicalpartofthistutorial,pleasedownloadPASTfromitswebsite(seechapter3)and
installitonyourcomputer.Additionallythistutorialusessomesampledata.Youcan
typethemintoyourcomputerbyyourself,orcopythemfromtheshareddevices.
The next pages are easier to follow, when you print them. You mustnt, but it
makesiteasiertofollowtheinstructionsstepbystep.

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(6)StartingwithPAST
StartPASTnowbydoubleclickingonitsicon.GotoFile,gotoOpenandopenthe
file1a_idealmatrixunordered(fig.2).Youshouldseeatablenow,similartoanExcel
sheet(ortosheete.g.madebyOpen/LibreOfficeCalc).Thetablecontainstentypes
named from A to K and ten features named grave 1 to 10. In general, each type is
presentinthreedifferentgraves,andeachgravecontainsthreedifferenttypes.The
typesarenotedascountedfrequencies,thereforeyouwillseenumbersinthecells,or
zeros,whenthiscombinationofagraveandatypeisntpresent.Ifyouwant,clickon
Bandstomarkit,whichmakesthetableeasiertoread.

Fig.2.Screenshotofourfirstpracticalexample,thedatamatrixloadedintoPAST.

(6.1)PASTstep1:calculatingaCAandreadingthescatterplotofaxis1andaxis2
LetsdoaCAnow.Clickwithyourpointer(mouse/mouse&Control)ontheuppermost
leftcornerofthetable(grave6,typeH),andgotothelowermostrightcorner(grave5,
typeC)tomarkandhighlightthewholetable.Itshouldbeinalightbluetonenow.This
isanimportantstepwhenusingPAST,youmustalwaysselectanactivedatasettobe
analysed by marking it. See the uppermost command line now with File, Edit,
Transform,...andgotothebuttonMultivariate,thenOrdination,thenCorre
spondence(CA)andclickonit(fig.3).ImmediatelyanewwindowCorrespondence
analysisshouldappearonyourscreen.TheCAisalreadydone,letslookattheresults.
The new window shows four flags above: Summary, Scatter plot, Row scores,
Columnscores.ClickonScatterplot(fig.4).Youcandrawthewindowalittlebigger
withyourmouse.Thisscatterplotshows(bydefault)thefirsttwoaxescalculatedbythe
CAandputsinthegraves/rows(black)andthetypes/columns(blue)accordingtothe
resultsoftheCA.Thedotsalltogethershouldformakindofaparabolaorahorseshoe
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now.Ontherightsideofthewindowyoucanchangethedefaultsettingsaccordingto
your needs. If you click e.g. on Plot columns to demark it, the columns/types will
disappearfromthescatterplot.Nowthegraphiseasiertoread.

Fig.3.ScreenshotofPASTimmediatelybeforecalculationtheCA.

Fig.4.Screenshotofthenew,secondwindowofPAST,showingthescatterplotofaxis1(hori
zontally)withaxis2(vertically).

Ourexampletablesusegravesandtypesascategories.ButCAisntrestricted
toanalysisofgraveassemblages.Itwasalsosuccessfullyappliedtofeaturesor
layersofsettlementsandtheirfindings.AnotherusefulapplicationofCAisthe
analysisofobjectsthemselveswiththeobjecttakenasgrave/featureandtheir
attributesastypes.

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(6.2)PASTstep2:changingthesequenceofgravesandtypesaccordingtotheresults
ofCAandanalysingthenewtable
ThescatterplotshowsAxis1"asxaxisthatmeanshorizontallyfromlefttoright(fig4).
Thisisthefirst,thedominantdimensioninthedatasetcalculatedbytheCA.Thesecond
axisAxis2"isshownverticallyfromtoptodown.Weshouldreadthesequenceofthe
gravesalongthehorizontalaxisonly.Itsaysgrave1,2,3,....tograve10,whichisdiffer
entfromthesuccessionofouroriginaltable1a_idealmatrixunordered.Wetakea
lookatthetypesnow:gototherightside,clickonPlotcolumnstomarkthecolumns
(types) and on Plot rows to unmark the rows (graves). Now we can see the new
sequenceofthetypesfromlefttoright,whichistypeA,B,C,...totypeK.Onceagain,
thisisthesequencealongthefirst,dominantaxisofourmaterialascalculatedbythe
CA.
Nowwewilltakealookattheotherflagsabove(fig.5).RowscoresandColumn
scoresshowthegravesandthetypesrespectively,Axis1",2,3,...andnumbersinthe
cells.ThesearethestatisticalresultsoftheCAdisplayedinthescatterplotanalysed
first.Themeaningoftheseaxeswillbegivenlateron,itneedsanexplanation.Theflag
attheleftend,Summary,showsAxis1,2,3...andtheirEigenvalue,%oftotaland
Cumulative.Thesetermswillbeexplainedinamoment.First,letstrytorearrange
ouroriginaltable.Todoso,wegobacktothenewwindowCorrespondenceanalysis
andtheretotheflagScatterplottoredisplayit.Letsstartwiththetypes,displayed
inblue.

Fig.5.TheflagSummaryactivatedshowingthenumericalresultsofourCA.Fortheexplanati

onseechapter7.1.
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Wereturntoourfirst(main)windowwiththe1a_idealmatrixunordered.Thereisa
fieldwithseveralboxesbelowtheuppermostcommandline.Lookatthe(second)box
Clickmode,whereaflagwassetbydefaultatSelect.ClicktoDragrows/columns,
sort.Nowyouareabletodragandmovethecolumnsandtherowsofthetableto
changetheirposition(nottheircontent!).Andsowearedoingnow,werearrangethe
positionofallthecolumnsaccordingtothesequencegiveninthescatterplotinour
window Correspondence analysis. Go with the mouse pointer to the title of the
columnanddragitintothepositionyouwant.ThecolumntypeAshouldbenowthe
firstcolumnofthetable.ThenrearrangetypeB,andsoon.Firststepisdone.Nowwe
have to renovate the sequence of the graves. Go to the window Correspondence
analysis,changefromPlotcolumnstoPlotrowstoseethegravesnow,andread
theirorderfromlefttoright.Nowwerearrangethesequenceofthegravesaccording
tothesamerule.Movegrave1firsttothetop,grave2onerowbelow,andsoon.Atthe
end,thesequenceofthegravesshouldbe1,2,3,...to10,andthesequenceofthetypes
A,B,C,..toK(fig.6).Bothsequencesarenowinexactlytheorderproposedbytheaxis
1calculatedbytheCA.PleaseanalysethefinaltabletoseetheverysimplemodelI
haveproposedforthistutorial:Inthecolumnsthetypesarenonexisting(0),invented
(1),fashionable(2),becomingoutdated(1)andvanished(0)afterwards,andintherows
thegravescontainthreetypes,twoofthemwithonepieceandoneofthemintwo
pieces.Thisismyidealtable.Sorryforgivingsuchsimplenamestogravesandtypes,
butitiseasierthiswaytogainourfirstexperiencewithCA.

Fig. 6. Screen shot of our matrix, with rows and columns rearranged now according to the
resultsoftheCA.

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(7)Somefurtherexplanationsofthestatisticalvalues
Firstofall:ThemostimportantworkwhenperformingaCAisthearchaeologicalpart.
Weneedtodefinetypesorattributeswell,andwehavetoselecttherightones,those
who are able to answer our question. If the question is about chronology which is
assumedherethetypesshouldbesensibletotime,ifoneisaskinge.g.aboutgender,
thetypesshouldbesensibletogender.Wehavetochoosethegraves(orfeatures,or
objectswithattributes)carefully.Whenaskingaboutchronology,closedfeatureslike
welldocumentedgravesarenecessary,whilefeatureswhichcollecteddifferentmaterial
forcenturiesbeforebeingburiedundereartharelessuseful.Thefocusofyourwork
shouldbearchaeology,adeeperunderstandingofthestatisticsisuseful,butnotreally
necessary.Thefollowingshortexplanationofsomeofthestatisticaltermsandback
groundcouldbehandy.
(7.1)Axis,Eigenvalue,Inertia
CA is multidimensional. CA first tries to find the main, the dominant dimension (or
sequence)inthedata,namedasaxis1.Aftercalculatingthefirstsequence,itlooksfor
aseconddimension,whichisindependentfromthefirstone,andgoesonwithathird
dimension,andsoon.Thisisapurelystatisticalprocess,whichissimilartoPrincipal
Component Analysis (alias Factor Analysis), which is extracting several independent
factorsfromasetofdata.Itispossible,thatthesesecond,thirdorhigherdimensionsof
thematerialhavesomearchaeologicalmeaning.Butinthepractiseofarchaeological
researchitisuncommontousethesecondorthirddimension.Thereisanexample,
whatcouldbetheoreticallyachievedwhenworkingwithgraves:axis1meansgender,
axis 2 means time, axis 3 means social status. But this is pure idealistic theory, not
achievedbyanystudyknowntome.Inpracticeweshouldtakecareofunderstanding
axis1,andeventuallyaxis2too.
All those axes together should give an optimal explanation for all the variations
embedded in the whole table. This total variation within the data set is named as
inertia. A part of this whole variation is embedded into the first axis (axis 1). The
importanceinastatisticalsenseofeachaxis(andgrave/feature,type/attribute)isits
eigenvalue.Thehighertheeigenvalueofanaxis,themoreimportantitis.Axis1forms
thefirsteigenvectorofthedataset.Inourexampleitseigenvalueisabout0.95(see
columnEigenvalueintheflagSummaryofthewindowCorrespondenceanalysis;
fig.5),or30.56percentofthetotalinertiaofthewholetable(flag%oftotal).Axis2in
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ourexampleshowsaneigenvalueof0.80,whichis25.86percentofthetotalinertia.The
flagontherightsideaddsthepercentagesaxisbyaxisuptotheend(Cumulative).In
general,thefirstaxisshouldhaveahigheigenvalue,itshouldhaveahighamountofthe
totalinertiaofthetable.Butpracticallythesenumbersshouldnotbeconsideredastoo
important.IhaveseentablesanalysedbyCAwithverygoodlookingeigenvalues,but
without archaeological sense, and on contrary, I have seen very good and valuable
archaeologicalanalyseswithpoornumbersfromastatisticalpointofview.Theproofof
thesuccessandvalueofaCAisnottobefoundbystatisticsinthesenumbers,butby
archaeologicalarguments.
(7.2)Rowandcolumnscores
Nowwecanunderstandtherowandcolumnsscores.Eachaxisreflectsadimensionof
itsown,andthescoreshowsthepositionofagrave/featureoratype/attributewithin
thisdimension.Therowandcolumnscoresarethevaluesdisplayedinthescatterplot.
Therearemorethantwoaxes,andthereforewecanlookatmorethanonetwodimen
sionalscatterplots.Wewillseethislaterinanotherexercise.
Itisimportanttoknow,thateachaxisshowsawelldefinedsequenceandthescores
displaythepositionofanindividualtypeorgravewithinthissequence,butthereisno
defineddirectionofanysequence.Thedirectionofanysequencecanbefreelychanged
intoitsopposite,e.g.bymultiplyingallvalueswith1.Butchangingthedirectionwould
notchangethesequenceitselfandwouldnotchangethedistanceoftheindividualcases
toeachother,whichisgivenbythescores.Togiveaneasierexplanationforarchaeolo
gists:whenasequencepresumablymeanstime,thepositionofeachcase(grave,type)
withinthistimesequenceisstatisticallywellcalculated,butthereisnoanswertothe
question:whereistheoldend,whereisthenewendofthissequence.Thisanswercant
begivenbyCA,ithastobederivedfromexternalarchaeologicalargumentslikestratig
raphyorradiocarbondates.
(7.3)Behindthefirstdimension(axis)ofaCA
Aswehaveseenabove,CAusuallycalculatesmorethanoneaxisuptoastatisticalpoint,
whereafurtherextractionofaxesisntjustifiedanylonger.Thenumberoftheseex
tractedaxesdependsonthedata,itisntfixed.InmostarchaeologicalapplicationsofCA
onlythefirstaxisorthefirstfewaxeshavemeaningandalltherestcantbeinterpreted.
Theparabolaor horseshoeformedbythescatterplotofaxis1withaxis2(fig.4)is
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purelystatisticalresult.Whenthedatafollowtheassumedunimodalmodelideally,axes
1and2showssuchaparabola.Inthesecasesthereisalsoaspecialcurvewhendisplay
ingaxis1withaxis3andaxis2withaxis3.Thetypicalshapeofthesecurvesshouldbe
knowntoeverybody,andthereforewewillstudyitnow.
Open the table 1b_idealmatrixordered with PAST, calculate a CA and display the
scatterplot,justaswediditbefore.Thescatterplotofaxis1withaxis2withthegraves
andtypesshouldbevisiblenowformingaparabola.Thiswellshapedparabolaindicates,
that our data follow the unimodal model well. Just on the right side of the window
Correspondenceanalysistherearesomebuttonswehaventusedtillnow.Onthetop
therearetwobuttonswiththeheadlineXaxisandYaxis.Gotothesecondone(Y
axis),clickonaxis2andgotoaxis3,click.Thescatterplotimmediatelychanges,nowit
displaysaxis1horizontally(likebefore)andaxis3vertically(fig.7).Thedotsfollowa
lyingSshapedcurvenow,whichistypicalandonceagainclosetothemathematically
expectedideal.

Fig.7.ScatterPlotofaxis1(horizontally)withaxis3(vertically).

GototheuppermostbuttonwiththeheadlineXaxisnow,clickonAxis1",gotoAxis
2"andclick.Onceagainthegraphchanges,nowdisplayingaxis2horizontallyandaxis3
vertically(fig.8).Youshouldbelookingatacurvelikethesketchofafishnow.Follow
thepointsfromgrave1,2,...to10withyoureyestorecognisethecourseofthisspecial
curve,whichisonceagaintypicalandclosetothemathematicallyexpectedideal.

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Fig.8.Scatterplotofaxis2(horizontally)withaxis3(vertically).

Thesethreedisplaysaxes1with2,1with3and2with3arethreelooksatathree
dimensionalcubewithathreedimensionalcloudofpointswithin.Welookedatitfrom
threedifferentsidesseeingonlyplanetwodimensionalviews.Ifyouarereallyinter
estedinthiscomplicatedcurve,youcouldtrybuildingaphysicalmodellookinglikethat,
butthisisntreallynecessary.Forourpurposesherethetwodimensionalscatterplots
suitwell,wehadachancetoseetheseidealcurvesonce.Youshouldtrytoremember
themasapattern,whichcouldbeseeninyourfutureanalyseswithlessidealdataas
well.
(7.4)CAandseriation
Nowwearereadytoanswerthequestion:WhatisthedifferencebetweenaCAanda
seriation?Well,aswehaveseen,theCAismultidimensionalandinmanycasesoffers
severalaxes.Seriationisnt,itgivesonesequence,i.e.aonedimensionalsolution.The
sequenceproposedbyaseriationwhenproperlydoneisanequivalentofthefirstaxis
ofaCA.Thereforeolderstudieswhichanalysedarchaeologicalproblemswiththehelp
ofaseriationarenotincorrect,theresultofaCAshouldbeidenticalorverysimilar.
(7.5)Whatisrelevant,thecurveortheaxes?
Afterseeingthesecurvesandtheirtypicalcourseausualquestionis,whichsequenceis
therelevantone:thepositionofapointinthecourseofoneofthesetypicalcurves,or
thepositionofapointinthesenseofaxis1?Thelastansweriscorrect.Thepositionof
thepointshastobereadalongtheaxes,notalongthecurves.Togetabetterideaofthe
realdistancesalongaxis1(and2,3,...)statisticianshaveinventedavariantoftheCA
namedDetrendedCorrespondenceanalysis(DCA).HereausualCAiscomputedfirst,but
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afterwardsthecurvesarerecalculatedintoaline.Theideais,thatthedistancesbe
tweensinglepointsgivenbyaDCAaremoreaccuratethanthedistancesalongtheaxis
ofaCA.Perhaps,butthedifferenceisasmalloneandhasfrommypointofviewno
meaningforthearchaeologicalpractice.
IfyouareinterestedinperformingaDCA,youcouldeasilycalculateitwithPAST.Go
back to our table, mark (highlight) the relevant rows and columns and go along the
uppermost line to the flags Multivariate, then Ordination, and then Detrended
correspondence(DCA)insteadofCorrespondence(CA).Thatsit.Thenewwindow
displaysaxis1andaxis2asrecalculatedbytheDCA.Thesequenceofthetypesand
gravesalongthefirstaxishasntchanged,butthescaleandthedistancesareslightly
differentnow.
(7.6)Theparabolatest
SometimesinarchaeologicalapplicationsofCAyouwillread,thataparabolatestwas
done.Couldbe,thatyoudontknowthistestandconsultyourtextbookonstatistics,
where topics like chisquare test, MannWhitney Utest or KruskalWallis Htest are
introducedandexplainedindetail.Butyouwontfindanyparabolatestthere.Thisis
notthefaultofyourtextbook.Theparabolatestisamyth.Thetermdoesntmeana
seriousstatisticaltest.Thismeans,thatsomeonehadalookatthedisplayofhisresults
ofaCA,thescatterplotofaxes1withaxis2.Hecomparedthedistributionofthepoints
inhisdisplayvisuallywiththeexpectedshapeofaparabola,justaswehaveseenit
above(fig.4).Thatsit,thefamousparabolatest.
It can really be worth checking whether the results of a CA show a parabola when
displayingaxis1withaxis2.Itshows,thatthedatasetisclosetotheunimodalmodel.
But it is never something like a serious statistical test. So, please never talk about a
parabolatest.
Horseshoeorparabola?thatsthequestion.Aswehavelearntalready,thereis
norealdirectionofthesequenceoftheaxes,theycanbeflippedoverfreely.
Sometimesthedisplayofaxis1withaxis2formstheshapeofaparabolawithtwo
endsup,sometimesitformsahorseshoewithtwoendsdown.Thefinalmathe
maticalsolutionwithendsupordowndependsonthesequenceofthedatainput
andonarandomprocess,thereisnodifferentmeaninginit.Inarealanalysisitis
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useful to make the displays comparable to each other, all of them showing a
parabola, or all of them showing a horse shoe just as you prefer. European
archaeologistsoftenpreferaparabola,Americanarchaeologistsoftenprefera
horseshoe.Itisimportanttoknowthatthereisnorealdifferencebetweenthem,
itsonlydifferentconvention.
(8)GainingmoreexperiencewithCA
Itsobvious,thatweneedsomeintroductionintotheinterpretationoftheresultsofa
CAandintothepossibilitiestogetabetterideahowtoworkwithaCAandhowto
interpretitsresults.Beforethat,Iwouldliketostudyfurthersomeartificialtableswith
simulateddata.Exercisesofthiskindwillgiveyoumoreexperiencewiththesetables
andpicturesbeforeworkingonarealarchaeologicalproblem.
(8.1)Casestudywithanunspecifictype
Matrix2_idealmatrix_withoneunsensibletypeshowsanusualcaseofrealapplica
tions: The table is dominated by welldefined, closed features (graves) and by time
sensibletypes(fig.9).Butthereisonetypewhichoccursalloverthetime.Archaeolo
gistsoftennamesuchatypealongrunner.Tokeepthingssimple,thistableisalready
putintotheidealsequence,soyoucanoverseeitsstructurefromtheverystart.

Fig.9.Themodeltablewiththeadditionaltypeunsensible(rightside).

PleaseactivatePAST,loadthistableandlookatit,thenperformaCAandlookatthe
windowCorrespondenceanalysisforthescatterplotofaxis1toaxis2.Thescatter
plotofthegraves(i.e.rows)looksverysimilartotheplotderivedfromourfirst(ideal)
tablebutthescatterplotofthetypes(columns)isdifferentnow(fig.10).Whilethe
types A to K are sorted in the same way as before, we can see the type named
unsensibleinthemidofourparabolaorhorseshoe.Well,thisisthetypicalpicture.
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When a table shows a generally good and stable sequence, one or some few types,
which are not sensible to the underlying dimension time in our assumption are
collectedinthemidoftheopenparabola.Youcanusethisphenomenontogethints,
whichgravesortypesarenotreallyusefulfortheanalysis.

Fig.10.Scatterplotofaxis1(horizontally)withaxis2(vertically)oftheCAofthetableinfig.9
withtypeunsensible.

(8.2)Casestudywithmixedgraves
The same could happen to features (graves), as shown in 3_idealmatrix_with
unspecificgrave.PleaseloadthetableintoPASTandperformaCA.Thenewgrave
namedcollectorcontainsonepieceofeachtype.Justliketheunsensibletypeinthe
examplebefore,thisgraveisnowinthemidoftheparabola,whiletheothergravesand
typesarearrangedasexpected.
Thenexttable4_idealmatrix_withmixedgravegivesamoredramaticversionofan
unsuitablefeature(fig.11).Thenewgravemixedisarealmixtureoutofthetypes
fromgrave2and9,withadditionaltypesinthemid.AftercalculatingtheCAwecansee
thatthegeneralsequenceofthegravesandtypesisstillsimilartothoseofthefirst,
perfecttable.Butthescatterplotshowsdistortionsnow(fig.12).Itisnolongersymmet
ric,andthesequence,especiallyforthetypeHtotypeIisslightlychanged.Whilethe
modeltablesnumber2and3withanunsensibletypeorgravejustkepttheruleuni
modal,ourmixedgraveshowsabimodalcollectionoftypes,combiningaveryoldand
averynewassemblage.Thisviolationoftheunimodalmodelhasbiggerinfluenceonthe
resultingsequenceofourtable.

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Fig.11.Modeltablewithanadditionalmixedgrave(bottomline).

Fig.12.Scatterplotofaxis1(horizontally)withaxis2(vertically)oftheCAofthetableinfig.11
withamixedgrave.

Ourtableissmallincomparisontoarealdatasetandtherebymoresensibletosingle
changes.Youcaneasilyprovethisbymakingourmodeltableslarger,i.e.byaddingmore
artificialtypesandgraves.Real,largertablescantbealteredbyasinglecasesoeasily.
But our observation shows, how and where these violations work. Types or graves,
whicharenotsosensibletotheunderlyingdimension(timeinourmodelassumption)
liketheothertypesandgraves,cantbesituatedintheresultingsequencereallywell,
but their general influence on the quality of the final sequence is small. Real mixed
features(graves),combiningtypicalassemblagesofdifferenttimes,ortypes,whichre
occur after becoming outdated already, are more influential. When those disturbing

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casesarerare,youwillfindanddetectthembytheCA,butwhentheyformabigger
amountofthedataset,theCAwontgivesuitableresults.
(8.3)Casestudywithweakconnection
CAisanalysingassemblagesandcombinationoftypeswithinthem.Atypeexistingin
onlyonegraveoragravecontainingonlyonetypedoesntshowacombinationand
thereforeitisofnovaluefortheanalyticalprocess.Suchcasesshouldbeexcludedwhen
youtrytofindandestablishasequence.Theminimalrequirementforourtableis:each
gravecontainstwotypesatleast,andeachofthosetypeshastoberepresentedintwo
gravesatleast.Butalthoughrespectingthisrule,partsofatablecouldbefilledwithfew
dataonly.Toseethisinpractice,load5_idealmatrix_withweakconnection(fig.13),
lookatthetableandcalculateaCA.Incomparisontothematricesanalysedbefore,this
matrixshowshigherfrequenciesoftypesinthegravesatbothendsofthetable,butin
themidpartitwasthinned,lookatgrave5and6andattypeEandFespecially.The
aforementionedminimalconditionsarestillkept.

Fig.13.Modifiedmodeltablewithgravesandtypesmoreconnectedtoeachotherandamid
partwithveryfewcombinationsonly.

ThescatterplotoftheCAmirrorsthesechangesandtheresultingstructure(fig.14):
typeA,B,CandDareplottedclosetoeachotherononeend,andtypeG,H,IandKare
distributedasusualontheotherend.Whilethefirstonesaredrawntogetherbytype
frequenciesupto4,thelastonesshowtypefrequenciesonlyupto3.Themidofour
parabola is thinned with the biggest distance between type E and F. This is just the
structuretobeseeninthetable.Whatdoesthisexampleshow?Gravesandtypescan
bemoreintensivelycombinedwitheachother,andtheycanshowmoredistancesto
eachotherthanusual.ThescatterplotofaCAshowsthesedensitiesandthinnerzones,

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whichcouldbetakenasaninstrumentfordefiningphasesinachronologicallyordered
material.ItisnotnecessarytofollowtheresultsofaCA,whenthereareothergood
reasonsforaphasing.Whentherearenootherorbetterarguments,pictureslikethis
canbeusedforphasingthesequence.InourcasewecouldusethegapbetweentypeE
andtypeFtodrawaborderlinebetweentwophases,maybewithgrave6orderedtothe
sidewithgrave7ff.,becauseitstandsalittleclosertothem.

Fig.14.Scatterplotofaxis1(horizontally)withaxis2(vertically)oftheCAofthetableinfig.13
withamidpartwithfewcombinationsonly.

(8.4)Dontoveremphasisethescatterplot,lookatthetable!
Aswehavelearntfromtheseexperimentswithourartificialdatasets,thescatterplotof
axis1withaxis2couldgivevaluableinsightsintothecharacteristicsandstructureof
yourdata.Buttheanalysisofthescatterplotofaxis1withaxis2shouldnotbeused
alone and overestimated. At the end you have to look intensively at the final table,
where you can see the real combinations of the types and the graves. Sometimes
especiallyatthebeginningofarealprojecttherearesomeerrorsinthetable,often
simpletypos.Youwontfindthembylookingatthescatterplot,youcanfindthemby
controllingthetable.
Anothertypicalerrormayoccurwhilepreparinganddefiningthetypology.Oftena
largegroupofobjectsisorganizedbyanarchaeologistintoseveralwelldefinedtypes.
Usuallyclosetotheendofthisprocessofclassifyingalltheobjectsoneorfewpiecesare
left.Theydontfitwellintoanyofthesetypes.Anarchaeologistoftenfeelsacertain
neednottoleaveanyobjectsunclassified,sothosesinglepiecesareaddedtothemost
plausiblecategory.WhenperformingaCAlateron,manyofthesedecisionsaboutthe
unusualobjectsdontcomeupagain,becausetheywereclassifiedwell.Butsometimes

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errors in these decisions are detected by the CA later on, as unusual combinations
disturbing the sequence. When a sorted table shows a wellshaped longish diagonal
cloudoffrequenciesinthemid,youshouldreaditcarefullyrowbyrowandcolumnby
column.Youcanoftendetectoutliersthen,i.e.asinglecombinationlyingfarawayfrom
therestofthecloudofpoints.Thosecombinationscanbetrue,outliersareapossible
phenomenon!Ontheotherhand,sometimesyoucanfindyourproblematictypological
solutionshere,andyoushouldrethinkthemnow.
(9)Alookattwotableswithrealarchaeologicaldata
Tillnowwehavecollectedsomeexperiencewithartificialtables.Itstimetolookat
somerealarchaeologicaldatasets.Twoexamplesaregivenhere:Langweiler2_Stehli
1973p91fig49"andbeads_KochU1977table4".Thefirstdatasetderivesfromthe
analysisofthesettlementLangweiler2"fromtheLinearPotteryculture(ca.5.500
4.900BC)inWesternGermany(Stehli1973,91fig.49).Itshowssinglefeaturesfromthis
settlement(rows)andtypesofthemaindecorationsofthepottery(columns).Thiswas
anearlystudyofthisproblem,outperformedbyactualstudiesnow,butitwastomy
knowledgethefirsttime,whenthefrequencyoftypesincombinationswasrespected
andcalculated,whileuptothenseriationwasbasedonthepresenceandabsenceof
typesonly.Intheoriginalpublicationthefeaturesweredividedintothreephases;our
tableshowsthesephases1to3notedasthefirstlettersofthelabelofthefeatures.
OurdatasetusedasaninputhereshowsthesequenceproposedbyStehli(1973).When
performingaCAwiththistableyouwillrecognize,thatthethreephasesproposedby
Stehliarereproducedverywell,buttheorderproposedbytheCAdiffersinsomedetails
fromtheproposalpublishedbyStehli(1973).Theparabolaisntformedaswellasinour
artificial tables. But this is normal especially when analysing assemblages of findings
fromsettlements.Thescatterplotofaxis1withaxis2couldbereadasahint,thatthe
features10485and20821incorporatetypesfromdifferenttimes,andthatthedecora
tiontypea12isnotverysensitivetotimebutalongrunner.Thesearehintsonly,
whichshouldbearguedindetailonanarchaeologicalground.Thesequencegetsbetter
inatechnicalsensewhenthosetwofeaturesandtypea12areexcludedfromCA.

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OurnextexampleistakenoutofthebookofU.Koch(1977),whereshestudiedthe
beadsandthestringsofbeadsfromtheEarlyMedievalcemeterynearSchretzheim,
SouthernGermany(ca.530665AD).Thedecoratedbeadswereanalysedandclassified
intodistincttypes.Thetableshowsthesetypes(columns)andtheirrepresentationin
thestringsofbeads(rows),whichwerewornbyEarlyMedievalwomenasnecklaces.A
copyofKochsprintedtable(Koch1977,table4)isenclosedhereattheend(fig.18).The
originalsequenceofthistablewashandmadebyU.Kochandobviouslyfollowsadiffer
entconcept:thelatesttypedatesthecomplex.Thisisanusualapproache.g.ofnumis
matistswhendealingwithtreasurehoardsofcoins.Wewilldiscussthemethodological
aspectlater(seechapter10).Therowsinourtableshowthestringsofbeads,whichare
labelled in a special way: the leading number gives the chronological phasing of the
gravesaccordingtotheactualchronologyofthecemeteryofSchretzheim(Koch2004),
followedbyahyphen,followedbythegravenumberasintheoriginaltable(Koch1977,
table4).Undatedgravesaremarkedbytwoleadinghyphensbeforetheirnumber.With
thehelpofthiscodingtechniquewecanreadtheresultsoftheCAeasier,becauseone
canseeimmediately,whetherandhowfarthesequenceofthebeadsproposedbythe
CAisinaccordancetotheactualchronologyofthecemetery.
WhenaCAofthetableofbeadsfromSchretzheimiscomputed,itsordershowsagood
concordancewiththeoverallchronologyofthecemeteryofSchretzheim.However,the
resultsdifferfromthesequenceoftheoriginallypublishedtable.Thedisplayofaxis1
withaxis2showsawellformedparabola,butthereseemtobesomeoutliers:grave6
258and7420andbeadtype33,1516.Becausewecantgointothearchaeological
detailsheretoanalysethereasons,wetakethesimplesolutionandremovethemasan
experimentfromthedataset(highlighttheroworcolumnrespectively,then>>Edit
>>Remove).RecalculatetheCAandcomparetheresults,...
Stehli,P.(1973).Keramik.InFarrugia,J.P.,Kuper,R.,Lning,J.&Stehli,P.(eds.).
DerbandkeramischeSiedlungsplatzLangweiler2,GemeindeAldenhoven,Kreis
Dren.RheinischeAusgrabungen13(pp.57100).Bonn:RheinlandVerlag.
Koch,U.(1977).DasReihengrberfeldbeiSchretzheim.GermanischeDenkmler
derVlkerwanderungszeitA13.Berlin:Gebr.Mann.
Koch,U.(2004).Schretzheim2Archologisches.ReallexikonderGermanischen
Altertumskundevol.27(pp.294302).Berlin:deGruyter.

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(10)Thelatesttypedatesthecomplex?Or:howdoesCAdate?
Asmentionedabove,manynumismatists,especiallywhendealingwithhoards,follow
theconcept,thatthelatestpieceinanassemblageisdatingit.Convertingthismodel
intoanorderedtable,thetableshouldlookliketheonecitedabove(Koch1977,table
4):arectangulartablewithoneemptytriangleandanothertrianglefilledwithfrequen
ciesmostdenselyaccumulatedalongthediagonalborderlinebetweenbothareas.This
picturediffersfromthetablesgeneratedbyaCA,whichshowasymmetricalaccumula
tionoffrequenciesalongthediagonal.ThetablederivedbyaCAmirrorstheunimodal
model,whichorderstypesandgravesintoamid.TherebytheCAestimatesthemost
probablemean(!)timeofanassemblageandthemeantimeofatype,notthetimeof
thelastpiece.Gravegoodsareacollection:somepiecesarerecent,somepiecescanbe
old.Theyallweredepositedintheearthwhenthecorpsewasburied,butsomeofthem
mightbeacquiredbythedeadintheirearlyyears,someinthelastdaysoftheirlife,
some pieces can be produced for the occasion of this burial. The CA draws all this
togethertoameanestimationfortheassemblage.Ifyouthinkthisconceptisntsuitable
foryourfindings,dontuseCA.
Nowyoumightask,whetherthereisanotherstatisticalsolutioninsteadofCA,
moresuitabletothemodelthelastpiecedatesthecomplex?Ihavetodisap
point you, because there is no suitable and statistically valid solution for this
differentconcept.Ifyoutrye.g.toanalysethistablefollowingthelinearmodel
byaPCA(seechapter11.5),youwilleasilyrecognizethatthedeviationfromthe
originalresultsofKoch(1977)andthechronologyofthecemeteryismoresignifi
cantthanthedeviationfromtheresultsderivedbyourCA.Frommypointofview
themodelthelatesttypedatesthecomplexisnotsuitabletoarchaeological
problemsbutthisismypersonalopiniononly.
(11)Itstimetostartwithyourownprojectsnow
Nowyouarereadytoperformyourownprojects.Itwouldbethebesttouseyourown,
realdata.Thefollowingpartofthistutorialwillgivesomeusefulpracticaladvicesfor
yourfirststepsintoCA.
(11.1)Datapreparation,or:Howdoesasuitabletablelooklike?
This question isnt as silly as it looks like at a first glance. Usually the archaeological
informationispreparedinastructurelikethat:grave1containsaswordtype1anda
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shieldtype44;grave2containsaswordtype2andashieldtype55.Onecouldtrans
formthisinformationintosuchatable(fig.15):

sword

shield

grave1

type1

type44

grave2

type2

type55

Fig.15.Simpletableshowingthetypesfoundinthegraves.

ButthisisntatablesuitableforCA.Furthermoreyouhavetotransferyourdataintoa
tableofsuchkind(fig.16)

sword

sword

shield

shield

type1

type2

type44

type55

grave1

grave2

Fig.16.Modifiedtablewiththesameinformationasfig.15,butreadynowtobeanalysed
byaCA.

Eachrowrepresentsasinglegrave(orfeature),eachcolumnrepresentsasingletype(or
attribute)now,withthenumbersinthecellsrepresentingpresenceorabsenceofthis
typeinthisgrave,orthefrequency.Itisimportanttorecognisethedifferencebetween
thetwotablesandtopreparetheinputcorrectly.
There is another kind of table often used in older archaeological literature, but not
suitableforbeinganalysedwithaCA.Imeanquadraticsymmetrictables,wherethe
rowsaswellasthecolumnsshowtypes,andthecellsshow,howoftenatypeiscom
binedwithanothertype.Thesetablesaresymmetricwithadiagonalinthemid,showing
the combination of a type with itself, while the two triangles show symmetrically
mirroredthenumberofcombinationsofeachtypewiththeothertypes.Nowadays
thesetablesarenamedBurttableinthestatisticalliterature.Inoursmallcollectionof
examplesIhaveaddedatablenamed8_burttable_fromidealmatrix1",whereIhave
transformedtheinformationinourtable1intoaBurtmatrix(fig.17).AsfarasIknowof
archaeologyaBurttablewasfirstusebyHeinzGatermann(1942,p.11fig.1)when
analysingthedecorationofbeakerpotteryinwesternGermany.HisstudyinspiredDavid
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L.Clarke(1970,p.429,469)tousethosematricesinhisbookaboutthebeakerpottery
inGreatBritainandIreland.

Fig.17.OuridealmatrixtransformedintoaBurttable,whichisnotsuitabletobeanalysed
byaCA.

SuchtablesshouldnotbeanalysedbyausualCA;althoughthisistechnicallypossible,
theresultsarenotcorrect.Greenacre(2007,pp.137152)explainsthestatisticalprob
lemsofsuchprocessandsketchesoutapossiblesolution,namedJointCorrespondence
Analysis(JCA).ButaJCAneedsadifferentwayofcalculation.Fromanarchaeological
pointofviewthesetablesarealsodifficulttoworkwith,becausetheoriginalarchaeo
logical information the combination of types in graves cannot be seen any more.
Whenyouareworkingwithsuchatableandhavetochangesomethinglikemodifyinga
typologicaldecisionortodeleteanunsuitabletypeoramixedgrave,thisisntaneasy
procedure. So, even when applying a JCA instead of CA to a Burt table gives a valid
statisticalsolution,dontusesuchtables.
GATERMANN,H.(1942).DieBecherkulturenderRheinprovinz.Wrzburg:Triltsch.
CLARKE, D. L.(1970).BeakerpotteryofGreatBritainandIreland.Cambridge:University
Press.
NEUFFER, E. M. (1965). Eine statistische Bearbeitung von Kollektivfunden. Bonner Jahr
bcher165,pp.2856.
GEBHR,M.(1970).BeigabenvergesellschaftunginmecklenburgischenGrberfeldernder
lterenrmischenKaiserzeit.NeueAusgrabungenundForschungeninNiedersachsen6,
pp.93116.

(11.2)Youneedgoodmaterial,goodquestionsandasuitablebenchmark
Toachieveagoodchronologyyouneedalargeamountofmaterialandawelldone
typologystatedOscarMonteliusintheintroductionofhisfamousbookonarchaeologi
calmethodsin1903.Thissimpletruthisstillvalid.Thetypologymustbesuitablefor
yourspecificquestions.Ifyouareinterestedinchronology,thetypeshavetobesensible
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tothedimensionoftime.Ifyouareinterestedinquestionsofsocialstatus,thetypes
havetobesensibletothisspecificquestion.Thereforetheoneandonlyoptimaltypo
logyforacertainmaterialdoesntexist,butthereareseveralones.Abrooche.g.willbe
classifiedbyitsstyleforchronologicalquestions,butmaybeclassifiedafteritsmaterial
(gold,silver,bronze)oritsweightforasocialanalysis,orafteritspositioninagravefor
theanalysisofcostume.
Clearlyitisnotpossibletoachieveyourgoalswithtoofewfindings.Itisdifficult,butnot
impossible,toanswerthequestion:howmanywillbeenough?CAhelpstofindthe
answer.How?Byobservingthestabilityofyourresults.Wheneverarealprojectisdone,
thereisatimeoftrialanderror,whenyouaretryingtogetbetterresultsstepbystep.
Thisisanimportantpartoftheresearchprocess.Aftersometimeyouwillrecognize(I
hope),thatfurthertriestoimproveyoursequencedontchangeitanymore.Dontbe
disappointed,butbehappyinstead:thestadiumofstabilityhasbeenreached.When
everyouaddanewfindingtoyourtablenow,theadditionshouldbeintegratedinthe
sequence well, but without having much influence on the sequence of the table in
general,incomparisontotheresultsbefore,withoutthisspecialfinds(gravesortypes).
Whenananalysishasreachedthispoint,itisstable,yourmaterialisvastenough.
Ifyoucantaddanynewfindingstoyourtabletotestitsstability,youcantrytheoppo
site:deleteonetypeoronegraveandlook,whathappens.Whentheeffectontheorder
ofthewholetableislow,stabilityhasbeenachieved.Thisconceptseemstobealittle
handmade,butitisnt.Statisticaltheorynamesthisprocessasjackknifingandboot
strapping (Efron & Tibshirani 1993; Chernick 1999; Good 2013). Jackknifing means
deletingsinglecasesfromadataset,andbootstrappingmeansdoingthissystematically
andobservingtheresultsaftereachstep.Deletecase1fromthedataset,performyour
analysisandsavetheresults.Putbackthedeletedcase1toyourdataset,deletecase2
now,performyouranalysisandsavetheresults,andsoon.Thisprocessisoftennamed
assampling.Attheendyoucananalysealltheseresults,inourcasethescoresofthe
typesand the features.Theresultsshouldbesimilartoeachother,anditwouldbe
interesting to identify those single cases, which are responsible for the single most
deviantresults.Analysethemfromanarchaeologicalpointofview.Theycouldindicate
theweaknessesofyourtable,e.g.baddefinedtypesormixedgraves,ortheycould
simply be very influential, without any error. Analysing your results type/grave by
type/gravecouldtakeweeksofyourprecioustime!Buttherearewaystodothissys
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tematicallywiththehelpofacomputer.Ifyouplanaprojectofthiskind,havealookat
thestatisticalpackageR,whereyoucouldwriteascripttodothesedeletions,addi
tionsandcomparisonsautomatically(Good2013).
CHERNICK,M.R.(1999).BootstrapMethods.Apractitioner'sguide.WileySeriesinprobabil
ityandstatistics.NewYork:JohnWiley&Sons.
EFRON, B. & TIBSHIRANI, R. J. (1993). An Introduction to the Bootstrap. Monographs on
StatisticsandAppliedProbability57.NewYork:Chapmann&Hall.
GOOD,PH.I.(2013).IntroductiontostatisticsthroughresamplingmethodsandR.2nded.
HobokenNY:Wiley.
MONTELIUS,O.(1903).DietypologischeMethode.Stockholm:SelbstverlagdesVerfassers.

Onceagain:astatisticallyvalidatedresultisnice,butthearchaeologicalvalidationis
moreimportant.Whenstartingananalysis,abenchmarkisneeded,ahypothesiswhich
canbeusedtocompareitwiththeresultsofyouractualCA.Inthecaseofachronologi
calquestionthiscouldbethearchaeologicalstandardchronologyusedtillnow,itcould
beastratigraphicalinformation,orsomeradiocarbondates,ordatedcoinsinsomeof
theassemblages,orthechorological/topochronologicalanalysisofacemetery,which
hadgrownsystematically.Itisnotnecessarytohaveinformationofthatkindforallof
yourgraveassemblages,butforsomeofthemyoushouldhaveit.Thebestwouldbe,if
youwroteashortchapterforyourlaterpublicationjustatthebeginningofyourproject,
beforestartingwiththeCA,whereyouexplicitlydescribeandreasonthesebenchmarks
ortesthypothesesofyourstudy,foryourselfaswellasforyourreaders.Afterthisstep
you can clearly judge each change of your table in comparison to your benchmark:
whethertheresultsarebetterthanbeforeornot.
WhenworkingwiththetableandthescatterplotsoftheCA,itisimportantforyour
practicalprocesstohaveyourbenchmark(s)distinguishable.Iproposetoembedthis
informationintothelabellingofthetypesandfeatures,e.g.byaddingspecialsignsto
the type or grave names. Yes, just as I have done it in the examples 6_Langweiler
2_Stehli1973p91fig49"and7_beads_KochU1977table4".Onecanimmediatelysee
theconventionaldatingofthegraves,andthusreadandunderstandtheresultsofthe
CAeasier.

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(11.3)Whatisallowed,andwhatshouldntbedone?Somepracticaladvices
NotableandnoCAisreadyrightaway.Inmostofthecasesthefinalresultisaneffect
ofalongprocessoftrialanderror.Whatareyourpossibilities?Youcan'tchangeassem
blagesindividually,e.g.deleteasingle"disturbing"typewithinagrave.Butyoucan
deleteunsuitablegravesasawhole,wheneverthereareargumentstodoso,likegraves
mixedbyerrorsduringtheexcavationorduringstorageinaunprofessionalmagazine.
Youcandeleteunsuitabletypesasawhole,forexamplewhentheyaretoounspecificin
relation to your question. Selecting useful features and types or deleting unsuitable
findings is an important part of the enhancement of the table. Before starting the
workingprocess,youshoulddevelopsomerulesandcriteriafortheseoperations,and
theserulesshouldbeexplainedandshouldbeapartofyourpublication.
Itisoftendifficultandneedssometimeoftrialanderrortoselectthesetoftypesyou
wanttouse.Iftheyareallveryspecificandfinegraded,youmighthavefewcombina
tionsonly.Ifyouintegrate(too)manyunspecific,roughlydefinedtypes,youenrichthe
numberofyourcombinations,butyouwontgetadetailedchronologythen.Thereisno
fixedruleofsolvingthesequestions,youhavetotryfindingagoodsolution,andagood
explanationforyourdecisions.
Whatcanbedone,whenpartsofyourtableshowtoofewcombinationsandtoofew
connections to the rest of the material? Maybe you could look for some additional
materials,e.g.fromcomparablefindingplacesnearby.Rethinkyourtypology,itcould
betoorough,ortoodetailed.Sometimesitisusefultosplitsomeofyourtypesinto
attributes. Instead of types of belt buckles as a whole it could make sense to divide
them:toputonerealgroupofobjectsonceintoyourtableasabeltbuckletypeafter
shape,andasecondtimeasabeltbuckletypedecoratedinstylexyz.Suchanapproach
couldhelpyoutobridgeorstrengtheninsufficientzonesinatable.
Sometimesitisusefultotightentheruleeachgravecontainstwotypesatleast,each
typehastoberepresentedintwogravesatleast.Especiallywhenanalysingarchaeo
logicalassemblagesderivedfromsettlementsitcanbeusefultorisethisminimumfrom
twotothreeorfour,whichwillexcludesingularitiesmoreefficiently.
Ontheotherhandtoovastassemblagecanruinthequalityofasequenceaswell.When
asinglefeaturecomprisesmuchmorefindingsthanalltheotherfeatures,itwilldomi
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natetheorder,whichisoften(butnotalways)inappropriate.Fromanarchaeological
pointofviewitislikely,thatthisfeaturecollecteditsmaterialforalongertimethanthe
others,whichreducesitsvalueforchronologicalstudies.Thereforeonecouldtrytoform
anotherrule:excludeoverlyfrequenttypesandassemblageswithtoomanyfindings.
Inarealresearchprocessthereisalongtimeofworkingwiththetablesandmaking
decisionsaboutgravesandtypestobeincludedorexcludedfromCA.Wheretostart?
Shouldyoustartwithallthematerialandsuccessivelyeliminateassemblagesandtypes
whichseemtodisturbthesequence?Orshouldyoustartwithacoreofwellknown
goodsuitabletypesandgraves?Afterhavingthefirstgoodandstableresultontheir
basisyoucouldaddfurthermaterialtothiscoreinaprocessoftrialanderror.Simple
answer:thereisnosingleandeasywaytoHeaven.Myprofessionalexperienceshows
thatitisbettertostartwithawellreasonedcoreifyouareabeginner.Averyhelpful
techniquetogetyourownway:writeitdownbeforeyoustartwiththeCA.Attheend,
thewholeresearchdesignhastobepublished.Youcanoftentestacertainsolutionby
tryingtowritedownyourargumentsforthefinalpublication.Bythen,youwillimmedi
atelyseewhichsolutionisaccompaniedbyweakerandwhichbystrongerarguments.
Youshouldntstartdiscussingsinglecasesanddecisionshere,butintroducethegeneral
rulesyourstudyisfollowing.Thequestionyoushouldanswercanbethereforespecified
as:aretheretransparentargumentsandrulesfordeletingcasesfromthestudywhen
startingwithallthematerial?Andoncontrary:aretheretransparentrulesforelecting
acoreofmaterialforthestart,andhowtoaddfurthercomplexesandtypessucces
sively?Theanswerstothesequestionscouldhelptofindyourway.
(11.4)Theedgeeffectandhowtoworkwithit
Thesequenceofatableisusuallyinsufficientonbothedges.Itiscommonthatatthe
beginningandattheendofachronologicalsequencethearchaeologicalinformationis
limitedinrelationtothemorecentralpartsofthetable.Thisisatypicalcauseforthe
unsatisfyingsequenceontheedges.Anotherreasonisthelackofcombinationsbehind
theedgesoftheactualtable.Quitecontrary,therewerealsocombinationsbehindthe
edges.Butyoucantseethemandthestatisticalprocesscantcalculatethembecause
theyarenotrepresentedintheactualtable.Thereforetypesandfindings,whichshould
besituatedatthebordersofyourtable,showcombinationsonlytryingtomovethem
intothecentralpartofatableandnoonesmovingthemintotheedge.Itisoftenwise
toacceptthefact,thatthesequenceisnotoptimalontheedges.Butwhattodo,when
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theseouterpartsofthetableareimportantforyouranalysis?Simpleanswer:Enrich
yourtablewithmaterialbeyondtheedges.Thisisoftenpossiblebylookingforsome
additionalarchaeologicalmaterialslightlyolderand/orslightlyyoungerthanthemate
rialunderstudy.Bythat,theactualedgesarentedgesanylongerbutaretraversedto
themorecentralpartsofthetable,whilethenewlyaddedfindingsformtheedgesof
yourtablenowwithsomeedgeeffect,ofcourse.
(11.5)Ondetrending,weightingandcanonicalcorrespondenceanalysis
ThereareseveralvariantsofCA,whichcouldbyappliedinspecialsituations.Iwillgive
ashortexplanationhere,endingwithaclearadvisenottoapplytheminmostcases.The
meaningofthetermdetrendinghasbeenexplainedalreadyabove,theprocedureis
namedDetrendedCorrespondenceAnalysis(DCA).Detrendingmeanstorecalculate
theparabolaaquadraticfunctionoutoftheaxes1and2.Thiscouldbeusefulwhen
a reference of one of these axes to another linear scale should be achieved, like to
estimate real calendaric time from the scores of axis 1. The other purpose of a de
trendingistogetbetterresultsforthesecondaxis.Wheneveryouwanttointerpretthe
orderofthesecondaxismoredetailed,aDCAcouldbeuseful.So,ifthereisaproblem
whichreallyneedsthoseideas,detrendingwouldbeareallyseriousapproach,butin
ourstandardapplicationsitshouldnotbeused.
Anarchaeologistoftenthinksaboutweighting,inordertoexpresstheirideaofmoreor
less important things. Some types seem to be more important to achieve a suitable
sequenceofthetablethenothers.Suchweightingisntforbiddenandthepossibilityfor
weightingiswellimplementedinthetoolsofWinBASP.But...Weightingshouldnotbe
toocomplicated,itshouldfollowsimple,clearandpreciserules,whichareexplicitly
listed at the beginning of the study. This could be for example: decorated beads or
decorated potsherds are counted as double in relation to undecorated beads and
undecoratedpotsherds,becausetheyseemtobemoresensibletothechronology.My
personalexperiencewithweightingis:itcouldbeuseful,itcouldmakeatablemore
complicatedtoread,oftenitseffectonthefinalresultislessintensethanexpected.
Thereforemyadviceis:keepthingsassimpleaspossible.
CanonicalCorrespondenceAnalysis(CCA)isatechniquedifferentfromCA.Itsaimisto
rearrangeatablewithinformationfollowingtheunimodalmodelintoanewsequence,
butalongthegivencanonicalaxisfirst.ACCAhasaspecifiedcanonicalvariable,which
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givesthefirst,canonicalsequence,whichthenisfollowedbyfurtheraxes(dimensions)
freelyorderedsimilartotheusualCA.Ifthereisafixedfirstdimensionforallormost
casesinyourstudy,CCAcouldbeagoodidea.Anyexample?Graveassemblagesoften
showstrongdifferencesofgender.Theusualapproachofchronologicalstudiesisto
performtwodifferentanalyses,oneforthemaleandoneforthefemalegraves.Theo
retically,youcouldanalysethemtogetherinonetableanddefinegenderascanonical
axistogetacombinedchronologyassecond,orfirstfreeaxisrespectively.Well,Ihave
triedthisseveraltimesandmyresultswerenotsatisfying.CCAisnotastandardprocess,
itshouldbeappliedonlywhengoodreasonsaregiven.Forsomeexamplesandfurther
detailsseee.g.Mller&Zimmermann(1997).
Youshouldbealwaysawareofthequestion,whetheryouassumetheunimodalorthe
linearmodel.ThereisaconceptsimilartoCCA,butforlinearmodelsonly,whichiscalled
Redundancy Analysis (RDA; see: Jongman, ter Braak & van Tongeren 1995). I have
applieditoncetoanarchaeologicalproblem,wherefindingsoutofashortstratigraphi
cal sequence had to be analysed (Siegmund 1994). The reason for choosing a linear
modelinthisspecialcasewastheshorttimespanembeddedinthesequence.When
typesandassemblagesingeneralfollowtheunimodalmodel,butthetimespanrepre
sentedinthearchaeologicalsampleisveryshort,yoursampleshowsorcouldshow
onlyonehalfofthebellshapedlifecurvesofthetypes.Insuchcasealinearmodelis
moreappropriate.
Ifyouwanttoseewhathappens,whenawrongmodelisappliedtoadataset,youcan
getavisualisationbyperformingaPCA(insteadofaCA)withour1_idealmatrixor
dered: Go to PAST, then Multivariate >> Ordination >> Principal components
(PCA),andanalysetheobtainedscatterplot.Timehasbeenfoldednow,thebegin
ningandtheendofourtablearedrawntogetherintothemidofaxis1.
MLLER,J.&ZIMMERMANN,A.(EDS.)(1997).ArchologieundKorrespondenzanalyse:Beispie
le,Fragen,Perspektiven.InternationaleArchologie23.Espelkamp:MarieLeidorf.
SIEGMUND,F.(1994).Jlich.ScherbenundSchichtenzudenFeuersbrnstendes15.und16.
Jahrhunderts.JlicherGeschichtsbltter=JahrbuchdesJlicherGeschichtsvereins62,pp.
131184.

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(12)ApplyingtheresultsofagivenCA
Sometimesthereisawellreasonedandestablishedchronologybasedonalargeamount
ofmaterialandonaCA,andyouwanttoembedyourfewfindingsintothisgivenorder.
Howtodoit?Therearethreedifferentsolutions,allofthemacceptable.
(a) Keep things simple and dont use statistics. Read the reference study you are
using,analysethephasingoftherelevanttypesthere,andputyourmaterialintothese
phaseswithoutanystatistics.Thisistheusualwayandnotbadatall.
(b)RecalculatethegivenCAwithyournew,additionaldata.Thisapproachwill(or
should)embedyourmaterialintothealreadyestablishedsequence.Itisafinewayto
approachtheproblem,butitispossible(orverylikely,whichdependsontheamountof
additions),thatyourmaterialwillchangethe orderofthetypesandfeaturesofthe
givenstudy.Ifyouwanttoavoidthis,youcouldchoosesolution(c).
(c)ApplythescoresofthegivenCAtoyournewdata.Thepositionofeachgrave
(feature)inagivenCAcanbecalculatedfromthescoresofthetypes,andviceversa,
thereby new features (and types) can be included into a given CA very accurately,
withoutchangingtheoriginalorder.Thenewfeaturesandtypesarestatisticallynamed
assupplementarypoints(Greenacre2007,pp.8996).Thecalculationcanbedonein
thefollowingway,whenweassumethatwearecalculatingthepositionofanewgrave
alongaxis1ofagivenCA:Takethescoresofeachtypealongaxis1ofthegivenCAand
multiplythembytheobservedfrequenciesofeachtypeinthenewgraveyouwantto
integrate.Thiswillbeoftenamultiplyingbyzero,whichequalszero.Then,youmust
calculatethesumoftheseresults,anddividethissumbythesumofobjects(notthe
numberoftypes)representedinthisnewfeature.Theresultisthescoreofthenew
grave1alongaxis1.
WhatIwantedtounderlinebythisremarkisthatthescoresoftherelevantaxesof
aCAareimportantpiecesofinformation,andthereforetheyshouldbepublished.
(13)Finalremark
Atfirstglance,thetheoryofCAandthepracticalcalculationsseemtobecomplicated.
Iwantedtoshowyouthattheyareeasytounderstandinageneralway,andthatthe
calculationscouldbepractisedquickly.Thecoreofyourworkshouldbethearchaeologi
calpartofsuchananalysis.Itisusefultolookforanexampleclose toyourspecific
problem,andfollowthisexamplelikefollowingacookbookonyourfirststeps.Ithelps
to haveanexperiencedcolleague,whocouldbeaskedforassistanceanddiscussion
fromtimetotime.BebraveandstarttogainyourownexperiencewithCA,itisamighty
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andusefulmethod,youwilloftenneedit.
(14)Somefurtherreadings
GOLDMANN, K. (1972). Zwei Methoden chronologischer Gruppierung. Acta Praehistorica et
Archaeologica3,p.134.
GOLDMANN, K. (1979).DieSeriationchronologischerLeitfundederBronzezeitEuropas.Berliner
BeitrgezurVorundFrhgeschichteNFBd.1.Berlin:Spiess.
HAIR J. F., BLACK, W. C., BABIN, B. J. & ANDERSON, R. E.(2010).Multivariatedataanalysis.7thed.
UpperSaddleRiver:PearsonPrenticeHall.
HAMMER,.,HARPER,D.A.T.&RYAN,P.D.(2001).PAST:PaleontologicalStatisticsSoftwarePackage
forEducationandDataAnalysis.PalaeontologiaElectronica4(1):9pp.
IHM,P.(1983).KorrespondenzanalyseundSeriation.ArchologischeInformationen6,pp.821.
IHM,P.&VANGROENEWOUD,H.(1984).CorrespondenceAnalysisandGaussianOrdination.COMP
STATLectures3,pp.560.
JONGMAN,R.H.G.,TERBRAAK,C.J.F.&VANTONGEREN,O.F.R.(1995),Dataanalysisincommunity
andlandscapeecology.Cambridge:CambridgeUniv.Press.
KENDALL,D.G.(1963).AstatisticalapproachtoFlindersPetrie'ssequencedating.Bulletinofthe
InternationalStatisticalInstitute40,p.657680.
MLLER, J. & ZIMMERMANN, A.(Hrsg.)(1997).ArchologieundKorrespondenzanalyse:Beispiele,
Fragen,Perspektiven.InternationaleArchologie23.Espelkamp:MarieLeidorf.
PETRIE,F.W.M.(1899).Sequencesinprehistoricremains.JournaloftheAnthropologicalInstitute
29,p.295301.
SOKAL, R. R. & ROHLF, F. J.(2012).Biometry:Theprinciplesandpracticeofstatisticsinbiological
research.NewYork:Freeman.
TER BRAAK, C. J. F. (1987). Unimodal models to related species to environment. Wageningen:

AgriculturalMathematicsGroup.
WILKINSON,E.M.(1974).TechniquesofDataAnalysis.SeriationTheorie.ArchaeoPhysika5.Kln:
RheinlandVerlag.

A proposal for an interesting test and training project: Perform a CA of the data set
publishedbyOscarMontelius(1885),whichshowsthefoundationofhischronologyof
northEuropeanbronzeage.Monteliusbookincludestablesofhismaterialwhichare
easytotransfer(p.270311).Thebookisavailableonlinenowandthetext(butwithout
thesetables)isavailableinEnglish,too(Montelius1996).
MONTELIUS,O.(1885).Omtidsbestmninginombronsldern.Stockholm:PAkademiens
Frlag.
(https://openlibrary.org/books/OL22888482M/Om_tidsbest%C3%A4mning_inom_bron
s%C3%A5ldern).(Incomplete)Englishtranslation:MONTELIUS, O. (1996).Datinginthe
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BronzeAge.Stockholm:Kungl.VitterhetsHistorieochAntikvitetsakademien.

Author
Priv.Doz.Dr.phil.FrankSiegmund
mail@franksiegmund.de
www.franksiegmund.de
http://uniduesseldorf.academia.edu/FrankSiegmund
*(Very)ExtendedversionofmypresentationArchaeologicalchronologiesbasedon
correspondenceanalysis:apractitioner'sguidetosuccessandreliability,Universityof
Bologna,March31th2014.

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Fig.18.CopyofKoch1977,table4.

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