Page 47 - Lungshan Pottery Lunshanoid Research 1977 Paper

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ecological environment (White 1959* 15) i the necessity

of a different kind of lassification has become more
c
urgent. Because artifacts are considered to be the

product of human activities, only a classification which

a
reflects the use of rtifacts and the pattern of human
behavior behind their manufacture i s meaningful. In

other words, an ideal classification should be neither too

subjective nor too objective to eflect the artifacts*
r
cultural or ocial meaning. Since i t should deal with
s
the objects i n ultural terms, cluster analysis seems
c
a
genuinely helpful i n attempting to ttain this aim of
classification. The main reason for this l i e s i n the fact

c
that the process of luster analysis involves two funda-
mental stepsi subjectively selecting out as many as possible

of the features which have cultural significance i n many

aspects of culture, and objectively viewing the features

with equal weighting during the process of statistic

computing.