Page 48 - Lungshan Pottery Lunshanoid Research 1977 Paper

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Chapter 4

General Idea of Cluster Analysis and Multidimensional Scaling

Cluster analysis i s a kind of tatistical clustering.
s
According to R.C. .Bunnell's (1971« 9 5 ) classification, i t

belongs to the category of non-elassificatory arrangement

(Fig. 4 ) . Cluster analysis is also a kind of hierachical

grouping technique. This techniqueswas first developed

in biological taxonomy by Robert R. Sokal and Peter H. A.

Sneath ( 1 9 6 3 ) . Basically they tried to use numeric values

to describe the characters and then to/ calculate a taxonomic

distance between organisms. Not long after this idea deve-

loped in biology, i t was borrowed by archaeologists to

analyse their numerous data. With the help of computers,

many archaeologists, such as Matson and True ( 1 9 7 0 , 1 9 7 4 ) ,

H
or Binford ( 1 9 6 6 ) and ill ( 1 9 7 0 ) have successfully used
this technique to attempt to illuminate some difficult

aspects of archaeology — the social structure and human

behavior, for instance. No wonder Michael R. Anderberg

stated that "Cluster Analysis may be used to reveal