On the 12th and 13th of October 2019 Dr Christian Hoggard (Department of Archaeology, University of Southampton) gave an introduction into “Geometric Morphometrics for Archaeologists”.
Geometric Morphometrics (GMM) focuses on the analysis of shape with Cartesian landmarks and helps to assess if assemblages differ in this regard.
In archaeology it is than possible to answer predefined questions, e.g. the outline of an artefact or if the type of raw material influences the shape of a handaxe.
Following the definition of landmarks, other important steps in shape analysis are superimposition, representation of differences and testing of hypotheses.
Very interesting was the presentation of advanced analytical techniques: maximum likelihood phylogenies, unsupervised self-organising maps (Artificial Neural Networks) and multiple factor analysis.
The workshop focused on GMM within the R environment that makes the analysis transparent and reproducible.
The two days were very helpful, and we thank Dr Christian Hoggard for this comprehensive overview.
Text: Christian Schepers
Christian Schepers is PhD candidate in the A1-project. He is currently working on the lithic technology of Mochena Borago and Sodmein Cave in the context of human dispersal.
Impression of the workshop "Geometric Morphotmetrics for Archaeologists." Photo: F. Sauer |