Inferential mistakes in population proxies: A response to Torfing's "Neolithic population and summed probability distribution of 14C-dates"

Journal of Archaeological Science

Volumn 63, Issue , 2015, Pages 199-202

  Timpson, Adrian ^a   Manning, Katie ^a   Shennan, Stephen ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY COLLEGE LONDON   (United Kingdom)

Author keywords

C14; Neolithic; Population; Proxy; Radiocarbon; SPD; Torfing

Indexed keywords

ARCHAEOLOGICAL EVIDENCE; DEMOGRAPHIC HISTORY; HUMAN SETTLEMENT; NEOLITHIC; POPULATION DISTRIBUTION; POPULATION SIZE; PROBABILITY; RADIOCARBON DATING;

EID: 84948091955     PISSN: 03054403     EISSN: 10959238     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1016/j.jas.2015.08.018     Document Type: Review

References (21)

1. Binford L.R. Archaeology as anthropology. Am. Antiq. 1962, 28:217-225.
2. Bleicher N. Summed radiocarbon probability density functions cannot prove solar forcing of Central European lake-level changes. Holocene 2013, 23(5):755-765.
3. Buchanan B., Collard M., Edinborough K. Palaeo-indian demography and the extraterrestrial impact hypothesis. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. 2008, 105:11651-11654.
4. Chiverrell R.C., Thorndycraft V.R., Hoffmann T.O. J. Quat. Sci. 2011, 26(1):76-85.
5. Collard M., Edinborough K., Shennan S., Thomas M.G. Radiocarbon evidence indicates that migrants introduced farming to Britain. J. Archaeol. Sci. 2010, 37(4):866-870.
6. Contreras D.A., Meadows J. Summed radiocarbon calibrations as a population proxy: a critical evaluation using a realistic simulation approach. J. Archaeol. Sci. 2014, 52:591-608. 10.1016/j.jas.2014.05.030.
7. Feeser I., Dörfler W., Averdieck F.-R., Wiethold J. New insight into regional and local land-use and vegetation patterns in eastern Schleswig-Holstein during the Neolithic. Frühe Monumentalität und soziale Differenzierung, band 2012, vol. 2:159-190. Habelt, Bonn.
8. Feeser I., Furholt M. Ritual and economic activity during the neolithic in Schleswig-Holstein, northern Germany: an approach to combine archaeological and palynological evidence. J. Archaeol. Sci. 2014, 51:126-134. 10.1016/j.jas.2013.01.021.
9. Gamble C., Davies W., Pettitt P., Hazelwood M., Richards M. The archaeological and genetic foundations of the European population during the late glacial implications for 'agricultural thinking'. Camb. Archaeol. J. 2005, 15:193-223.
10. Hinz M., Feeser I., Sjögren K.G., Müller J. Demography and the intensity of cultural activities: an evaluation of Funnel Beaker Societies (4200-2800 cal BC). J. Archaeol. Sci. 2012, 39:3331-3340.
11. Johnson C.N., Brook B.W. Reconstructing the dynamics of ancient human populations from radiocarbon dates: 10 000 years of population growth in Australia. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. 2011, 278:3748-3754. 10.1098/rspb.2011.0343.
12. Johnstone E., Macklin M.G., Lewin J. The development and application of a database of radiocarbon-dated Holocene fluvial deposits in Great Britain. Catena 2006, 66:14-23.
13. Manning K., Timpson A. The demographic response to Holocene climate change in the Sahara. Quat. Sci. Rev. 2014, 101:28-35. 10.1016/j.quascirev.2014.07.003.
14. Nielsen A.B., Giesecke T., Theuerkauf M., Feeser I., Behre K.-E., Beug H.-J., Chen S.-H., Christiansen J., Dörfler W., Endtmann E., Jahns S., de Klerk P., Kühl N., Latalowa M., Odgaard B.V., Rasmussenm P., Stockholm J.R., Voigt R., Wiethold J., Wolters S. Quantitative reconstructions of changes in regional openness in north-central Europe reveal new insights into old questions. Quat. Sci. Rev. 2012, 47:131-149.
15. Peros M.C., Munoz S.E., Gajewski K., Viau A.E. Prehistoric demography of North America inferred from radiocarbon data. J. Archaeol. Sci. 2010, 37:656-664.
16. Rick J.W. Dates as data: an examination of the Peruvian pre-ceramic radiocarbon record. Am. Antiq. 1987, 52:55-73.
17. Shennan S., Downey S.S., Timpson A., Edinborough K., Colledge S., Kerig T., Manning K., Thomas M.G. Regional population collapse followed initial agriculture booms in mid-Holocene Europe. Nat. Commun. 2013, 4:2486. 10.1038/ncomms3486.
18. Surovell T.A., Byrd Finley J., Smith G.M., Brantingham P.J., Kelly R. Correcting temporal frequency distributions for taphonomic bias. J. Archaeol. Sci. 2009, 36:1715-1724.
19. Timpson A., Colledge S., Crema E., Edinborough K., Kerig T., Manning K., Thomas M.G., Shennan S. Reconstructing regional demographies of the European neolithic using radiocarbon dates: a new case-study using an improved method. J. Archaeol. Sci. 2014, 52:549-557.
20. Torfing T. Neolithic population and summed probability distribution of 14C-dates. J. Archaeol. Sci. 2015, 63:193-198. (in press).
21. Williams A.N. The use of summed radiocarbon probability distributions in archaeology: a review of methods. J. Archaeol. Sci. 2012, 39(3):578-589. 10.1016/j.jas.2011.07.014.