Testing for Regional Differences in Means: Distinguishing Inherent from Spurious Spatial Autocorrelation by Restricted Randomization

Tests for differences among regional means are typically carried out by analysis of variance (ANOVA). When such data are spatially autocorrelated (SA), the assumptions of ANOVA are not met, giving rise to excessive type I error rates. Two spatially adjusted ANOVA methods, Griffith's and COCOPAN, have been proposed to overcome this problem. In this study we show, by means of extensive simulations, the magnitude of the error rates introduced by SA induced in isolation-by-distance models typical of those used in population genetics. For data suspected of exhibiting such SA, we propose a strategy for distinguishing between inherent SA, generated within the data by a contagious process, and spurious SA, introduced by regional differences in means. The approach adopted is that of restricted randomization of distance matrices. We also furnish error rates and power estimates for both Griffith's method and COCOPAN. In addition to the simulated data, the methods are applied to an actual example from plant population biology.     

The Social and Historical Context of Short-Term Stylistic Replacement: A Zuni Case Study

Large collections of ethnographic ceramics created over multiyear periods of intensive collecting provide a way to bridge discrepancies between the temporal scales of ethnographic studies based on single field visits and archaeological analyses of assemblages accumulated over much longer periods of time. The Smithsonian's Stevenson collections of Zuni ceramics, consisting of 3500 vessels, were assembled in three intensive field seasons over a 6-year period. They are particularly useful for addressing questions about rates of stylistic change and the relative use-lives of vessel forms and sizes with known ethnographic functions.     

MODERNITY: A PROBLEMATIC CATEGORY IN THE HISTORY OF EMOTIONS

Emotions in History: Lost and Found by Ute Frevert is a lively introduction to some of the issues that historians must address when writing about emotions. Emotions in History notes some of the uses emotions have had in both public and private life, and it charts the changing fate of several emotions—particularly acedia, honor, and compassion—that have been either “lost” or “found” over time. Nevertheless, it suffers from a notion of modernity that obscures rather than clarifies. Making “modernity” the cause of changes in emotional ideas, comportment, and feeling, it cuts today's society off from its earlier roots and fails to see the continuities not only in emotions themselves but also in the mechanisms by which emotions have changed over time. Frevert's assumption that only the modern world has been interested in emotions is belied by eloquent learned writings on the topic in the medieval period (though not using the term “emotions”). Further, modernity is not alone in having effective mechanisms by which ideal standards of emotions and their expression are transmitted to a larger public.     

A tale of two sites: Functional site differentiation and lithic technology during the Late Pithouse period in the Mimbres area of Southwestern New Mexico

The raw materials from which stone tools are made can provide considerable information relevant to behavioral variation within a prehistoric population. By examining the stone used for tools from two different types of Late Pithouse period (A.D. 550-1000) residential sites from the Mimbres Mogollon area of Southwestern New Mexico, this paper illustrates how understanding the lithic landscape of a region provides a means to assess behavioral variation in stone procurement practices. The analysis indicates that the differences in mobility and economic pursuits between longer-term residential sites containing pit structures and a shorter-term seasonal residential site with ephemeral architecture structured the raw material procurement practices of site’s occupants. Pit structure sites were focused on agricultural pursuits and used a technology that centered on the production of informal tools fashioned from locally available raw materials. The seasonal residential site focused on wild resources and evidenced greater reliance on formal tool production using raw materials acquired from beyond the immediate vicinity of the site. Despite increasing sedentism and agricultural dependence of the region’s population, some portion of the population exercised seasonal mobility strategies and associated technological and behavioral practices more typical of hunting and gathering populations, suggesting a diverse socio-economic system within the region.