Notes on the statistical analysis of some loomweights from Pompeii

Title

Notes on the statistical analysis of some loomweights from Pompeii

Creator(s)

Baxter, Michael J.

Cool, Hilary E.M.

Date

2008

Is Part Of

Archeologia e Calcolatori

Volume

19

Pages

239–256

Language

eng

Rights

CC BY-NC-ND 4.0

URI

http://www.archcalc.cnr.it/journal/id.php?id=492

Zotero BiDiAr

https://www.zotero.org/groups/5293298/bidiar/items/YYBNQIND/item-list

Abstract

Recent work, in the field, on the dimensions and weights of loomweights from excavations in Insula VI.I, Pompeii suggested that there was structure in the form of evidence of bi-modality in the weights. The paper has two purposes. One is to illustrate a variety of statistical methods that were used to confirm the validity of our observations. The other is to discuss what the archaeological implications of this might be. A more general point is that if more attention is given to what are often regarded as “uninteresting” artefacts some interesting results may emerge - specifically, it can be asked whether loomweights have chronological significance for interpreting archaeological sites (at Pompeii at least).