01982nas a2200193   4500008004100000245010700041210006900148260001600217300001200233490000600245520135200251653002601603653001701629653001301646653002601659653001501685100002101700856006701721       2019                        eng d00aSets, Graphs, and Things We Can See: A Formal Combinatorial Ontology for Empirical Intra-Site Analysis0 aSets Graphs and Things We Can See A Formal Combinatorial Ontolog  cApr-04-2020  a56 - 780 v23 a<p>A critical aspect of analysing an archaeological site is identifying the network of relationships between the things we find and the locations where we find them. These associations are typically determined by a combination of quantitative analyses and the professional knowledge and intuition of the archaeologist,&nbsp;but where exactly is the boundary between what is truly empirical field data and what is inferred through our prior knowledge and field methods? How can we best support those inferences? This paper is a critical&nbsp;evaluation of that boundary to firmly ground, as much as possible, a quantitative analysis on only that which we can directly observe – the thing and its location – and derive associations from that basis alone. To do so, the approach described here relies on a combination of set and graph theories rather than statistical or spatial methods. This revised ontology allows a formalization, in combinatorial terms, for describing an underlying structure to contexts and assemblages that suggests a clear association between archaeological site analysis and a well-studied class of set and graph covering problems. This, in turn, points towards potential algorithmic solutions for a more holistic parsing of the total relationships between sites, contexts, assemblages, proveniences, and artefacts.</p>
10aarchaeological theory10agraph theory10aontology10aquantitative analysis10aset theory1 aCardinal, J., S.  uhttp://journal.caa-international.org/articles/10.5334/jcaa.16/