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A fractal technique for the classification of projectile point shapes
Author(s) -
Kennedy Stephen K.,
Lin WeiHsiung
Publication year - 1988
Publication title -
geoarchaeology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.696
H-Index - 44
eISSN - 1520-6548
pISSN - 0883-6353
DOI - 10.1002/gea.3340030407
Subject(s) - projectile point , fractal , point (geometry) , bivariate analysis , plot (graphics) , projectile , point distribution model , geometry , fractal analysis , mathematics , scatter plot , computer science , fractal dimension , pattern recognition (psychology) , artificial intelligence , mathematical analysis , statistics , geology , physics , paleontology , quantum mechanics
Certain cultural information is expressed in the morphology of projectile points. the present paper presents a technique that can extract a large amount of information in the shape of these points. Using a concept from fractal geometry, the degree of shape irregularity is quantified. This technique can be used to document variability in shape of individual points within a point type, or among point types. In this paper, the shapes are segmented into two components (structural and textural), and points of similar characteristics plot closely in bivariate plots of these components. If necessary, the method can be modified to provide information at more than two scales.