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Estimation of the Original Number of Individuals Using Multiple Skeletal Elements
Author(s) -
Nikita E.
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
international journal of osteoarchaeology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.738
H-Index - 60
eISSN - 1099-1212
pISSN - 1047-482X
DOI - 10.1002/oa.2252
Subject(s) - estimator , estimation , hypergeometric distribution , sample (material) , simple (philosophy) , joint (building) , computer science , statistics , hypergeometric function , mathematics , econometrics , engineering , mathematical analysis , structural engineering , physics , philosophy , systems engineering , epistemology , thermodynamics
The current report presents simple equations for the estimation of the original number of individuals that have been preserved in a sample of commingled remains and compares the estimates obtained by them to those obtained from the application of the joint hypergeometric estimator, elaborate computer simulations and documented collections. The equations that perform better under different preservation scenarios are the ones that take into consideration that the various bone types have different post mortem survival probabilities. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.