Measurement of Archaeological Diversity and the Sample-Size Effect

Assemblage diversity is an important part of the structure of the archaeological record, but measuring this parameter often is difficult if samples of assemblages differ in size. Two methods, here called the sampling approach and regression approach, currently are used to assess the sample-size effect. The approaches differ in method and in results. The sampling approach is better suited to analysis of assemblage diversity among samples when the underlying population structure is well known, while the regression approach is more useful for examination of the sample-size effect when the underlying population structure is known poorly.