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A Defense of Shovel-Test Sampling: A Reply to Shott

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Kent G. Lightfoot*
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720

Abstract

Shott raises pertinent issues on the limitations of shovel-test sampling. I agree that alternative methods with more efficient discovery rates should be developed and tested. I argue, however, that shovel testing is the most efficient discovery technique now available for detecting buried cultural remains on a regional scale. In survey contexts where the probability of buried remains is high, shovel testing should remain a primary option.

Type
Comments
Copyright
Copyright © Society for American Archaeology 1989

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References

Reference Cited

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