Putting it on the Calendar: Some Methodological Notes on Hockett's “Middle and Late Holocene Hunting in the Great Basin”

Abstract

Hockett's (2005) examination of the faunal deposition rates at three sites in the Great Basin contains two fundamental errors. The rates are calculated using uncalibrated radiocarbon determinations, and ignores the fact that atmospheric radiocarbon has fluctuated through the millennia. Second, despite pronouncements on significant differences, no formal significance tests were done. This comment re-analyzes two of the sites discussed by Hockett using calibrated radiocarbon determinations and formal statistical significance tests.