Internet Archaeol. 13. Christen. Summary - Bwigg

Bwigg: An Internet facility for Bayesian radiocarbon wiggle-matching

J. Andrés Christen

Centro de Investigación en Matemáticas, A. C., A. P. 402, 36000, Guanajuato, Gto., MEXICO. Tel: +52-(473)-732-7155 ext. 49563, Fax: +52-(473)-732-5749 jac@cimat.mx and http://www.cimat.mx/~jac

Cite this as: Andrés Christen, J. 2003 Bwigg: An Internet facility for Bayesian radiocarbon wiggle-matching, Internet Archaeology 13. https://doi.org/10.11141/ia.13.2

Summary

The integrated calibration of radiocarbon determinations and contextual information based on Bayesian statistical inference is known as 'Bayesian calibration'. Bayesian calibration was developed in the 1990s and there is software available, or under development, to perform various different types of applications: BCal, OxCal, Cal25 or CalPal; see also BCal, in Internet Archaeology. However, no software is available for performing fully Bayesian wiggle-matching including an outlier analysis. Wiggle-matching is used when a floating chronology of radiocarbon dates needs to be fixed in the calendar scale. In this article the technique of Bayesian wiggle-matching is outlined, including outlier considerations, and an explanation given of the type of results obtained. In particular the usage of the software Bwigg is described, an Internet-based software for Bayesian wiggle-matching.

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Features

This article will appeal to: Archaeological environmentalists, Dendrochronologists, Statisticians
Key Features: Explanation of the theory in simple and full technical mathematical terms, Presentation of a unique software for Bayesian wiggle matching
Keywords: BAYESIAN INFERENCE; RADIOCARBON DATING; WIGGLE-MATCHING; OUTLIERS