Quantitative methods in Italian archaeology: a review

Alessandro Guidi

«Archeologia e Calcolatori» 2015, 26, 45-58

Abstract

The use of quantitative graphs began, in Italian archaeology, between the end of the Fifties and the beginnings of the Sixties in the last century, thanks to the work of Renato Peroni (Bronze and Iron Age) and Alberto Broglio (Palaeolithic). In 1976-1977 Amilcare Bietti and Alberto Cazzella published the first important article on the subject in the journal Dialoghi di Archeologia. The Eighties began with Amilcare Bietti publication of the first monograph on the use of mathematical and statistical methods in archaeology, that were to become very popular in many works inspired by processual archaeology. In 1987 the monograph Archeologia e Calcolatori, by Paola Moscati, was published; three years later the first issue of the homonymous Journal was edited. The last 'chapter' of this history is the introduction of new methods (functional analysis of objects and GIS) between the end of the Nineties and the beginnings of Twenty-first century. From that period onwards, the use of quantitative methods became daily routine practice in archaeology in our country.

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