UNPACKING THE DISCARD EQUATION - SIMULATING THE ACCUMULATION OF ARTIFACTS IN THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL RECORD

Quantifying discard to accurately estimate the duration of site occupa tion is critical middle-range research necessary for understanding ass emblage diversity the nature of settlement systems and mobility strate gies and population size, and for testing any anthropological theory t hat depends on the accurate measurement of these variables. We address this middle-range research by employing a computer simulation to expl ore assumptions inherent in the discard equation and to determine the accuracy with which cooking pot refuse measures the length of site occ upation. The accumulation of discarded cooking pot sherds is simulated using a strong archaeological case: the Duckfoot site, a Pueblo I res idential site located in the Mesa Verde region of southwestern Colorad o. We argue that estimating the length of site occupation using data f rom a strong archaeological case is superior to using the discard equa tion and ethnographic data, but that the discard equation and ethnogra phic data-used judiciously-can provide reasonable estimates if a stron g archaeological case is not available. Results indicate that the most variable and least accurate results are generated by short-term occup ations of sites by small numbers of households. We further conclude th at quantifying the accumulation of discarded cooking pot sherds has co nsiderable promise as a means of estimating the length of site occupat ion.