Binford worked out the regression formula based on Harrrigton's measurements.

We measure pipes in 64ths and .2 mm increments - Garry Stone developed the metric measuring system to get greater detail (roughly equivalent to 128 ths inch but the drill bits are easier to get. I like the .2 mm measures and then plot the histogram - it flattens the graph and shows variation better. For a site that was occcupied, abandoned, and re-occupied Binford can give you a mean date during the hiatus.


Silas Hurry
Historic St. Mary's City

-------------- Original message -------------- 
From: geoff carver <[log in to unmask]> 

> how 'bout the dutch? i vaguely remember someone there seemed to be running a 
> pipestem group of some sort... 
> & excuse my ignorance, but how did binford get this? from dated excavated 
> material, or somewhere from records in the pipeworks themselves? i can't 
> imagine a trade journal for the period in question, but has anyone seriously 
> looked at the records of pipemaking workshops to see if binford's formula 
> correlates with records on advances in production techniques? 
> and are these things bored out (drilled after manufacture, which i assume 
> not to be the case, given that i would expect that this would result in a 
> lot of breakage) or is the hole made before the pipe is fired, in which 
> case, are you estimating from the size of the bore before or after 
> shrinkage? 
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> > 
> > Y = 1931.85 - 38.26X