18.06.2023

New paper published in the Journal of Archaeological Science by our former fellow Dr. Hannes Rathmann and colleagues

Estimating inter-individual Mahalanobis distances from mixed incomplete high-dimensional data: Application to human skeletal remains from 3rd to 1st millennia BC Southwest Germany

In this study, FLEXDIST is introduced, a versatile software tool for estimate similarities among observations in fragmented and heterogeneous datasets. FLEXDIST works with multiple variable scales (nominal, ordinal, continuous, or any combination thereof), handles missing values, accounts for correlations among variables, and allows for high-dimensional data. While the application of FLEXDIST focuses on analyzing human skeletal remains from Neolithic to Iron Age Southwest Germany, we recognize its potential for broader application in various areas of archaeological research. For instance, it can be employed to assess biological similarities among faunal remains or explore technological similarities among lithic artifacts.

Here is a link providing 50 days of free access to the article (including a fully automated R code): https://authors.elsevier.com/a/1hCjO15SlTyzdr