20th February 2012, 03:57 PM
Come off it PP, you know what Jack means.
I just read an Anglo Saxon cemetery report, which had about 8 radiocarbon dates out of 300 graves. You'd look a bit silly in the report if you said, "we can only date 8 graves, and all these others which look quite similar and have grave goods must go down as an undated phase. We can't draw any inferences about burial practice changing over time because our sample is to small."
I just read an Anglo Saxon cemetery report, which had about 8 radiocarbon dates out of 300 graves. You'd look a bit silly in the report if you said, "we can only date 8 graves, and all these others which look quite similar and have grave goods must go down as an undated phase. We can't draw any inferences about burial practice changing over time because our sample is to small."