ABSTRACT
In this chapter I am concerned with what we can learn from a consideration of quantitative whole-site attributes. By whole-site attributes I mean characteristics of an entire site (as reflected by the entire excavated portion of the site) rather than some analytically defined portion of a site such as a stratigraphic unit and its inventory of recovered cultural materials. I believe study of quantitative whole-site attributes will inform us about general site characteristics which in turn may indicate appropriate and inappropriate analyses of intra- and inter-site characteristics. Following the lead of Wolff (1975) and Jones et al. (1983), here I first examine the relationship between the quantity of artifacts recovered from a site and the quantity of space excavated; second, the relationship of the amount of space excavated and the frequency of classes of artifacts (richness) is examined; and third, I examine the relationship between the quantity of artifacts recovered from a site and artifact class richness.
