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SUMMARY:The Good\, The Bad\, and The Ugly of the Dates as Data approach - 
 Dr Enrico Crema\, University of Cambridge
DTSTART:20190510T121500Z
DTEND:20190510T130000Z
UID:TALK124186@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Emily Tilby
DESCRIPTION:The last decade saw a renewed interest in prehistoric demograp
 hy\, a trend stimulated by the growing number of case studies reconstructi
 ng past population dynamics through summed-probability distribution of rad
 iocarbon dates (SPD). On the one hand the increasing availability of 14C d
 ates and the possibility to rely on absolute chronology is making SPD a un
 iversal toolkit for synthetic research\, enabling large scale comparative 
 analysis that was not previously not possible. On the other hand\, critiqu
 es raise concerns regarding biases and assumptions related to this techniq
 ue\, cautioning its use or even dismissing the entire enterprise. In this 
 paper\, I will review the most recent methodological advances on this 'dat
 es as data approach'\,  how they solve some of the issues raised\, and how
  those that still need to be tackled are deeper rooted and shared across o
 ther proxies of past population change such as floor-size area or site cou
 nts. I will conclude by highlighting the upcoming challenges\, such as the
  formal integration of multiple proxies\, the necessity of more nuanced mi
 ddle-range theories\, and the possible use simulation- based generative in
 ference. 
LOCATION:South Lecture Room\, McDonald Institute for Archaeological Resear
 ch\, Downing Site
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