An Unexplored Realm in the Heartland of the Southern Gulf ... - Famsi

Figure 4.28b. Box plot summaries of elemental data from Plaza II
A primary objective of the soil analysis was to illustrate the chemical signatures
in the soils and to see how those markers may indicate spatially discrete activities, such
as food preparation, cooking, or ceremonial events. Kriging, a method of geostatisitcal
analysis, was used to spatially interpolate and illustrate the differences across the entire
area under analysis. This technique provides statistical methods that interpolate unknown
values based on the known values in the plot. Autocorrelation determines the quantitative
relationships among known, measured points, which is effective in producing a
prediction surface. Variation in the surface is explained through a mathematically
produced spatial correlation of the distance between sample points. Kriging involves a
two-step process that first generates variograms and covariance functions that statistically
approximate the spatial correlation values, and second, uses the known values to predict
the unknown ones. All points and distances are considered in the determination of the
165