A general problem confronting archaeologists is the seriation (or sequence-dating) problem. Sir W.M. Flinders Petrie, a famous archeologist, was the first to formulate this interesting and important problem in mathematical terms almost one hundred years ago. The problem of trying to chronologically order grave sites in a cemetery where each grave contains (or does not contain) a number of diffe...

Do E.A. Meyer’s tonal word accents contours from the Swedish dialects provide a reliable basis for quantitative analysis? Measurements made on acute and grave tone-peaks in a number of dialects spoken in the province of Dalarna suggested that the timing of grave tonal peaks tended to vary systematically from south-east to north-west. The former dialects had relatively late and the latter relati...