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Polytheticclassification and measures of similarity in materiał culture. Aquantitative approach to... | 229

Fig. 2. A polythetic culture model applied to the archaeological record: the different find categories are identified with distinguishable spheres of communication.

Ryc. 2. Politetyczny model kultury zastosowany w studiach nad materiałem archeologicznym: różne kategorie zabytków identyfikowane są w ramach wyróżniających się sfer komunikacji.

a polythetic setting, thus meeting the argument for a polythetic classification of the archaeological record. It should be legitimate to as-sociate different categories of archaeological find materiał with such different spheres of communication (fig. 2; cf. Muller 2001, 40). It is conceivable to see, for example, metal objects as being associated with different social spheres and having a different spatial rangę than pot-tery, whereas burial rites are communicated through cultural collec-tives that may differ from those connected to prestigious metal objects or homemade pottery (fig. 2).

This means that we must first ąuantify the similarities and dis-similarities for each cultural sphere and, second, compare these data-sets in order to reconstruct patterns of communication intensity and the relations between the cultural spheres in a model of socio-cultural interaction.