Professor Caitlin Buck
School of Mathematics and Statistics
Professor
Employability, Careers and Placements Coordinator
C.E.Buck@shef.ac.uk
+44 114 222 3715
+44 114 222 3715
I23, Hicks Building
Full contact details
Professor Caitlin Buck
School of Mathematics and Statistics
I23
Hicks Building
Hounsfield Road
Sheffield
S3 7RH
School of Mathematics and Statistics
I23
Hicks Building
Hounsfield Road
Sheffield
S3 7RH
- Profile
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Prof Buck graduated with a BSc in Archaeological Science from the University of Bradford in 1987. She then joined a collaborative team of archaeologists and statisticians at the University of Nottingham, working as a research assistant on a number of projects and completing a part-time PhD in statistics in 1994. Her PhD thesis title was: Towards Bayesian Archaeology. From Nottingham she moved to Cardiff to take up a lecturing post the School of History and Archaeology (1994-2001). During that time, she continued her research interests in the application of statistics to archaeology, focusing most on applications of Bayesian statistics to radiocarbon calibration. In 2001, she moved to the Department of Probability and Statistics at the University of Sheffield where, in 2014, she was promoted to a Personal Chair. She continues to have research interests in the applications of Bayesian statistics to archaeology, but now also works on problems in palaeoenvironmental reconstruction.
- Research interests
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My research draws on experience in archaeology, palaeoenvironmental science and statistics, encouraging experts from a range of fields to share ideas and resources. Previous and current work includes:
- analysis of field survey data from Britain and Greece.
- the calibration and interpretation of groups of related radiocarbon determinations.
- the provenancing of archaeological ceramics with the aid of chemical compositional data.
- development of models for relative archaeological chronology building (seriation).
- analysis of the structure of prehistoric corbelled domes.
- the use of Bayesian radiocarbon calibration to aid in tephrochronology.
- models for interpreting spatio-temporal data such as those relating to the recolonisation of a landscape in response to past climate change or the arrival of domesticated cereals at the start of the Neolithic in Europe.
- the development of models and methods for estimating radiocarbon calibration curves.
- development of tailored statistical models to aid in palaeoenvironmental reconstruction on the basis of data preserved in ice cores and lake/ocean sediments.
- Publications
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Show: Featured publications All publications
Featured publications
Books
- Uncertain Judgements: Eliciting Experts' Probabilities. John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
- The Bayesian approach to the interpretation of archaeological data.
Journal articles
- Statistical challenges in estimating past climate changes. WIRES Computational Statistics, 10(5). View this article in WRRO
- Interpretation of lake sediment accumulation rates. The Holocene, 26(7), 1092-1102. View this article in WRRO
- Transatlantic distribution of the Alaskan White River Ash. Geology, 42(10), 875-878.
- Looking forward through the past: Identification of 50 priority research questions in palaeoecology. Journal of Ecology, 102(1), 256-267.
- IntCal13 and Marine13 radiocarbon age calibration curves 0-50,000 years cal BP. Radiocarbon, 55(4), 1869-1887.
- Bayesian Glaciological Modelling to quantify uncertainties in ice core chronologies. Quaternary Science Reviews, 30(21-22), 2961-2975.
- A flexible approach to assessing synchroneity of past events using Bayesian reconstructions of sedimentation history. QUATERNARY SCI REV, 27(19-20), 1872-1885. View this article in WRRO
- Estimating radiocarbon calibration curves. BAYESIAN ANAL, 3(2), 225-248. View this article in WRRO
- A calendar chronology for Pleistocene mammoth and horse extinction in North America based on Bayesian radiocarbon calibration. QUATERNARY SCI REV, 26(17-18), 2031-2035.
- Formal statistical models for estimating radiocarbon calibration curves. RADIOCARBON, 46(3), 1093-1102.
All publications
Books
- Uncertain Judgements: Eliciting Experts' Probabilities. John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
- Tools for Constructing Chronologies: crossing disciplinary boundaries. London: Springer-Verlag.
- U.K. Chapter of Computer Applications and Quantitative Methods in Archaeology: Proceedings of the Fourth Meeting, Cardiff University, 27 and 28 February 1999. Oxford: Archaeopress, British Archaeological Reports, International Series 844.
- The Bayesian Approach to Interpreting Archaeological Data. Chichester: Wiley.
- The Bayesian approach to the interpretation of archaeological data.
Journal articles
- Digital chronological data reuse in archaeology: three case studies with varying purposes and perspectives. Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, 40(A). View this article in WRRO
- A Simple Bayesian Approach to Tree-ring Dating. Archaeometry. View this article in WRRO
- Statistical challenges in estimating past climate changes. WIRES Computational Statistics, 10(5). View this article in WRRO
- Interpretation of lake sediment accumulation rates. The Holocene, 26(7), 1092-1102. View this article in WRRO
- Archaeological sequence diagrams and Bayesian chronological models. Journal of Archaeological Science, 63, 84-93. View this article in WRRO
- On being a good Bayesian. World Archaeology, 47(4), 567-584.
- Transatlantic distribution of the Alaskan White River Ash. Geology, 42(10), 875-878.
- Looking forward through the past: Identification of 50 priority research questions in palaeoecology. Journal of Ecology, 102(1), 256-267.
- Age models, chronologies, and databases workshop, Belfast, UK, 13-16 January 2014. PAGES Magazine, 22, 104-104.
- IntCal13 and Marine13 radiocarbon age calibration curves 0-50,000 years cal BP. Radiocarbon, 55(4), 1869-1887.
- SELECTION AND TREATMENT OF DATA FOR RADIOCARBON CALIBRATION: AN UPDATE TO THE INTERNATIONAL CALIBRATION (INTCAL) CRITERIA. RADIOCARBON, 55(4), 1923-1945.
- Shcal13 Southern Hemisphere calibration, 0-50,000 years cal BP. Radiocarbon, 55(4), 1889-1903.
- The Bayesian approach to radiocarbon calibration curve estimation: The IntCal13, Marine13, and SHCal13 methodologies. Radiocarbon, 55(4), 1905-1922.
- Network-based spatial-temporal modelling of the first arrival of prehistoric agriculture: a case study of the UK and Ireland. Bayesian Analysis.
- A review of statistical chronology models for high-resolution, proxy-based Holocene palaeoenvironmental reconstruction. Quaternary Science Reviews.
- A review of statistical chronology models for high-resolution, proxy-based Holocene palaeoenvironmental reconstruction. Quaternary Science Reviews, 30(21-22), 2948-2960.
- Bayesian Glaciological Modelling to quantify uncertainties in ice core chronologies. Quaternary Science Reviews, 30(21-22), 2961-2975.
- Bayesian Glaciological Modelling to quantify uncertainties in ice core chronologies. Quaternary Science Reviews.
- Chronology construction for Holocene climate reconstruction. Quaternary Science Reviews, 30, 2948-2960.
- INTCAL09 AND MARINE09 RADIOCARBON AGE CALIBRATION CURVES, 0-50,000 YEARS CAL BP. RADIOCARBON, 51(4), 1111-1150. View this article in WRRO
- A BAYESIAN APPROACH TO THE ESTIMATION OF RADIOCARBON CALIBRATION CURVES: THE INTCAL09 METHODOLOGY. RADIOCARBON, 51(4), 1151-1164. View this article in WRRO
- A flexible approach to assessing synchroneity of past events using Bayesian reconstructions of sedimentation history. QUATERNARY SCI REV, 27(19-20), 1872-1885. View this article in WRRO
- Estimating radiocarbon calibration curves. BAYESIAN ANAL, 3(2), 225-248. View this article in WRRO
- Estimating radiocarbon calibration curves Rejoinder. BAYESIAN ANAL, 3(2), 263-268.
- Rejoinder to discussion of “Estimating radiocarbon calibration curves”. Bayesian Analysis, 3, 263-268.
- A calendar chronology for Pleistocene mammoth and horse extinction in North America based on Bayesian radiocarbon calibration. QUATERNARY SCI REV, 26(17-18), 2031-2035.
- Out of asia. Planet Earth(WINTER), 22-23.
- Developments in radiocarbon calibration for archaeology. ANTIQUITY, 80(310), 783-798.
- Comment on "Radiocarbon calibration curve spanning 0 to 50,000 years BP based on paired Th-230/U-234/U-238 and C-14 dates on pristine corals" by R.G. Fairbanks et al. (Quaternary Science Reviews 24 (2005) 1781-1796) and "Extending the radiocarbon calibration beyond 26,000 years before present using fossil corals" by T.-C. Chin et al. (Quaternary Science Reviews 24 (2005) 1797-1808). QUATERNARY SCI REV, 25(7-8), 855-862.
- Bayesian palaeoclimate reconstruction - Discussion on the paper by Haslett et al.. J ROY STAT SOC A STA, 169, 430-438.
- Important features of the new radiocarbon calibration curves. QUATERNARY SCI REV, 25(5-6), 408-413.
- Bayesian nonparametric estimation of the radiocarbon calibration curve. BAYESIAN ANAL, 1(2), 265-288.
- Bayesian non-parametric estimation of the calibration curve for radiocarbon dating. Bayesian Analysis, 1, 265-288.
- Comment on “Radiocarbon Calibration Curve Spanning 0 to 50,000 Years B.P. Based on Paired 230Th/234U/238U and 14C Dates on Pristine Corals” by R.G. Fairbanks, R. A. Mortlock, T.-C. Chiu, L. Cao, A. Kaplan, T. P. Guilderson, T. W. Fairbanks, A. L. Bloom, P. M. Grootes, and M.-J. Nadeau and “Extending The Radiocarbon Calibration Beyond 26,000 Years Before Present Using Fossil Corals” by T.-C. Chiu, R. G. Fairbanks, R. A. Mortlock, and A. L. Bloom. Quaternary Science Reviews, 25, 855-862.
- Contribution to the discussion of “Bayesian palaeoclimate reconstruction” by Haslett et al.. Journal of the Royal Statistical Society: Series A, 169, 430-431.
- IntCal and the future of radiocarbon calibration. PAGES Magazine, 14, 9-10.
- Formal statistical models for estimating radiocarbon calibration curves. RADIOCARBON, 46(3), 1093-1102.
- NotCal04 - Comparison/calibration C-14 records 26-50 cal kyr BP. RADIOCARBON, 46(3), 1225-1238.
- Marine04 marine radiocarbon age calibration, 0-26 cal kyr BP. RADIOCARBON, 46(3), 1059-1086.
- SHCal04 Southern Hemisphere calibration, 0-11.0 cal kyr BP. RADIOCARBON, 46(3), 1087-1092.
- IntCal04 terrestrial radiocarbon age calibration, 0-26 cal kyr BP. RADIOCARBON, 46(3), 1029-1058.
- Bayesian tools for tephrochronology. HOLOCENE, 13(5), 639-647.
- The Late Glacial human reoccupation of north-western Europe: new approaches to space-time modelling. ANTIQUITY, 77(296), 232-240.
- Preliminary report of the first workshop of the IntCal04 radiocarbon calibration/comparison working group. RADIOCARBON, 44(3), 653-661.
- The Sheffield Statistics MSc goes DL. MSOR Connections, 2, 69-75.
- Archaeological chronology building: an archaeostatistician’s tale. Student, 4, 43-59.
- Bayesian models for relative archaeological chronology building. Applied Statistics, 49, 423-440.
- BCal: an on-line Bayesian radiocarbon calibration tool. Internet Archaeology, 7.
- The integration of archaeological phase information and radiocarbon results from the Jama River Valley, Ecuador: a Bayesian approach. Latin American Antiquity, 9, 135-159.
- Sample selection in radiocarbon dating. Applied Statistics, 47(4), 543-557.
- A novel approach to selecting samples for radiocarbon dating. Journal of Archaeological Science, 25(4), 303-310.
- Making the most of radiocarbon dating: some statistical considerations. Antiquity, 68(259), 252-263.
- The Bayesian approach to archaeological data analysis: an application of change-point analysis to prehistoric domes. Archeologia e Calcolatori, 5, 53-69.
- A case study in combining radiocarbon and archaeological information: the early Bronze Age settlement of St. Veit-Klinglberg, Land Salzburg, Austria. Germania, 72, 427-447.
- Estimating the duration of archaeological activity using $^14$C determinations. Oxford Journal of Archaeology, 13(2), 229-240.
- Detecting a change in the shape of a prehistoric corbelled tomb. The Statistician, 42, 483-490.
- Contribution to the discussion of “The Gibbs sampler and other Markov Chain-Monte Carlo methods” by Clifford, P; Jennison, C; Wakefield, J; et al.. Journal of the Royal Statistical Society: Series B, 55, 53-102.
- Calibration of radiocarbon results pertaining to related archaeological events. Journal of Archaeological Science, 19, 497-512.
- Combining archaeological and radiocarbon information: a Bayesian approach to calibration. Antiquity, 65, 808-821.
- The interpretation of noisy data from archaeological field survey: phosphate analysis. Environmental Geochemistry and Health, 10(3/4), 92-95.
- BEYOND CHRONOLOGY, USING BAYESIAN INFERENCE TO EVALUATE HYPOTHESES IN ARCHAEOLOGY. Advances in Archaeological Practice.
Chapters
- Modelización bayesiana de radiocarbono para principiantes In Barceló JA & Morell B (Ed.), Cronométricos en Historia y Arqueología (pp. 293-–310). Madrid: Dextra Editorial.
- Ice Cores and Emulation: Learning More About Past Ice Sheet Shapes, Springer Proceedings in Mathematics & Statistics (pp. 175-182). Springer International Publishing
- Bayesian chronological data interpretation: where now? In Buck CE & Millard AR (Ed.), Tools for Constructing Chronologies: crossing disciplinary boundaries (pp. 1-24). London: Springer-Verlag.
- Preface: towards integrated thinking in chronology building In Buck CE & Millard AR (Ed.), Tools for Constructing Chronologies: crossing disciplinary boundaries London: Springer-Verlag.
- Applications of the Bayesian statistical paradigm In Brothwell DR & Pollard AM (Ed.), Handbook of Archaeological Sciences (pp. 695-702). Chichester: Wiley.
- Data handling and statistical analysis In Ciliberto E & Spoto G (Ed.), Modern Analytical Methods in Art and Archaeology (pp. 681-746). New York: Wiley.
- A Bayesian calibration of radiocarbon determinations from the Pearl Harbor Fishpounds, Hawai’i In Athens JS (Ed.), Ancient Hawaiian Fishponds of Pearl Harbor; archaeological studies on U. S. Navy Lands, Hawai’i Department of Defense Legacy Resource Management Program, Project Number 1729
- Archaeology, statistics in In Kotz S (Ed.), Encyclopedia of Statistical Sciences, Update Volume 3 (pp. 6-11). New York: Wiley.
- Bayesian statistics for archaeology In Gaul W & Locarek-Junge H (Ed.), Classification in the Information Age (pp. 547-554). Springer
- An archaeological example: radiocarbon dating In W. Gilks SR & Spiegelhalter D (Ed.), Markov Chain Monte Carlo in Practice (pp. 465-480). London: Chapman and Hall.
- Mixtures, Bayes and Archaeology In Bernardo JM, Berger JO, Dawid AP & Smith AFM (Ed.), Valencia 5 (pp. 499-506). Oxford: Clarendon Press.
- The radiocarbon chronology: further consideration of the Danebury dataset In Cunliffe B (Ed.), Danebury: an iron age hillfort in Hampshire, Volume 6, A hillfort community in Hampshire (pp. 130-136). Council for British Archaeology, Report Number 102
- The composition of the mirrors In Nicholls RV (Ed.), Corpus Speculorum Etruscorum: Great Britain 2 (pp. Appendix-Appendix). Cambridge University Press
- Front Matter, Uncertain Judgements: Eliciting Experts' Probabilities (pp. i-xiii). John Wiley & Sons, Ltd
- Statistics in Practice, Uncertain Judgements: Eliciting Experts' Probabilities (pp. 322-323). John Wiley & Sons, Ltd
- Index, Uncertain Judgements: Eliciting Experts' Probabilities (pp. 313-321). John Wiley & Sons, Ltd
- Areas for Research, Uncertain Judgements: Eliciting Experts' Probabilities (pp. 223-226). John Wiley & Sons, Ltd
- Published Examples of the Formal Elicitation of Expert Opinion, Uncertain Judgements: Eliciting Experts' Probabilities (pp. 193-216). John Wiley & Sons, Ltd
- Multiple Experts, Uncertain Judgements: Eliciting Experts' Probabilities (pp. 179-192). John Wiley & Sons, Ltd
- The Elicitation Context, Uncertain Judgements: Eliciting Experts' Probabilities (pp. 25-31). John Wiley & Sons, Ltd
- Eliciting and Fitting a Parametric Distribution, Uncertain Judgements: Eliciting Experts' Probabilities (pp. 121-151). John Wiley & Sons, Ltd
- Eliciting Distributions - General, Uncertain Judgements: Eliciting Experts' Probabilities (pp. 97-119). John Wiley & Sons, Ltd
- Author Index, Uncertain Judgements: Eliciting Experts' Probabilities (pp. 307-312). John Wiley & Sons, Ltd
- Fundamentals of Probability and Judgement, Uncertain Judgements: Eliciting Experts' Probabilities (pp. 1-24). John Wiley & Sons, Ltd
- Evaluating Elicitation, Uncertain Judgements: Eliciting Experts' Probabilities (pp. 161-177). John Wiley & Sons, Ltd
- Guidance on Best Practice, Uncertain Judgements: Eliciting Experts' Probabilities (pp. 217-222). John Wiley & Sons, Ltd
- The Psychology of Judgement Under Uncertainty, Uncertain Judgements: Eliciting Experts' Probabilities (pp. 33-59). John Wiley & Sons, Ltd
- Eliciting Distributions - Uncertainty and Imprecision, Uncertain Judgements: Eliciting Experts' Probabilities (pp. 153-160). John Wiley & Sons, Ltd
- The Elicitation of Probabilities, Uncertain Judgements: Eliciting Experts' Probabilities (pp. 61-96). John Wiley & Sons, Ltd
- Glossary, Uncertain Judgements: Eliciting Experts' Probabilities (pp. 227-265). John Wiley & Sons, Ltd
- Bibliography, Uncertain Judgements: Eliciting Experts' Probabilities (pp. 267-306). John Wiley & Sons, Ltd
- A Bayesian reanalysis of the S2age database
Conference proceedings papers
- Towards BCal: an on-line Bayesian radiocarbon calibration facility. Actes du 3ème colloque C14 et Archéologie, Lyon, 6-10 Avril 1998 (pp 113-117). Mémoires de la Société Française Tome 26 et Supplément de la Revue d’Archéométrie
- Radiocarbon dating: problem definition and sample selection. Science and Site (pp 1-11)
- Applications of the Bayesian paradigm to archaeological data analysis. Actes du XIIe Congrés International des Sciences Préhistoriques et Protohistoriques, Part I (pp 367-374)
- The provenancing of archaeological ceramics: a Bayesian approach. Computer Applications and Quantitative Methods in Archaeology, 1992 (pp 293-301). Aarhus
- Tools for the interpretation of soil phosphate data from archaeological field surveys. Geoprospection in the Archaeological Landscape (pp 75-87). Oxford
- A computational Bayes approach to some common archaeological problems. Computer Applications and Quantitative Methods in Archaeology, 1990 (pp 93-100)
- Image segmentation methods for archaeological field survey data. New Tools from Mathematical Archaeology (pp 55-68). Warsaw, Poland
- Image segmentation techniques for archaeological geochemical data. Computer Applications and Quantitative Methods in Archaeology, 1989 (pp 121-131)
- The spatial analysis of site phosphate data. Computer Applications and Quantitative Methods in Archaeology, 1988 (pp 151-160)
- Uncertain Judgements: Eliciting Experts' Probabilities. John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
- Research group
- Grants
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Current grants, as Principal Investigator
Heritage Data Analytics: Sustainable strategies for large and complex stratigraphic and chronometric data AHRC Past grants, as Principal Investigator Uncertainty in Palaeoclimate International Network Leverhulme Statistical Support for BAS Palaeoclimate Studies BAS Tools for constructing chronologies: crossing disciplinary boundaries NERC Past grants, as Coinvestigator
The future of the past: A robust framework for the upgrade and development of the international radiocarbon calibration/comparison curves (IntCal) NERC Out of Asia / A New Framework for Dating the Spread of Agriculture in Europe NERC The future of the past: A robust framework for the upgrade and development of the international radiocarbon calibration/comparison curves
- Teaching activities
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MAS279 Career Development Skills MAS400 Project Presentation in Mathematics and Statistics MAS6041 MSc Stats Dissertation