This page summarizes a frequency-seriation based chronology for the Utopia III site that was developed by DAACS (see Neiman, Galle, and Wheeler 2003 for technical details). At Utopia III, DAACS seriated ceramic assemblages with more than five sherds, from excavated features. This made it possible to assign larger samples of artifacts to phases than if the analysis had been conducted at the level of stratigraphic groups and individual contexts, where sample sizes are much smaller.

The seriation chronology is derived from a correspondence analysis of MCD-type frequencies in the features that met the sample size criterion. Seriated assemblages were assigned to phases. Phases are groups of assemblages that have similar correspondence-analysis scores and are therefore inferred to be broadly contemporary. Phases assigned by DAACS have a P-prefix that precedes the phase number (e.g. P01 equals Phase 1).

The stratigraphic relationships among stratigraphic groups, unassigned contexts, and features are summarized in the Harris Matrix for the site. Phase assignments from the seriation are shown on the Harris Matrix in color, facilitating comparison of the seriation chronology and the stratigraphic chronology of the site.

Correspondence analysis (CA) of MCD-type frequencies in the seventeen assemblages that met the sample size criterion yielded a complex result. The CA axis-1 scores divided the assemblages into two groups. The first was comprised of the assemblages from three subfloor pits under Structure 50 (F51, F53, F55). The second was comprised of the remaining assemblages. The unique position of the three assemblages along Axis 1 was due entirely to high frequencies of two types, Faience and especially Colono, in the Structure-50 pits. Axis-1 scores were not correlated with MCDs. However, axis-2 scores were. Hence synchronic variation in Colono and Faience frequencies was greater that chronological variation in the other MCD-type frequencies. Removing Colono and Faience from a second CA resulted in a new set of axis-1 scores that were almost perfectly correlated with the original axis-2 scores and were also significantly correlated with MCDs.

The results of this analysis need to be considered in light of the spatial structure of the site. Utopia III includes two structures that are on different orientations and are about 90 feet apart. The assemblages from features associated with the two structures are thus derived from two residential groups or households. The CA of MCD-type frequencies indicates that three assemblages from Structure 50 are very different from all the assemblages associated with Structure 40 and all the other assemblages associated with Structure 50. However, once Colono and Faience are removed from the analysis, this distinctiveness disappears. These patterns demand further exploration.

Based on CA, DAACS divided the occupation of Utopia III into two temporal phases. Each phase was further divided into a subphase, based on whether the assemblage in question came from features associated with Structure 50 (1a, 2a) or Structure 40 (1b, 2b).

Both phases have a TPQ of 1750, based on sherds of Derbyshire. As was the case for Utopia II, mean ceramic dates were computed on the assumption that all American Stoneware at Utopia III was actually made by William Rogers of Yorktown, whose pottery operated from 1720 to 1750. The resulting MCDs place the phases in 1770's and early 80's, which seems anomalously late. Binford pipestem dates for assemblages with more than twenty measurable stems, range from 1755 to 1768.

The following table presents a seriation chronology for the Utopia III Site. We use the indefinite article to signify that it is not the only chronology possible, nor even the best one possible.