The 'tesselle' Project: a Collection of R Packages for Research and Teaching in Archaeology
Résumé
The use of programming languages in archaeological research has witnessed a notable surge in the last decade, particularly with R, a versatile statistical computing language that fosters the development of specialized packages. This paper introduces the 'tesselle' project (https://www.tesselle.org/), a comprehensive collection of R packages tailored for archaeological research and education.
The 'tesselle' packages are centered on quantitative analysis methods specifically crafted for archaeology. They are designed to complement both general-purpose and other specialized statistical packages. These packages serve as a versatile toolbox, facilitating the exploration and analysis of common data types in archaeology, such as count data, compositional data or chronological data, and enabling the construction of reproducible workflows. Complementary packages for visualization, data preparation, and educational resources augment the 'tesselle' ecosystem.
This paper outlines the project's inception, its objectives, design principles, and key components, along with reflections on future directions.