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Comparative Archaeology Database, University of Pittsburgh
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The Central Alaska Peninsula Radiocarbon Dataset |
The data files CARBON.TXT and CARBON.XLS provide radiocarbon assays on cultural deposits from this and other research projects in the Central Alaska Peninsula and surrounding areas. These data were used in generating summed probability distributions (SPDs) for the publication associated with this dataset (Barton et al. 2018). CARBON.TXT is a comma delimited ASCII text file; CARBON.XLS contains the same data in the form of an Excel spreadsheet. Each line in the ASCII file corresponds to one radiocarbon sample. There are 394 lines, each with 11 variables separated by commas. The variables are listed in the following order:
| 1 | Trinomial. Formal US naming conventions for archaeological sites in the state of Alaska. |
| 2 | Analysis area. Analysis area used in Barton et al 2018. |
| 3 | Region. Geographic location of the archaeological site. |
| 4 | Site name. Names given to known archaeological sites (where applicable). |
| 5 | Latitude (WGS 1984). |
| 6 | Longitude (WGS 1984). |
| 7 | lab no. The name/number given to each radiocarbon measurement by each lab. |
| 8 | Conventional age estimate in radiocarbon years before present (rcybp). |
| 9 | Instrumental measurement error expresed as +/- radiocarbon years. |
| 10 | Primary literature reference for this data point.* |
| 11 | Secondary literature reference for this data point.* |
*NOTE: “AHRS” stands for the “Alaska Heritage Resources Survey” (https://dnr.alaska.gov/ohasecurity/portal) a repository of site locations and cultural resource data. Many of these data points were pulled directly from the AHRS database, and in when the data have not been published anywhere else, the reference is “AHRS”; when the lab number for the radiocarbon date is not listed in AHRS, the lab number is listed as “AHRS” followed by an arbitrary number (e.g. “AHRS 2”).
The first line of the ASCII text file, for example, looks like this:
49-SUT-047,Pacific Coast,Sutwick Island,SUT-00047,56.55592061,-157.0164719,AHRS 29,1920,170,O'Leary 2001,AHRS
This means that the formal trinomial designation for the archaeological site is “49-SUT-047”; it was aggregated into an analysis area called “Pacific Coast” in Barton et al. (2017); the site is located on “Sutwick Island”; it may also have the name “SUT-00047”; and it is located at “56.5592061” degrees north; by “157.01647188” degrees west; the lab number for the radiocarbon age estimate is “AHRS 29” (note that this is an arbitrary lab number because the AHRS database did not provide the original lab number, see note above); the point estimate for the conventional radiocarbon age is “1,920” radiocarbon years before A.D. 1950; with an instrumental error of +/- “170” radiocarbon years; this data point originally appeared in a report (O’Leary, 2001); and it was also reported in “AHRS”.
The last, or 394th line of the ASCII text file is:
49-UGA-002,other Central & Lower Peninsula,Ugashik River,,57.56649416,-156.7904171,SI-3220,3525,80,Henn 1978,
This means that the formal trinomial designation for the archaeological site is “49-UGA-002”; it was aggregated into an analysis of an area called “Central & Lower Peninsula” in Barton et al. (2017); the site is located on the “Ugashik River”; the site contains no other name (note blank); and it is located at “57.56649416” degrees north; by “156.79041710” degrees west; the lab number for the radiocarbon age estimate is “SI-3220”; the point estimate for the conventional radiocarbon age is “3,525” radiocarbon years before A.D. 1950; with an instrumental error of +/- “80” radiocarbon years; this data point originally appeared in a monograph by Henn (1978); no other references are provided.
Download the file CARBON.TXT (52 KB) or the file CARBON.XLS (99 KB).