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Comparative Archaeology Database, University of Pittsburgh
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Teotihuacan Moon Pyramid Osbidian Dataset |
This section provides detailed data on the measurements of preforms. Deposits 1 and 2 belong to workshop contexts and exhibited substantial dart point production evidence, which provided enough preforms for analysis. Deposit 3 contained few preform fragments, and most debitage was associated with large biface and prismatic blade production, hence no data is presented for this deposit.
The files are provided either as ASCII text files, or as Excel spreadsheets. Each line on the text file represents a single artifact. For Deposit 1, there are 151 lines in the text file, for Deposit 2 there are 27 lines, each with 13 variables separated by commas. In the following order the variables are:
1 |
Artifact bag number |
2 |
Stage: 1=Flake/Blade Blank 2=Bifacial Tool Blank 3=Early-Stage Preform 4=Late-Stage Preform 5=Complete Dart Point |
3 |
Portion of lithic artifact |
4 |
Source characterization (visual attributes) Jet=Jet black Icy=Translucent like ice |
5 |
Blank type (flake or blade) |
6 |
Width (mm) |
7 |
Thickness (mm) |
8 |
Length (mm) |
9 |
Projected width (mm) |
10 |
Projected thickness (mm) |
11 |
Projected length (mm) |
12 |
Weight (g) |
13 |
Preform production errors or reason for discard: 1=Snap/bending fracture 2=Perverse fracture 3=Vertical fracture 4=Failure to thin a major ridge or stack of step fractures 5=Failure to remove blocky edge 6=Failure to remove obtrusive cortex 7=Flaw in material 8=Percussion tip removal 9=Pressure flaking removal of tip, stem or wing 10=Unidentified |
The first line of the ASCII text file for Deposit 1, for example, looks like this:
J0062,2,Tip,Otumba Jet?,Blade?,27.10,7.30,40.30,30.10,7.30,61.60,8.20,2
This indicates that the artifact came from bag J0062 and it is a bifacial tool blank. The portion of the artifact is a tip and it is a jet black Otumba source obsidian. It was made on a blade and measures 27.10 mm in width, 7.30 mm in Thickness, and 40.30 mm in lenght. Its projected width is 30.10, its projected thickness is 7.30, and its projected length is 61.60. Finally, it weighted 8.20 g and was discarded because it possessed a perverse fracture.
The last (or 151st) line of the ASCII text file for Deposit 1 is:
J0186,3,Base,Icy,Blade,38.50,7.50,37.50,38.50,7.50,80.50,13.00,2
Which indicates that the artifact came from bag J0186 and it is an early-stage preform. The portion of the artifact is a base and it is a translucent icy obsidian. It was made on a blade and measures 38.50 mm in width, 7.50 mm in Thickness, and 37.50 mm in lenght. Its projected width is 38.50, its projected thickness is 7.50, and its projected length is 80.50. Finally, it weighted 13.00 g and was discarded because it possessed a perverse fracture.
Click on the following links to download the files: