Comparative Archaeology Database, University of Pittsburgh
URL: http://www.cadb.pitt.edu
Email: cadb@pitt.edu

Talgar Alluvial Fan Dataset
Claudia Chang and Perry A. Tourtellotte

Survey Site Data

The data files SURVEYDATA.TXT and SURVEYDATA.XLS contain the location, site type, period, and artifactual information for sites recorded during survey of the Talgar alluvial fan. SURVEYDATA.TXT is an ASCII text file; SURVEYDATA.XLS contains the same data in the form of an Excel spreadsheet. All coordiantes are based on the WGS-84 datum. Each line represents one waypoint (recognizable site or kurgan). There are 466 lines in the text file, each with 18 variables separated by commas. The variables are, in the following order:

1 Waypoint
2 Latitude/North (Degrees)
3 Latitude/North (Minutes)
4 Latitude/North (Seconds)
5 Longitude/East (Degrees)
6 Longitude/East (Minutes)
7 Longitude/East (Seconds)
8 UTM Easting (in meters, Zone 43 North, WGS84 datum)
9 UTM Northing (in meters, Zone 43 North, WS84 datum)
10 Name or Locality
11 Transect under which the site was located
12 Period:
1=Bronze Age
2=Iron Age
3=Turkic Period
4=Middle Ages
7=Historical Russian
8=Modern Kazakh
9=unknown
13 Site type:
1.0=Kurgan
1.1=Kurgan + sherds
1.2=Kurgan + sherds + cobbles
1.3=Kurgan + cobbles
2.0=Possible Kurgan
2.1=Possible Kurgan + 1 sherd + cobbles
2.2=Possible Kurgan + cobbles
2.3=Possible Kurgan + grinding stones
2.4=possible Kurgan + sherds
3.0=Destroyed Kurgan
3.1=Destroyed Kurgan + grinding stones + cobbles
3.2=Destroyed Kurgan + sherds
3.3=Destroyed Kurgan + cobbles
4.0=Double Kurgan
5.0=Sherd scatter
5.1=Sherd scatter + grinding stones
5.2=Sherd scatter + bones
5.3=sherd scatter + cobbles
5.4=sherd scatter + grinding stones + bones
5.5=sherd scatter + cobbles + bones
6.0=Single sherd
6.2=Single sherd + bones
6.3=Single sherd + cobbles
7.0=2 sherds
7.1=2 sherds + bone
8.0=Grinding stone
9.0=Grave
9.1=grave + bones
9.2=grave + gringding stones + cobbles
10.0=Petroglyph
11.0=Undefined
14 Height (meters)
15 Diameter (meters)
16 Addtional artifacts
17 Remarks
18 Land Condition

The first line of the ASCII text file, for example, looks like this:

72,43,21,21.8,77,12,20.8,678750,4802718,,219b,2,8.0,,,,ground and pecked (possible low visibility site),

This indicates that the data pertains to waypoint 72, located at latitude 43 21 21.8 and longitude 077 12 20.8. In UTMs, the coordinates are easting 678750 and northing 4802718. The locality is not provided for this waypoint. It was found while walking down transect 219b. The period is "Iron Age" and the site type is "grinding stone." Because of this, there are no height or diameters provided, nor are additional artifacts. Additional remarks note "ground and pecked (possible low visibility site)." Land conditions are not noted for this waypoint.

The last, or 466th, line of the ASCII text file is:

TS-11,43,22,10.8,77,7,48.1,672573,4804070,south of Tseganka 8,,2,5.2,,35,,high rolling ridge- scatter 30-40 meters diameter (7 rims + 45 body + 3 grinding stones) (found with tish),

This indicates that the data pertains to waypoint TS-11, located at latitude 43 22 10.8 and longitude 077 07 48.1. In UTMs, the coordinates are easting 672573 and northing 4804070. The locality is south of Tseganka 8. The transect in which the site was found is not provided for this waypoint. The period is "Iron Age" and the site type is "sherd scatter plus bones." The height is not provided, but the diameter of the scatter is 35 meters. Additional artifacts are not provided for this waypoint. Remarks note "high rolling ridge- scatter 30-40 meters diameter (7 rims + 45 body + 3 grinding stones) (found with tish)." Land conditions are not noted for this waypoint.

Click here to download the file SURVEYDATA.TXT (43 KB) or the file SURVEYDATA.XLS (120 KB).

Several additional site locations were recorded during survey that fell outside the formal survey boundaries. The information for these sites is provided in the files ADDITIONALWAYPOINTS.TXT (2 KB) and ADDITIONALWAYPOINTS.XLS (23 KB), which follow the same file format and structure outlined above.


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