Machalilla Shell Inventory

The data files SHELL.TXT and SHELL.XLS contain data on the quantities of species and types of shells recovered from the 553 collection lots in the Machalilla National Park survey. SHELL.TXT is an ASCII text file; SHELL.XLS contains the same data in the form of an Excel spreadsheet. Each line represents one collection lot. There are 553 lines in the text file, each with 83 variables separated by commas. The variables are, in the following order:

Unworked Bivalve fragments (Pelecypoda)

Worked Bivalve fragments (Pelecypoda)

Unworked Gastropod fragments (Gastropoda)

Worked Gastropod fragments (Gastropoda)

Unworked Polyplacophora fragments

Coral fragments

Completely Unidentifiable Shell

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

1,0,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,0,,,,,,,,,0,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,0,,,,,0,,,0,,,

This indicates that the data pertains to collection lot 1, which had no shell fragments of any kind, and hence does not display any shell counts.

On the other hand, the last, or 553rd, line of the ASCII text file is:

553,56,,,1,1,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,5,7,,,,,,,,,0,8,1,24,,1,1,,,,2,,,,,,,,,1,,,,,1,,,6,,,,,,,4,49,,,,,0,,,0,,,

This indicates that the data pertains to collection lot 553, which contained a total of 56 shell fragments. Of those, there were 0 unworked Spondylus princeps fragments, 0 unworked Spondylus calcifer, 1 unworked Spondylus sp., 1 unworked Pictada mazatlanica, 0 unworked Pteria sterna, 0 unworked Arcopsis solida, 0 unworked Lyropecten subnodosus, 0 unworked Leptopecten tumbezensis, 0 unworked Arca pacifica, 0 unworked Pseudochama corrugta, 0 unworked Modiolus capax, 0 unworked Ostrea sp., 0 unworked Ostrea tridescens, 0 unworked Ostrea fisheri, 0 unworked Prothotaca columbiensis, 0 unworked Perigplyta multicostata, 0 unworked Chama budiana, 0 unworked Dosinia ponderosa, 0 unworked Corbula ovulate, 0 unworked Tracgucardium procerum, 0 unworked Tellina planulata, 0 unworked Chione sp., 0 unworked Tucetona strigilata, 0 unworked Donax dentifer, 5 unidentified unworked bivalve fragments, and hence a total of 7 unworked bivalve fragments. There were 0 worked Spondylus princeps, 0 worked Spondylus calcifer, 0 worked Spondylus sp., 0 worked Pictada mazatlanica, 0 worked Pteria sterna, 0 worked Prothotaca columbiensis, 0 worked Leptopecten tumbezensis, 0 unidentfied worked bivalves, and hence the total of worked bivalves was 0. The sample also recovered 8 unworked Thais melones, 1 unworked Crepidula onyx, 24 unworked Thais haemastoma biserialis, 0 unworked Thais calloensis, 1 unworked Turbo saxosus, 1 unworked Tegula verrucosa, 0 unworked Conus vittatus, 0 unworked Fissurella virescens, 0 unworked Cypraea arabicula, 2 unworked Nassarius versicolor, 0 unworked Natica chemnitzii, 0 unworked Natica elenae, 0 unworked Acanthina muricata, 0 unworked Bursa caelata, 0 unworked Pleuroploca princeps, 0 unworked Hexaplex ambiguous, 0 unworked Hexaplex princeps, 0 unworked Malea rigens, 1 unworked Phyllonotus brassica, 0 unworked Operculos, 0 unworked Isognomon recognitus, 0 unworked Siphonaria gigas, 0 unworked Crucibulum scutellatum, 1 unworked Astraea babelis, 0 unworked Fasciolaria princeps, 0 unworked Purpura pansa, 6 unworked Strombus galeatus, 0 unworked Strombus peruvianus, 0 unworked Strombus granulatus, 0 unworked Vasum caestus, 0 unworked Distorsio decussate, 0 unworked Olivella columellaris, 0 unworked Cerithium sp., 4 unidentified unworked Gastropods, for a total of 49 unworked gastropod fragments. There were no worked gastropod fragments of any kind. There was also no Polyplacophora fragments of any kind, no coral, or completly unidentifiable shell.

Click here to download the file SHELL.TXT (52 KB) or the file SHELL.XLS (222 KB).

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