ZINGEYKA DATASET: AREA-DENSITY INDEXES

Calculation of Area-Density Indexes

The data files ADINDEX.TXT and ADINDEX.XLS provide detailed information about the calculations used to generate the area-density indexes of all collection units (with the exception of units 10, 12, 22, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, and 35 either because of low densities or because of the absence of positive shovel probes). Please refer to pages 13-34 of the dissertation associated with this dataset for additional details on methodology. While Final Bronze Age materials were not discussed in the dissertation, they are presented here in full detail. Finally, collection unit 29 was a high outlier in the sherd density measure (variable 20) due to the presence of a single shovel probe that landed in a Late Bronze Age pot containing 90 sherds. For this reason, the next highest value of 8.07 was assigned to the variable 29 (Shovel probe sherd density attributable to Late Bronze Age), which was then used in all of the subsequent calculations.

ADINDEX.TXT is a comma delimited ASCII text file; ADINDEX.XLS contains the same data in the form of an Excel spreadsheet. Each line shows the calculations of each collection unit. There are 26 lines, each with 36 variables separated by commas. The variables are listed in the following order:

1	Collection unit number. These correspond to the ID numbers provided in the COLL_NUMBERS layer of the Map of Collection Units page of this dataset.
2	Collection unit name. Provides the Russian site registry name and number that corresponds to each collection unit. For sites encompassing more than one collection unit, a second sequential number is provided to uniquely identify each collection unit. Site names are provided for references purposes only, as the concept of "site" did not play any meaningful role in analysis.
3	Area (ha) measure obtained from a combination of shovel probes and surface collection. Please see pages 13-34 of the dissertation associated with this dataset for more details about how this number was reached.
4	Visibility conditions (Good, Poor, or Patchy).
5	Collection method (S=surface collection; P=shovel probe).
6	Total number of Bronze Age sherds collected from surface.
7	Number of sampled sherds from surface collection (n/a - no sample, all sherds were used).
8	Number of MBA sherds in sample from surface collection.
9	Proportion of sampled MBA sherds in relation to all diagnostic sherds (variable 8 divided by the sum of variables 8, 10, and 11).
10	Number of LBA sherds in sample from surface collection.
11	Number of FBA sherds in sample from surface collection.
12	Number of undiagnostic sherds in sample from surface collection.
13	Total number of Bronze Age sherds collected from shovel probes.
14	Number of MBA sherds from shovel probes.
15	Proportion of MBA sherds in relation to all diagnostic sherds (variable 14 divided by the sum of variables 14, 16, and 17).
16	Number of LBA sherds from shovel probes.
17	Number of FBA sherds from shovel probes.
18	Number of undiagnostic sherds from shovel probes.
19	Area measure obtained from shovel probes (ha).
20	Density measure obtained from shovel probes. For the calculation of these values, see the following Density Table.
21	Total diagnostic sherds within larger Collection Unit, obtained through either shovel probes or surface collection.
22	Total MBA sherds from surface collection and shovel probes (variable 8 + variable 14).
23	Total percent of MBA sherds (variable 22 / variable 21).
24	Total LBA sherds from surface collection and shovel probes (variable 10 + variable 16).
25	Total percent of LBA sherds (variable 24 / variable 21).
26	Total FBA sherds from surface collection and shovel probes (variable 11 + variable 17).
27	Total percent of FBA sherds (variable 26 / variable 21).
28	Shovel probe sherd density attributable to MBA (variable 20 * variable 23).
29	Shovel probe sherd density attributable to LBA (variable 20 * variable 25).
30	Shovel probe sherd density attributable to FBA (variable 20 * variable 27).
31	MBA Area-Density index (variable 28 * variable 19).
32	MBA Area-Density index divided by the number of centruries of the MBA (variable 31 / 3.5)
33	LBA Area-Density index (variable 29 * variable 19).
34	LBA Area-Density index divided by the number of centruries of the LBA (variable 33 / 3).
35	FBA Area-Density index (variable 30 * variable 19).
36	FBA Area-Density index divided by the number of centruries of the FBA (variable 35 / 6).

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

1,katsbah 1 1,1.00,Good,S,102,52,2,4%,40,7,3,0,0,n/a,0,0,0,0.50,3.00,49,2,4%,40,82%,7,14%,0.12,
2.45,0.43,0.061,0.017,1.224,0.408,0.214,0.036

This entry shows the calculation of the area-density index/century value for collection unit 1, also referred to as Katsbah 1 1. The area of this collection unit, obtained from a combination of shovel probes and surface collection, was 1.00 ha. The surface visibility was good. Only surface collection was used to recover sherds. 102 Bronze Age sherds were recovered from the surface, 52 of which were sampled for the purposes of the area-density analysis. 2 sherds (or 4%) out of all of the diagnostic sherds within the 52 sherd sample belonged to the MBA period. 40 sherds from the 52 sherd sample belonged to the LBA period, while 7 belonged to the FBA period. 3 sherds out of the 52 sherd sample were undiagnostic. Area measure obtained from shovel probes was 0.5 ha for this collection unit. Density measure obtained from shovel probes was 3.00. Within the larger collection unit obtained through the combination of shovel probes and surface collection, 49 sherds were diagnostic of a time period. 2 (or 4%) of them belonged to the MBA period; 40 (or 82%) of them belonged to the LBA period; while 7 (or 14%) of them belonged to the FBA period. The total density measure from shovel probes for this collection unit was distributed in the following way among the time periods: 0.12 was attributed to the MBA; 2.45 – to the LBA; and 0.43 – to the FBA. The MBA area-density index was calculated to be 0.061, which, divided by the appropriate quantity of centuries, produced the 0.017 MBA area-density index/century value. The LBA area-density index was calculated to be 1.224, which, divided by the appropriate quantity of centuries, produced the 0.408 LBA area-density index/century value. The FBA area-density index was calculated to be 0.214, which, divided by the appropriate quantity of centuries, produced the 0.036 FBA area-density index/century value.

The last, or 26th line of the ASCII text file is:

29,Katsbah 6,0.71,Poor,S+P,0,n/a,0,n/a,0,0,0,120,0,0%,109,0,11,0.71,11.36,109,0,0%,109,100%,0,0%,
0.00,8.07,0.00,0.000,0.000,5.730,1.910,0.000,0.000

This entry shows the calculation of the area-density index/century value for collection unit 29, also referred to as Katsbah 6. The area of this collection unit, obtained from a combination of shovel probes and surface collection, was 0.71 ha. The surface visibility was poor. Both surface collection and shovel probes were used to recover sherds. No Bronze Age sherds were recovered from the surface. 120 sherds were recovered from the shovel probes, out of which 109 belonged to the LBA period while 11 were undiagnostic. Area measure obtained from shovel probes was 0.71 ha for this collection unit. Density measure obtained from shovel probes was 11.36. Within the larger collection unit, obtained through the combination of shovel probes and surface collection, 109 sherds were diagnostic of a time period. 109 (or 100%) of them belonged to the LBA period. The total density measure from shovel probes for this collection unit was distributed in the following way among the time periods: 8.07 was attributed to the LBA (see notes at the top of this page for the discrepancy in the density values for this collection unit). The LBA area-density index was calculated to be 5.730, which, divided by the appropriate quantity of centuries, produced the 1.91 LBA area-density index/century value.

Download the file ADINDEX.TXT (4 KB) or the file ADINDEX.XLS (35 KB).

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