ZINGEYKA DATASET: FAUNAL INVENTORY TEST PITS

Faunal Inventory from Test Pits

The data files FAUNALTP.TXT and FAUNALTP.XLS provide detailed information (including species, sex, level of completeness, etc.) on each bone specimen extracted from various arbitrary levels of each test pit. FAUNALTP.TXT is a comma delimited ASCII text file; FAUNALTP.XLS contains the same data in the form of an Excel spreadsheet. Each line in the ASCII file corresponds to one bone specimen. There are 3365 lines, each with 20 variables separated by commas. The variables are listed in the following order:

1	Test pit number. These correspond to the excavation unit labels provided in the TEST_PIT_NUMBERS layer of the Location of Test Pits page of this dataset.
2	Arbitrary excavation level indicating upper and lower depths.
3	The total number of bone fragments in level.
4	Total bone weight (g) within level.
5	Bone ID (sequential within level).
6	Species. When species could not be determined, an attempt was made to categorize the bones according to animal size: L (large) mammal category would include cattle, horse, camel, moose, or wild onager. Most likely being cattle and horse. M (mid-sized) mammal category would include sheep, goat, saiga antelope, Siberian (or eastern) roe deer, or wild hog. Most likely being sheep and goat. S (small) mammal category would include hare, fox, corsac fox, or steppe marmot.
7	Bone element
8	Completeness (W-whole; F-fragment). If 75% or more of the bone was present, it is considered whole.
9	Side (L - left; R-right; LL - Left-lateral/Right-medial; RL - Right-lateral/Left-medial)
10	Anatomical position of the fragment
11	Age: K = kid Y = young M = mature O = old When two age categories are provided, e.g., Kid/Young, the bone may belong to either category. The following age categories were used for: Cattle and horse: Kid = up to 1 years old; Young = 1-2 years old; Mature = 3-14 years old; Old = 14 years and older. Sheep/goat: Kid = up to 6 months old; Young = 6 months to 1.5 years old; Mature = 1.5-7.5 years old; Old = 7.5 years and older. Hog: Young = younger than 1 year; Mature = older than 1 year.
12	Aging criteria: D = bone density/porosity EF = epiphyseal fusion schedule ER = tooth eruption schedule R = timing of tooth root closure S = size of tooth or bone W = degree of tooth wear.
13	Burnt degree: b-burnt c-calcined
14	Presence of modern break [B] or cut [C].
15	Presence of taphonomic markers: R = Root etching G = Gnawing by a dog/carnivoire F = Extreme fracturing due to repeated freezing and thawing E = Severe erosion
16	Presence of human impact/alteration: C = cut mark CH = chop marks by an axe A = artifact
17	Sex: M = male F = female
18	Sexing criteria: S = size P = proportions
19	Time period of accompanying ceramics
20	Additional notes.

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

1011,-10-30,4,9.7,1,M mammal,Indet. various,F,0,0,0,0,b,0,0,0,0,0,LBA,

This means that this bone specimen came from test pit 1011, from the arbitrary level with the depth of -10-30. This level contained 4 bones with the total weight of 9.7 grams. This is the first bone within this level. It belongs to a medium-sized mammal. The bone element is undetermined. It is a fragment of a bone. The bone is burnt. All ceramics recovered from this level belonged to the Late Bronze Age (LBA) period.

The last, or 3365th line of the ASCII text file is:

670-s-1,-10-20,81,83,81,Indet. mammal,Indet. various,F,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,LBA,

This means that this bone specimen came from test pit 670-s-1, from the arbitrary level with the depth of -10-20. This level contained 81 bones with the total weight of 83 grams. This is the 81st (last) bone within this level. The species, as well the bone element, were undetermined. It is a fragment of a bone. All ceramics recovered from this level belonged to the Late Bronze Age (LBA) period.

Download the file FAUNALTP.TXT (247 KB) or the file FAUNALTP.XLS (845 KB).

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