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Comparative Archaeology Database, University of Pittsburgh
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Upper Térraba Regional Dataset |
The data files LITHICS.TXT and LITHICS.XLS provide a breakdown of lithic material by type for each surface collection or shovel test probe carried out within the survey area. LITHICS.TXT is an ASCII text file; LITHICS.XLS contains the same data in the form of an Excel spreadsheet. Each line represents either one shovel test probe, one systematic surface collection rectangle, or one asystematic surface collection. There are 1344 lines in the text file, each with 23 variables separated by commas. The variables are, in the following order:
1 |
Lot. Refers to an area of approximately ¼ of hectare where one or more samples of archaeological material were collected. |
2 |
Bag. Identification number of an independent sample collected in a lot. |
3 |
Waste flakes. Number of flakes without evidence of use but features suggesting human craftmanship. |
4 |
Knife. Number of chipped stone flakes with use marks on both faces. |
5 |
Scraper. Number of chipped stone flakes with use marks on one face. |
6 |
Flake chopper. Number of roughly made chipped stone tools with heavy use marks. |
7 |
Flaked double-bitted axe. Flaked unifacial or bifacial axe with two use edges and two central grooves for shafting. |
8 |
Scraper plane. Flaked artifact with a steep angled scraping edge and use wear evidence on one face. |
9 |
Flaked core. Number of flaked stone cores. |
10 |
Preform. Unfinished flaked artifact. |
11 |
Mano. Number of hand stones with a smooth surface. |
12 |
Metate (slab). Number of slab shaped milling stones. |
13 |
Metate (boulder). Number of boulder shaped milling stones. |
14 |
Mortar. Number of ground stone mortars. |
15 |
Celt. Number of polished celt shaped stone axe. |
16 |
Celt (miniature). Number of miniature celts. |
17 |
Polisher. Number of small cobbles with heavy wear. |
18 |
Whetstone. Number of small rocks with deep grooves probably used to sharpen small objects. |
The first line of the ASCII text file, for example, looks like this:
1,1,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
This indicates that the data pertains to lot 1, bag 1 (or rather, the first collection carried out within this lot). In this collection there were no waste flakes, knifes, scrapers, flake choppers, flaked double-bitted axe, scraper planes, flaked cores, preforms, manos, metate (slabs), metate (boulders), mortars, celts of any kind, polishers, or whetstones.
The last, or 1344th, line of the ASCII text file is:
1280,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
This indicates that the ceramics pertains to lot 1280. Since there was only one collection carried out in this lot, there is no bag number specified. In this collection there were no waste flakes, knifes, scrapers, flake choppers, flaked double-bitted axe, scraper planes, flaked cores, preforms, manos, metate (slabs), metate (boulders), mortars, celts of any kind, polishers, or whetstones.
Click here to download the file LITHICS.TXT (30 KB) or the file LITHICS.XLS (74 KB).