Comparative Archaeology Database | Center for Comparative Archaeology | University of Pittsburgh
Lower Dover Community Dataset
The data files FAUNAL.CSV and FAUNAL.XLSX provide information on the location, classifications, time period, and artifact type of all faunal remains recovered from excavation lots. FAUNAL.CSV is a comma delimited ASCII text file; FAUNAL.XLSX contains the same data in the form of an Excel spreadsheet.
[Comma delimited UTF-8 format]
[Excel format]
Each line in the .CSV file represents represents all specimens that are of the same taxon, element, portion, age, sex, and modification from a given context. There are 575 lines, each with 25 variables separated by commas. The variables are listed in the following order:
| 1 | Year |
| 2 | Lot |
| 3 | Lot Description |
| 4 | Time Period |
| 5 | Artifact Class |
| 6 | Common Name |
| 7 | Phylum |
| 8 | Class |
| 9 | Order |
| 10 | Family |
| 11 | Genus/Species |
| 12 | Body Portion |
| 13 | Quantity |
| 14 | Element |
| 15 | Side |
| 16 | Portion |
| 17 | Age |
| 18 | Sex |
| 19 | Size Class |
| 20 | Taphonomy |
| 21 | Modification |
| 22 | Artifact Type |
| 23 | Comments |
| 24 | Bag Number |
| 25 | Catalog Number |
The first line of the .CSV file, for example, looks like this:
2019,BR168-1-1,Plow Soil,Unprovienced,Worked Shell,Jute (Glaphyrus),Mollusca,Gastropoda,Caenogastropoda,Pachychilidae,Pachychilus Glaphyrus,Exoskeleton,1,Freshwater Shell,Not Sided,Body Whorl,Unknown,Unknown,Unknown,,Drilled Hole,N/A,"SPECIMEN STORED WITH LOWER DOVER SPECIAL FINDS. SEE ALSO, BAG# BR2019-1 / CAT# Z001 IN MISC. SITES TAB OF BVAR FAUNAL DATA SPREADSHEET. ",LWD2019-41,Z115
This means that the specimen was recovered in 2019 from the plowed surface of BR-168, it is unprovienced in terms of time period (no way to date a snail shell on the ground), the artifact class is a worked shell, the common name is Jute or Pachychilus Glaphyrus, the phylum is mollusca, the class is gastropoda, the order is caenogastropoda, the family is pachychilidae, the Genus/species is Pachychilus Glaphyrus, the body portion is exoskeleton, quantity is 1, the element is a freshwater shell, the side is not sided, the portion is body whorl, age, sex, and size class are unknown, there is no obvious taphonomic changes, the shell is modified with a drill hole, it is not a specific artifact type, comments show where it is stored and how it is integrated into the regional database, the BAG# BR2019-1, and the Cat# is Z115.