We are proud to announce the arrival of a new, exciting project in the Open Context database, co-authored by Levent Atici (University of Nevada Las Vegas), Justin S.E. Lev-Tov (Statistical Research, Inc.) and our own Sarah Whitcher Kansa.
This project uses the publicly available dataset of over 30,000 animal bone specimens from excavations at Chogha Mish, Iran during the 1960s and 1970s.The specimens were identified by Jane Wheeler Pires-Ferreira in the 1960s and though she never analyzed the data or produced a report, her identifications were saved and later transferred to punch cards and then to Excel. This ‘orphan’ dataset was made available on the web in 2008 by Abbas Alizadeh (University of Chicago) at the time of his publication of Chogha Mish, Volume II.
The site of Chogha Mish spans the time period from Archaic through Elamite periods, with also later Achaemenid occupation. These phases subdived further into several subphases, and some of those chronological divisions are also represented in this dataset. Thus the timespan present begins at the mid-seventh millennium and continues into the third millennium B.C.E. In terms of cultural development in the region, these periods are key, spanning the later Neolithc (after the period of caprid and cattle domestication, but possibly during the eras in which pigs and horses were domesticated) through the development of truly settled life, cities, supra-regional trade and even the early empires or state societies of Mesopotamia and Iran. Therefore potential questions of relevance to address with this data collection are as follows:
- The extent to which domesticated animals were utilized, and how/whether this changed over time
- The development of centralized places
- Increasing economic specialization
- General changes in subsistence economy
- The development of social complexity/stratification.
Publication of this dataset accompanied a study of data-sharing needs in zooarchaeology. Preliminary results of this study were presented as a poster titled: “Other People’s Data: Blind Analysis and Report Writing as a Demonstration of the Imperative of Data Publication”. The poster was presented at the 11th ICAZ International Conference of ICAZ (International Council for Archaeozoology), in Paris (August 2010), in Session 2-4, “Archaeozoology in a Digital World : New Approaches to Communication and Collaboration”. The poster presented at this conference accompanies this project.
Note: there are now 17 projects represented in Open Context:
Project Description Primary People Keywords Chogha Mish Fauna Zooarchaeological observations from Prehistoric and Achaemenid levels at Chogha Mish, Iran. Levent Atici, Justin S.E. Lev-Tov, Sarah Whitcher Kansa Zooarchaeology, subsistence, economy, Early Bronze Age, Iranian Plateau, Elamite Khirbat al-Mudayna al-Aliya Investigations of an Early Iron Age site in a semi-arid zone in west-central Jordan Bruce Routledge, Benjamin Porter pastoralism, economy, agriculture, Southern Levant, Semi-Arid, Kerak Plateau, Jordan, Iron I, Early Iron Age, subsistence Dove Mountain Groundstone Analysis of groundstone finds from the Dove Mountain Project in the Tucson Basin Jenny Adams Southwest, Pioneer Period, Sedentary Period, Hohokam, Early Agricultural, Groundstone, Arizona, Archaeology Bade Museum Tell en-Nasbeh Collection at the Badè Museum of Biblical Archaeology Aaron Brody Israel, Palestine, Southern Levant, Judah, Near East, Biblical Archaeology, Archaeology, Iron Age, 1st Millennium, 4th Millennium, Early Bronze, Town, Tomb, Babylonian, Persian, Hellenistic, Roman, Byzantine San Diego Archaeological Center Collections maintained by the San Diego Archaeological Center San Diego Archaeological Center historical archaeology, San Diego, California, Spanish colonial, Mexican, finds catalog, education, cultural resource management, archaeological collections Presidio of San Francisco Ongoing investigations of El Presidio de San Francisco and other archaeological resources at the Presidio of San Francisco Presidio Archaeology Lab (Presidio Trust) historical archaeology, presidio, San Francisco, California, Spanish colonial, Mexican, US Army, education Aegean Archaeomalacology Mollusk Shells in Troia, Yenibademli, and Ulucak: An Archaeomalacological Approach to Environment and Economy in the Aegean Canan Çakırlar Anatolia, Aegean, bronze age, chalcolithic, mollusks, Archaeomalacology, subsistence, economy, environment Petra Great Temple Excavations Brown University Excavations at the Great Temple of Petra, Jordan Martha Sharp Joukowsky Religion, Hellenistic, Jordan, Roman, Roman Empire, Archaeology, Architecture, Nabateans, Nabatean, Petra Iraq Heritage Program Overview of the Global Heritage Fund’s conservation work in Iraq Global Heritage Fund, Alexandria Archive Institute Meopotamia, Cultural Heritage, Conservation, Assyria, Sumer, Babylonia, Documentation, Sumer, Archaeology, Iron Age, Early Bronze Age, Early Dynastic, World Heritage Lake Carlos Beach Site, 1992 and 1996 Descriptions and provenience information for 7837 artifacts State of Minnesota, Department of Natural Resources, Division of Parks and Recreation, Minnesota State Parks Cultural Resource Management Program staff, State of Minnesota, Department of Natural Resources, Division of Parks and Recreation
Corneal Ulceration in South East Asia Epidemiology and Etiology of Corneal Ulcers in South India Mathuiah Srinivasan, John P. Whitcher ophthalmology, India, public health, infections disease, eye, public health, developing world Harvard Peabody Mus. Zooarchaeology Harvard Peabody Museum Zooarchaeology Laboratory Reference Collection Richard Meadow, Levent Atici archaeology, reference collection, zoology, zooarchaeology, archaeology, specimen, bone Hazor: Zooarchaeology Zooarchaeological observations for Late Bronze Age and Iron Age Hazor, Israel Justin Lev-Tov archaeology, Iron Age, Late Bronze Age, Near East, Excavations, Hazor, Biblical archaeology, subsistence Hayonim: Micromorphology
Paul Goldberg archaeology, Mousterian, geology, Middle Paleolithic, Kebaran, Epi-Paleolithic, Israel, Levant, Micromorphology, Geology, Cave, Deposition Geissenklosterle: Micromorphology
Paul Goldberg archaeology, Aurignation, geology, Upper Paleolithic, Europe, Germany Pınarbaşı 1994: Animal Bones Analysis of faunal remains from prehistoric contexts at Pınarbaşı in central Turkey Denise Carruthers archaeology, Epi-Paleolithic, Neolithic, Near East, Anatolia, Turkey, zooarchaeology, Pinarbasi, 9th millennium, agriculture, foraging, hunting Domuztepe Excavations Excavations of a Late Neolithic site in south-central Turkey Stuart Campbell, Elizabeth Carter Archaeology, Halaf, Neolithic, Near East, Excavations, Domuztepe, 7th millennium, Village
Congrats Levent, Justin, and Sarah!