Realm 1: Field Survey and Site Collections

The PASH Data Collection is comprised of Five data “realms”: 1) Survey and site data, 2) Settlement excavations, 3) Tumulus (burial mound) survey and excavations, 4) Artifact analysis, and 5) Geological data. All databases, field notebooks, paper maps, GIS files, photographs, and photo descriptions related to the intensive survey, of tracts and tumuli, and the collection of sites have been made available in PASH Deep Blue Data Realm 1 (this sub-collection).

Over the course of five years, 11 field teams (Teams A–K) surveyed 2530 tracts in Shkrel and Shtoj, covering 16.1 km2. Survey data were eventually collapsed into six geographic zones (1–6). All tracts were surveyed using standard Mediterranean survey methods. For each tract (recorded consecutively by team letter and a number, e.g. A-001, A-002, etc.), surveyors walked at 15-m intervals and counted all tile/brick, ceramic fragments, and small finds. We conducted a full-coverage survey, meaning that all land forms—including fields, hills, and terraces—in each survey zone were surveyed, unless the landowner objected or the vegetation was so dense as to render survey impossible. Each tract was photographed and a GPS point at the center of the tract was obtained. Photos and photo descriptions were maintained in separate databases by each team. Information about tracts was recorded by hand in notebooks by team leaders. This included data about a tract’s soil, geology, ground cover (plants growing in the tract, crops planted in the field), associated structures, associated archaeological features (including tumuli), informant testimony, visibility, and, most critically, artifact counts.

Realm 1 is divided into two sub-collections: Survey Data and Site Data. Both sub-collections are organized by data type. Survey data includes Tract photos and Photologs, Survey maps, Spatial data files, and a Collection Unit (CU) survey database. Site Data includes the Site database, Site documentation, Site photos and Photologs, and Spatial data files.