Work Description

Description of PASH Deep Blue Data Realm 4: Artifact Analysis (https://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/data/dashboard/collections/xk81jk680)

**(Note that the realm-level information below is also included in “Documentation for the PASH Collection,” attached to the overall PASH collection record: https://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/data/concern/data_sets/6t053g548. Record- and file-level information is included only in this document.)**

All databases, drawings, photographs, photo descriptions, radiocarbon dates, and analytical data related to artifacts, ecofacts, and human remains have been made available in PASH Deep Blue Data Realm 4.

All artifacts found in the course of survey and excavation were brought to a museum facility in Shkodër (at the Hotel Meteor, on the Shkodër-Koplik road). They were cleaned, labeled, drawn, photographed, and described. Artifact descriptions were entered into one of three databases: pottery, chipped stone, and small finds. Each artifact was assigned a unique identifying number containing locational information. Pottery numbers typically begin with a tract or other collection unit (e.g., grid square in a site-surface collection) identifier, followed by a sequence number if more than one potsherd or ceramic was located in a tract or unit. Lithics and other small finds were assigned a GT number (GT-001, GT-002, etc.; GT being the Albanian acronym for Small Find). During a study season held in December 2014, artifacts were analyzed in more detail by specialists, each of whom produced a lengthier description of pottery, chipped stone, or small finds. A subset of ceramic and groundstone samples was retained for petrographic and chemical analysis. Finally, all seeds and wood charcoal recovered through flotation and all animal bones were analyzed. Human remains from Tumulus 99 were subjected to Strontium-isotope and aDNA analysis.
 
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These data relate to artifacts, ecofacts, and human remains collected and analyzed by PASH. There are six Works: Pottery, Small Finds, Grinding Stones, Chipped stone, Fauna, and Human Remains.

Each Work includes a database file, either Excel or .CSV. Pottery, grinding stones, and small finds include photos and drawings of artifacts. Drawings are PDF scans, labeled with descriptive information about the artifact. Artifact photos are JPEGS. Artifact photos are accompanied by photos of artifact bags, labeled with descriptive information about the artifact. Some Works include raw analytical data: ancient DNA (aDNA) and Strontium isotope data for human remains; portable x-ray florescence (PXRF) spectroscopic data for grinding stones, and laser ablation – inductively-coupled plasma – mass spectroscopy (LA-ICP-MS) and petrographic data for pottery. Photomicrographs for pottery and grinding stones are also stored.

Pottery – This record includes 16 files, consisting of photos (JPGs) and drawings (PDF of scans of originals) of pottery and a pottery database (.CSV). There are also two types of analytical data:

> Chemical Data – PASH_ceramics_LA_ICP_MS_data.csv: a .CSV file containing raw data for 48 elements in parts per million. Compositional analysis of pottery and daub was carried out at the Elemental Analysis Facility at the Field Museum in Chicago, Illinois using a Varian Quadrupole ICP-MS. A New Wave UP213 laser operating with a wavelength of 213 nim was connected to the mass spectrometer and set to 70% of its energy (0.2mJ), with a pulse frequency of 15 Hz, and a beam diameter of 100μm.

> Petrographic Data: two .CSV files (PASH_petrographic_data_excluding_T052_Mara.xlsx and PASH_petrographic_data_Mara.xlsx) containing raw qualitative and quantitative petrographic data, one with data from Tumulus 052 and one without. Pottery and daub samples were thin-sectioned and petrographic data were collected under a polarizing light microscope. Photomicrographs of many of the thin-sections are also archived (PASH_ceramic_photomicrographs.zip). These a JPG images, taken under plane- and cross-polarized light (PPL and XPL).

Pottery database data dictionary:
-ID Number: identification number associated with the artifact. Includes collection unit, i.e. tract, excavation level where the artifact was found.
-SN: sequence number used to differentiate multiple sherds from the same collection unit.
-Associated Site: site where the artifact was found (also included in the ID number).
-Base Diameter: estimated diameter in millimeters of the vessel’s base.
-Base Preserved: percentage estimate of base preserved, e.g., .7 = 70%.
-Munsell core: color description of the sherd’s core from Munsell soil color guide.
-Data Entry By: team member who entered the data.
-Date Description: detailed description of the sherd’s use date.
-Decoration: type of decoration.
-Start Period: earliest period of manufacture.
-End Period: latest period of manufacture.
-Expert: person who provided pot identification and date.
-Expert 2: secondary expert.
-Fabric: description of the pot’s fabric.
-Form: name of the vessel’s form.
-Form Description: description of the vessel’s form.
-Joins To: ID number of joined sherd.
-Other dimensions: additional dimension measurements.
-Other: additional description, e.g. for date.
-Part: vessel part, e.g., handle, rim, base.
-Recorder: team member who recorded the pot’s description.
-Rim Diameter: diameter of remaining rim measured in millimeters.
-Rim Preserved: percentage estimate of rim preserved, e.g., .7 = 70%.
-Sherd count: number of sherds associated with ID number. For example, two joined sherds from a single vessel could share an ID number.
-Surface: description of surface treatment, e.g., burnished, painted, slipped.
-Texture: texture of the sherd’s fabric, e.g. fine, coarse, medium.
-Thickness: thickness of the sherd in millimeters.
-Vessel count: number of vessels represented by sherd or sherds.
-Ware: short description of ware type, e.g., plain, cooking, amphora, etc.
-Width: sherd width in millimeters.
*Chapters linked to: Ten, Eleven, Twelve, Thirteen, Fourteen, Fifteen

Small finds – This record includes photos (JPGs) and drawings (PDF of scans of originals) of small finds, e.g., glass; coins, spindle whorls, loom weights, metal artifacts; bullets; nails; etc., as well as a list of the drawings with descriptions (PDF file) and a small finds database (.CSV). The small finds drawing list contains brief descriptions of the artifacts illustrated in the small finds drawings PDF. The ID number for each artifact on the list roughly matches the ID number recorded on the drawing sheet. The order of the drawings closely but not perfectly matches the order of the list. ID numbers should be compared in order to match drawing to description. For example, artifact GT PASH 2010 A-023/ 44 on the list maps to drawing GT PASH 10/A - 023/44. The database includes all small finds collected and analyzed by PASH, although not all small finds were drawn and photographed. Grinding stones and chipped stone are located in separate records.
*Chapter linked to: Seventeen

Grinding stones – All PASH grinding stones were analyzed using petrography and portable x-ray florescence (PXRF) spectroscopy. A grinding stone database is archived as a .CSV file. PXRF data were collected using a Bruker Tracer and are archived as .csv files for 13 light and 18 heavy elements. These files contain elemental data generated by portable x-ray florescence (PXRF) spectrometer analysis of grinding stones. One file pertains to light elements, and one to heavy elements. The grinding stone ID number is along the top of the worksheet. The elements analyzed are along the side. Photomicrographs of thin sections of the samples, taken under plane and cross-polarized light, are stored as TIFFs. Photos of the grinding stones are stored as JPGs.

Grinding stones database data dictionary:
-ID Number: identification number for the artifact. GT = Albanian acronym for small find.
-Collection Unit: tract, surface collection grid square, or excavation level where the artifact was discovered.
-Associated Site: site where the artifact was found.
-Category: small find category, e.g. stone.
-Material: material from which the artifact is made.
-Type: artifact type, e.g. grinding stone.
-Data Entry By: team member who entered or worked with the data.
-Date Collected: date artifact collected.
-Date Recorded: date data was recorded.
-Recorded By: team member who recorded the artifact description.
-Start Period: earliest period during which the artifact may have been made/used.
-End Period: earliest period during which the artifact may have been made/used.
-Expert: person who identified and dated the artifact.
-Location Detail: additional information about the location where the artifact was found.
-Length: artifact length in cm.
-Width: artifact width in cm.
-Thickness: artifact thickness in cm.
-Weight: artifact weight in grams.
-Diameter: artifact diameter in cm.
-Notes: detailed description of artifact.
*Chapter linked to: Sixteen

Chipped stone – Data from the visual analysis of chipped stone artifacts are stored in an Excel file.
*Chapter linked to: Nine

Fauna – An .xlsx of the faunal-analytical data for all animal bones collected by PASH via excavation, at settlements and tumuli.
*Chapter linked to: Nineteen

Human remains – Human teeth excavated from Tumulus 099 were subjected to Strontium (Sr) isotope and ancient DNA (aDNA) analysis. A background isoscape was generated using modern land snail shells. Raw Sr isotope and aDNA data are archived as .xlsx files. The Sr data are reported as ratios of 87Sr to 86Sr. Sr isotope analysis was conducted in the radiogenic isotope laboratory of the Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology on an IsotopX IsoProbe-T (thermal ionization) multicollector mass spectrometer. Ancient DNA analysis was conducted in the David Reich Laboratory at Harvard University.

Human remains database data dictionary:
- Unit-level: excavation context, i.e. unit and level, in Tumulus 099
- Element: skeletal element
- Side: of body, L = left, R = right, U = Undetermined
- Quantity: number of elements from unit-level
- Age: of individual, e.g. adult, juvenile, infant
- Notes: description of element
- Individual: individual number; there were three or four individuals from T099, numbered 1-4
- Sample number: PASH number assigned to human tooth sample
- aDNA: results of aDNA analysis
- Strontium: results of Strontium isotope analysis
- Date: AMS radiocarbon date range
- Y haplogroup: Y chromosome haplogroup as determined by aDNA analysis
- Mt haplogroup: mitochondrial haplogroup as determined by aDNA analysis
*Chapter linked to: Twenty