A Review of Animal Bone Evidence from Central England
Umberto Albarella, Tessa Pirnie, 2008. https://doi.org/10.5284/1000317. How to cite using this DOI
Data copyright © Umberto Albarella unless otherwise stated
This work is licensed under the ADS Terms of Use and Access.
Primary contact
Umberto
Albarella
Department of Archaeology
University of Sheffield, Department of Archaeology
Minalloy House
10-16 Regent Street
Sheffield
S1 3NJ
United Kingdom
Tel: 0114 22 22943
Resource identifiers
- ADS Collection: 768
- DOI:https://doi.org/10.5284/1000317
- How to cite using this DOI
Overview
In total, the database summarises information from 503 animal bone reports (many dealing with several phases of occupation) and 431 sites.
The dataset can be queried online (see Query) by site name or location (i.e. county or locality), by site type (according to pre-defined categories), by period, or by taxon. Multiple periods or site-types may be selected. It is also possible to search for phases spanning the transition between two periods (for instance "Saxon/medieval"). Searches may also be carried out on any part of a bibliographic reference. Any or all of these categories may be included in the search: for instance, it is possible to search for all the Saxon sites in Norfolk and Essex, or to locate one particular site report by author and site name.
Any such query will initially produce a list of records, each of which corresponds to a site report. Where birds, mammals and fish from the same site were reported separately, these will have separate records. Clicking on each record will then produce details of that site, according to the database.
Firstly, summary information is given about the site as a whole, including geographical and bibliographic data. The different phases are also listed; clicking on a phase will call up full details of that phase. In many cases, stratigraphic phases as defined in the original reports were combined for the purposes of data analysis into broader categories. For each phase, different methods of collection (divided into hand-collected, coarse-sieved and bulk-sieved fractions) have been treated separately.
Finally, a list of taxa is given in the form of a table, and further information, both quantitative and descriptive, can be found by scrolling horizontally. Information on subjects such as butchery has been summarised from the site report according to pre-defined categories (for instance, noting the mention of 'skinning marks' in the text of the report), but free-form notes also follow each entry where appropriate.
Querying the database online allows the user to view details of multiple sites in turn, selected according to the criteria described above. Where more complex searches are required, it may be more useful to download the elements of the database (see Downloads), for which documentation and support is available.
