Palaeolithic and Mesolithic Lithic Artefact (PaMELA) database
Wessex Archaeology, Roger M. Jacobi, 2014. https://doi.org/10.5284/1028201. How to cite using this DOI
Data copyright © Wessex Archaeology, Dr Roger M. Jacobi unless otherwise stated
This work is licensed under the ADS Terms of Use and Access.
Primary contact
Matt
Leivers
Post-excavation manager
Wessex Archaeology
Portway House
Old Sarum Park
Salisbury
SP4 6EB
UK
Resource identifiers
- ADS Collection: 1611
- DOI:https://doi.org/10.5284/1028201
- How to cite using this DOI
Overview
The basic format of the cards on which the PaMELA database is based is the same as that used for the CBA Gazetteer (some of the cards were in fact completed by Jacobi and others during the compilation of that survey). As well as the categories of artefacts that the Gazetteer records, the cards record in greater detail such artefacts as microliths, as well as more unusual tool types. Many microliths and other tools have their dimensions recorded. The card index also sometimes contains an assessment of date range (eg, Early or Late Mesolithic, Horsham, etc). In addition there are sketches of certain key or unusual artefacts on the cards which allow individual pieces in a museum collection to be referenced.
Although the focus of Jacobiâs work was on the Upper Palaeolithic and Mesolithic, the database comprises a substantial data-set covering a much wider chronological span, from the Lower Palaeolithic to the Iron Age. This earlier and later material appears to have been recorded where Jacobi encountered it in museum collections from the same site or locality, and in some instances the archive is the only documented record of this information. In addition, the card index contains reference to associated (non-lithic) material, such as worked bone and antler, although these entries are not comprehensive. The Mesolithic card index was not kept fully up to date after the publication of the CBA Gazetteer in 1977. Some new entries were made in the Mesolithic section, but this was not done in any systematic way, reflecting Jacobiâs changing research interests. The Upper Palaeolithic index was kept more up to date.
Jacobi estimated that there are approximately 3,000 cards for the Upper Palaeolithic and 10,000 cards for the Mesolithic, though many of these relate to individual finds. Some find spots have multiple cards. This occurs when material from the same find spot has been examined in more than one museum (for instance the British Museum and a local museum). This is frequently noted on the relevant cards, which effectively serve to reunite parts of collections (and in at least one instance parts of a single artefact) held in different museums.
The Jacobi Archive is an invaluable data source, not only because of its scope but also in the detail, refinement and insight which Jacobi imparted to its compilation. It is acknowledged that the archive is not complete: it is variable in its geographical coverage and currency. The Jacobi Archive is also predominantly derived from museum collections: it does not include many data from excavations carried out by archaeological units, nor does it include data taken from Historic Environment Records (HER) or the NMR â it is directly based on personal observation of the artefacts.
Securing the Jacobi Archive
The aim of the Colonisation of Britain project was to secure Jacobiâs archive for the future, and to make its contents available to anyone who wishes to use it.
The index cards making up the archive were individually scanned and the resulting image sets archived alongside the originals in the British Museum's archive of Jacobi material. The information contained on the cards was entered onto an access database, these digitised cards forming the basic units of the Jacobi Archive. However, the utility of this data is limited: most of the information (chronological, technological, typological) is free text, and consequently not searchable in any systematic way. The usefulness of the database required its re-organisation into searchable fields based on unique terms. This reorganised data became the basis of the Colonisation of Britain database. Despite its limits as a searchable dataset, the Jacobi Archive has been made available here in order to preserve the data as it was compiled, without any subsequent reorganisation or editing.
The Colonisation of Britain Database
The Colonisation of Britain database presents the information in the Jacobi Archive in a way which can be queried and analysed. The preparation of this database involved the addition of two sets of information.
Typology
In order to make the data searchable and useful, a three-tier classification system was added to the records. The highest level divided the dataset into the five main categories of lithic material: debitage, retouched tool debitage, retouched tools, cores and core tools. Where appropriate, the second level then divided these categories into type, and the third level into sub-type. The advantage of this approach is that it allows detailed analysis of individual sub-types and typology as well as more coarse-grained analysis of categories and types.
Much of this typological information was already contained in the Jacobi archive, but in some instances it was necessary to apply new terms or modify existing ones where the same artefact type or sub-type were referred to in different ways. This standardisation adopted the most commonly used term, and where published typologies existed these were followed, preferring Jacobiâs own systems over any alternatives (with, for instance, microliths).
Chronology
Chronological information was not recorded on the index cards in any systematic way. Where present at all, chronological information was included only within the free-text description. This information has been extracted, and a series of type fossils identified allowing the application of broad dating to many of the tool types, as follows:
- Early Upper Palaeolithic â leaf points, blade points
- Aurignacian â nosed scrapers, busked burins
- Gravettian â Font-Robert points
- Creswellian - bi-truncated trapezoidal backed blades (Cheddar Points), obliquely-truncated backed blades (Creswell Points)
- Late Upper Palaeolithic âshouldered points, Zinken
- Final Upper Palaeolithic â penknife points, convex-backed blades
- Terminal Upper Palaeolithic â long blades, bruised blades, Brancaster cores
- Early Mesolithic â type 1, 2, 3, 4 microliths; tranchet axes and adzes
- Middle Mesolithic â type 10 microliths
- Late Mesolithic â type 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 11, 12, 13 microliths
Only records where type fossils were present have been assigned a chronological tag. No attempt has been made to apply calendrical dates to the chronological periods within the database.
