ZooArchNet: Connecting zooarchaeological specimens to the biodiversity and archaeology data networks

Abstract

Interdisciplinary collaborations and data sharing are essential to addressing the long history of human-environmental interactions underlying the modern biodiversity crisis. Such collaborations are increasingly facilitated by, and dependent upon, sharing open access data from a variety of disciplinary communities and data sources, including those within biology, paleontology, and archaeology. Significant advances in biodiversity open data sharing have focused on neontological and paleontological specimen records, making available over a billion records through the Global Biodiversity Information Facility. But to date, less effort has been placed on the integration of important archaeological sources of biodiversity, such as zooarchaeological specimens. Zooarchaeological specimens are rich with both biological and cultural heritage data documenting nearly all phases of human interaction with animals and the surrounding environment through time, filling a critical gap between paleontological and neontological sources of data within biodiversity networks. Here we describe technical advances for mobilizing zooarchaeological specimen-specific biological and cultural data. In particular, we demonstrate adaptations in the workflow used by biodiversity publisher VertNet to mobilize Darwin Core formatted zooarchaeological data to the GBIF network. We also show how a linked open data approach can be used to connect existing biodiversity publishing mechanisms with archaeoinformatics publishing mechanisms through collaboration with the Open Context platform. Examples of ZooArchNet published datasets are used to show the efficacy of creating this critically needed bridge between biological and archaeological sources of open access data. These technical advances and efforts to support data publication are placed in the larger context of ZooarchNet, a new project meant to build community around new approaches to interconnect zoorchaeological data and knowledge across disciplines.

Not a limitless resource: ethics and guidelines for destructive sampling of archaeofaunal remains

“…ancient DNA (aDNA), isotopes and geometric morphometrics (e.g. [1][2][3][4][5][6]). These new methods can help answer questions that archaeologists and zooarchaeologists have been asking for decades [1,[7][8][9].…”

Interdisciplinary Analysis of the Lehi Horse: Implications for Early Historic Horse Cultures of the North American West

“…Stable isotopes sampled from the horse's enamel point to seasonal shifts in the isotope chemistry of imbibed water and available vegetation, which-in tandem with minimal variance in strontium isotope-suggests that the horse was raised and tended locally within the Wasatch Front near where it was found. This study provides an example of how to engage data quality in zooarchaeology (e.g., Wolverton 2013) as well as a template for the integration of morphological and biomolecular approaches (Steele 2015)-subjects that have been a key focus of discussion in archaeozoological circles in recent years (e.g., Jones and Gabe 2015;Kansa et al 2019;LeFebvre et al 2019;Nims and Butler 2019). Our identification of the Lehi horse as an early domestic rather than an Ice Age horse suggests that prior misclassifications may have influenced museum collection practices and the interpretation of archaeological and paleontological assemblages, leading to gaps in the faunal record of Native horsemanship.…”

Archaeological Analysis in the Information Age: Guidelines for Maximizing the Reach, Comprehensiveness, and Longevity of Data

“…While full implementation of Linked Open Data (and Semantic Web) technologies requires a great deal of technical expertise and investment, one essential aspect of Linked Open Data practice—namely, the use of stable Web URLs as identifiers—is easily within the reach of archaeologists. Preparing a Linked Open Data set can be as simple as adding stable Web URLs to new columns in a spreadsheet so that related data can be found and classification terms can be understood (Figure 3; also see examples provided in Kansa 2015; LeFebvre et al 2019). Ideally, stable Web URLs are institutionally backed by libraries, publishers, and other research organizations.…”