Data for archaeological organic remains, retrieved through water flotation from the Late Hellenistic site of Sexaginta Prista, Northern Bulgaria: plant remains, fish scales and molluscs (field campaigns in 2018 and 2021)
Description
The current data set contains four spreadsheets presenting the data which the analysis of environmental samples of Late Hellenistic Sexaginta Prista (Northern Bulgaria) provided and captures two excavation seasons (2018 and 2021). Environmental sampling at archaeological sites consists of soil sampling and the samples’ processing through water flotation, separating different sediment fractions. Within those fractions, diverse organic remains were retrieved and analysed, including archaeobotanical macro-remains (seeds and wood charcoal), fish scales, bones, and freshwater molluscs. The above-described bio-archaeological remains are organised in the dataset attached here.
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Steps to reproduce
The soil samples were collected at a standartised volume of 10 l per sample and then processed through an adapted “Siraf” type flotation machine, where they were divided into a Heavy Residue (1 mm, labelled HR) and a Flot (250 μ, labelled Flot) fractions. The first fraction was initially sorted macroscopically to retrieve the samples' bio-archaeological remains. The second fraction was sorted microscopically with the aid of a stereoscope. Several categories of organic remains were divided, including plant remains (seeds and charcoal), fish scales and bones, molluscs and bones, which will be analysed as a part of a future study, and this dataset does not capture. All types of specimens presented in this dataset were counted and placed into the relevant tables with their absolute values. However, the archaeobotanical remains (seeds) were also summed as a Minimal Number of counted Individuals (labelled as MNI), where diagnostic features of the analysed specimens were retrieved to represent a whole. This was not applied to the charred wood remains, fish scales and molluscs, where only fragments were counted and recorded.
Institutions
Categories
Funding
National Research Program “Young Scientists and Postdoctoral Students”
206/07.04.22
National Scientific Program "Environmental Protection and Reduction of Risks of Adverse Events and Natural Disasters"
D01- 271/09.12.2022