NABONE Zooarchaeological Database Manual

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• Create Date 22 June 2023
• Last Updated 23 June 2023

Objectives

This recording manual is the 9th working version of the NABO Zooarchaeology Working Group Data Records Project, authorized by the January 1997 working group meeting in New York City.

The basic structure follows James Rackham’s database (Microsoft Access) with some changes and clarifications for North Atlantic applications.

The Hunter Bioarchaeology lab was charged with adapting the Rackham system to the realities of modern work in the North Atlantic, and to balance recorded detail with the need for rapid and consistent processing of the large bone collections now becoming common in our research area. A particular concern was the need to promote long term data comparability and to provide both a long term data archive and a set of analytic tools immediately addressing current joint research objectives. The NABONE system consists of this coding manual, a developed Microsoft Access database with useful queries and reports, and an Excel spreadsheet set providing analytic output similar to the old Hunter College QBONE system. This package is available for download on the NABO website (https://www.nabohome.org) and has been used in the analysis of over 65 archaeofauna.

Lab Testing

The Data Records project has used a series of large (ca. 150k TNF) archaeofauna from excavations of the 9th— 19th century sites in Iceland, Faroes, Shetland, Labrador, Norway, Eastern US, and the UK. Following the Working Group recommendations, we have done extensive testing of the present codes and recording system with the help of zooarchaeologists at different levels of training and experience to attempt to improve clarity and promote consistent use by different workers. We have also used this system as a teaching tool in introductory courses. While we feel that the eight versions since January 1997 have improved the utility of the system, there is certainly room for improvement – please help us by pointing out errors and areas for improvement!

Development and testing 1997 — 2008 by Tom McGovern, Sophia Perdikaris, Jim Woollett, Colin Amundsen, Yekaterina Krivogorskaya, George Hambrecht, Ramona Harrison, Seth Brewington, Konrad Smiarowski and Megan
Hicks.