Cite this as: Kandel, A.W., Haidle, M.N., Hochschild, V., Sommer, C. and Kanaeva, Z. 2023 The Aggregation of ROAD Data in the ARIADNE Pipeline: pitfalls and successes, Internet Archaeology 64. https://doi.org/10.11141/ia.64.9
In this article we describe an online database about human evolution, called the ROCEEH Out of Africa Database (ROAD), and discuss our experience in aggregating Palaeolithic data from ROAD in the ARIADNE data processing pipeline. As of April 2023, ROAD contains more than 2400 localities in Africa and Eurasia dating between three million and 20,000 years ago. The database is transdisciplinary by nature and includes cultural artefacts, human and animal fossils, and plant remains. These finds are stored in a relational database, which is part of a structured, web-based, geographic information system. The process of preparing ROAD data for integration with ARIADNE taught us lessons about our own dataset, which we share here.
Corresponding author: Andrew W. Kandel
a.kandel@uni-tuebingen.de
ROCEEH, University of Tübingen, Germany
Miriam N. Haidle
ROCEEH, Senckenberg Gesellschaft für Naturforschung, Frankfurt am Main
Volker Hochschild
ROCEEH / Institute of Geography, University of Tübingen
Christian Sommer
ROCEEH / Institute of Geography, University of Tübingen
Zara Kanaeva
ROCEEH, University of Tübingen, Germany
Figure 1: Browser view of ROAD's entry page showing the results of a simple query for localities with both human fossils and stone artefacts. By entering the name or clicking on a site, a user can download a ROAD Summary Data Sheet as a PDF. (Query executed on 11 April 2023 without login)
Figure 2: Using the vocabulary matching tool in ARIADNE to match vocabulary in ROAD
Figure 3: Mapping the chrono-cultural entities in ROAD to PeriodO, and the result in ARIADNE
Figure 4: Screenshot taken from the ARIADNEplus website showing the results of a search for the Upper Palaeolithic site of Aghitu-3 Cave in Armenia. By clicking on 'Landing page' URL, a user can download a ROAD Summary Data Sheet (Bolus et al. 2020). This PDF summarises the results of Aghitu-3 Cave and is generated directly from ROAD without the need to log in
Bolus, M., Bruch, A.A., Haidle, M.N., Hertler, C., Heß, J., Kanaeva, Z., Kandel, A.W., Malina, C. and Sommer, C. 2020 'Explore the history of humanity with the new ROAD summary data sheet/Durch die Menschheitsgeschichte mit dem neuen ROAD Summary Data Sheet', Mitteilungen der Gesellschaft für Urgeschichte 29, 145-47. https://doi.org/10.51315/mgfu.2020.29008
Haidle, M.N., Bolus, M., Bruch, A.A., Hertler, C., Hochschild, V., Kanaeva, Z., Sommer, C. and Kandel, A.W. 2020 'Human origins – digital future, an international conference about the future of archaeological and paleoanthropological databases', Evolutionary Anthropology 29, 289-92. https://doi.org/10.1002/evan.21870
Kandel, A.W., Haidle, M.H. and Sommer, C. (eds) 2022 Human Origins – Digital Future: An International Conference about the Future of Archaeological and Paleoanthropological Databases, Heidelberg: Propylaeum. https://doi.org/10.11588/propylaeum.882
Kandel, A.W., Sommer, S., Kanaeva, Z., Bolus, M., Bruch, A.A., Groth, C., Haidle, M.N., Hertler, C., Heß, J., Malina M., Märker, M., Hochschild, V., Mosbrugger, V., Schrenk, F. and Conard, N.J. 2023 'The ROCEEH Out of Africa Database (ROAD): A large-scale research database serves as an indispensable tool for human evolutionary studies', PLoS ONE 18(8): e0289513. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0289513
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