spatstat.data (version 3.1-2)

stonetools: Palaeolithic Stone Tools

Description

This dataset is a spatial point pattern giving the locations of palaeolithic stone tools (‘lithic’ specimens) and animal bone fragments (‘bone’), accurately surveyed in a layer of soil at David's Site, Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania. The surveyed layer is about 20 cm thick and approximately 1.85 million years old.

Details of the study, and data analysis, are reported by Diez-Martin et al. (2021). Please cite this article in any use of the data.

The data are presented as a two-dimensional point pattern with two columns of marks: the vertical position Z (numeric) and the type of artefact TYPE (factor with levels BONE and LITHIC). The window of observation is an irregular polygon, approximately 40 by 30 metres across. Spatial coordinates and vertical coordinate are expressed in metres. There are 3563 bone fragments and 1182 lithic specimens making a total of 4745 points.

Usage

data("stonetools")

Format

Marked spatial point pattern (object of class "ppp", see ppp.object) with two columns of marks, Z (numeric) and TYPE (factor with levels BONE and LITHIC). The window of observation is an irregular polygon. Spatial coordinate unit is metres.

References

Diez-Martin, F., Cobo-Sanchez, L., Baddeley, A., Uribelarrea, D., Mabulla, A., Baquedano, E. and Dominguez-Rodrigo, M. (2021) Tracing the spatial imprint of Oldowan technological behaviors: A view from DS (Bed I, Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania). PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, 16, 1--47. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0254603

Examples

  if(require(spatstat.geom)) {
plot(subset(stonetools, select=TYPE), cex=0.5, cols=2:3)
  }