Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-rdxmf Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-24T03:34:24.410Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Data Integration in the Service of Synthetic Research

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 December 2017

Keith W. Kintigh*
Affiliation:
School of Human Evolution and Social Change, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287-2402, USA
Katherine A. Spielmann
Affiliation:
School of Human Evolution and Social Change, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287-2402, USA ([email protected])
Adam Brin
Affiliation:
Center for Digital Antiquity, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287-2402, USA ([email protected])
K. Selçuk Candan
Affiliation:
School of Computing, Informatics and Decision Systems Engineering, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287–8809, USA ([email protected])
Tiffany C. Clark
Affiliation:
Applied EarthWorks, Inc., Pasadena, CA 91107–3414, USA ([email protected])
Matthew Peeples
Affiliation:
School of Human Evolution and Social Change, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287-2402, USA ([email protected])
*
([email protected], corresponding author)

Abstract

Addressing archaeology's most compelling substantive challenges requires synthetic research that exploits the large and rapidly expanding corpus of systematically collected archaeological data. That, in turn, requires a means of combining datasets that employ different systematics in their recording while at the same time preserving the semantics of the data. To that end, we have developed a general procedure that we call query-driven, on-the-fly data integration that is deployed within the Digital Archaeological Record digital repository. The integration procedure employs ontologies that are mapped to the original datasets. Integration of the ontology-based dataset representations is done at the time the query is executed, based on the specific content of the query. In this way, the original data are preserved, and data are aggregated only to the extent necessary to obtain semantic comparability. Our presentation draws examples from the largest application to date: an effort by a research community of Southwest US faunal analysts. Using 24 ontologies developed to cover a broad range of observed faunal variables, we integrate faunal data from 33 sites across the late prehistoric northern Southwest, including about 300,000 individually recorded faunal specimens.

Abordar los retos sustantivos más convincentes de la arqueología requiere una investigación sintética que explote el corpus grande y rápidamente en expansión de datos arqueológicos recopilados sistemáticamente. Esto, a su vez, requiere un medio de combinar conjuntos de datos que empleen sistemática diferente en su grabación mientras que al mismo tiempo preserva la semántica de los datos. Para ello, hemos desarrollado un procedimiento general que denominamos integración de datos en tiempo real basada en consultas, que se despliega dentro del repositorio digital el Digital Archaeological Record. El procedimiento de integración emplea ontologías que se asignan a los conjuntos de datos originales. La integración de las representaciones de conjuntos de datos basados en ontología se realiza en el momento en que se ejecuta la consulta, en función del contenido específico de la consulta. De esta manera, los datos originales se conservan y los datos se agregan sólo en la medida necesaria para obtener comparabilidad semántica. Nuestra presentación dibuja ejemplos de la aplicación más grande hasta la fecha: un esfuerzo de una comunidad de investigadores de analistas faunísticos del suroeste de Estados Unidos. Utilizando 24 ontologías desarrolladas para cubrir una amplia gama de variables faunísticas observadas, integramos datos faunísticos de 33 conjuntos de datos que investigan el suroeste septentrional prehistórico tardío, incluyendo más de 300.000 muestras de fauna registradas individualmente.

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright 2017 © Society for American Archaeology 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES CITED

Altschul, Jeffrey H., Kintigh, Keith W., Klein, Terry H., Doelle, William H., Hays-Gilpin, Kelley A., Herr, Sarah A., Kohler, Timothy A., Mills, Barbara J., Montgomery, Lindsay M., Nelson, Margaret C., Ortman, Scott G., Parker, John N., Peeples, Matthew A., and Sabloff, Jeremy A. nd Fostering Collaborative Synthetic Research in Archaeology. Advances in Archaeological Practice, in press. https://doi.org/10.1017/aap.2017.31.Google Scholar
Altschul, Jeffrey H., Kintigh, Keith W., Klein, Terry H., Doelle, William H., Hays-Gilpin, Kelley A., Herr, Sarah A., Kohler, Timothy A., Mills, Barbara J., Montgomery, Lindsay M., Nelson, Margaret C., Ortman, Scott G., Parker, John N., Peeples, Matthew A., and Sabloff, Jeremy A. 2017 Fostering Synthetic Research in Archaeology to Advance Science and Benefit Society. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 114:1099911002. DOI:10.1073/pnas.1715950114.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Arbuckle, Benjamin S., Kansa, Sarah Whitcher, Kansa, Eric, Orton, David, Çakırlar, Canan, Gourichon, Lionel, Atici, Levent, Galik, Alfred, Marciniak, Arkadiusz, Mulville, Jacqui, Buitenhuis, Hijlke, Carruthers, Denise, Cupere, Bea De, Demirergi, Arzu, Frame, Sheelagh, Helmer, Daniel, Martin, Louise, Peters, Joris, Pöllath, Nadja, Pawłowska, Kamilla, Russell, Nerissa, Twiss, Katheryn, and Würtenberger, Doris 2014 Data Sharing Reveals Complexity in the Westward Spread of Domestic Animals across Neolithic Turkey. PLoS ONE 9:e99845. DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0099845.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Archaeology Data Service and Digital Antiquity 2013 Caring for Digital Data in Archaeology: A Guide to Good Practice. Oxbow Books, Oxford. Electronic document, http://guides.archaeologydataservice.ac.uk/.Google Scholar
Clark Tiffany 2014 A Faunal Taphonomic Protocol for the Southwestern US. Electronic document, https://core.tdar.org/document/437822.Google Scholar
Clark, Tiffany C., Schachner, Gregson, Eckert, Suzanne L., Howell, Todd L., and Huntley, Deborah L. 2006 Rudd Creek Pueblo: A Late Tularosa Phase Village in East Central Arizona. Kiva 71:397428.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cultural Heritage Partners 2012 Federal Laws and Regulations Requiring Curation of Digital Archaeological Documents and Data. Report prepared for the Office of General Counsel, Arizona State University. Electronic document, http://www.digitalantiquity.org/wp-uploads/2013/05/2013-CHP-Legal-Analysis-of-Fed-Req-for-Curation-of-Dig-Arch-Docs-Data-.pdf, accessed October 17, 2017.Google Scholar
Dean, Jeffrey S., and Ravesloot, John C. 1993 The Chronology of Cultural Interaction in the Gran Chichimeca. In Culture and Contact: Charles C. Di Peso's Gran Chichimeca, edited by Woosley, Anne I. and Ravesloot, John C., pp. 83103. Amerind Foundation, Dragoon, Arizona; and University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque.Google Scholar
DiPeso, Charles C. 1974 Casas Grandes: A Fallen Trading Center of the Gran Chichimeca, Vols. 1–3. Amerind Foundation Series No. 9. Northland Press, Flagstaff, Arizona.Google Scholar
Duff, Andrew Ian 2002 Western Pueblo Identities: Regional Interaction, Migration, and Transformation. University of Arizona Press, Tucson.Google Scholar
Kansa, Eric C., and Kansa, Sarah W. 2013 We All Know that a 14 Is a Sheep: Data Publication and Professionalism in Archaeological Communication. Journal of Eastern Mediterranean Archaeology and Heritage Studies 1:8897.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kansa, Eric C., Kansa, Sarah W., and Arbuckle, Benjamin 2014 Publishing and Pushing: Mixing Models for Communicating Research Data in Archaeology. International Journal of Digital Curation 9 (1):5770. DOI:10.2218/ijdc.v9i1.301.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kansa, Sarah W. 2015 Using Linked Open Data to Improve Data Reuse in Zooarchaeology. Ethnobiology Letters 6:224231.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kintigh, Keith W. 2013 Sustaining Database Semantics. In CAA 2010: Fusion of Cultures. Proceedings of the 38th Conference on Computer Applications and Quantitative Methods in Archaeology, Granada, Spain, April 2010, edited by Contreras, F., Farjas, M., and Melero, F. J., pp. 585589. BAR International Series 2494. British Archaeological Reports, Oxford.Google Scholar
Kintigh, Keith W. 2016 Cibola Prehistory Project Integrated Ceramic Data. DOI:10.6067/XCV8NS0XGV.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kintigh, Keith W. (editor) 2006 The Promise and Challenge of Archaeological Data Integration. American Antiquity 71:567578.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kintigh, Keith W., Altschul, Jeffrey H., Beaudry, Mary C., Drennan, Robert D., Kinzig, Ann P., Kohler, Timothy A., Fredrick Limp, W., Maschner, Herbert D. G., Michener, William K., Pauketat, Timothy R., Peregrine, Peter, Sabloff, Jeremy A., Wilkinson, Tony J., Wright, Henry T., and Zeder, Melinda A. 2014a Grand Challenges for Archaeology. American Antiquity 79:524.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kintigh, Keith W., Altschul, Jeffrey H., Beaudry, Mary C., Drennan, Robert D., Kinzig, Ann P., Kohler, Timothy A., Fredrick Limp, W., Maschner, Herbert D. G., Michener, William K., Pauketat, Timothy R., Peregrine, Peter, Sabloff, Jeremy A., Wilkinson, Tony J., Wright, Henry T., and Zeder, Melinda A. 2014b Grand Challenges for Archaeology. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 111:879880. DOI:10.1073/pnas.1324000111.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kintigh, Keith W., Altschul, Jeffrey H., Kinzig, Ann P., Fredrick Limp, W., Michener, William K., Sabloff, Jeremy A., Hackett, Edward J., Kohler, Timothy A., Ludäscher, Bertram, and Lynch, Clifford A. 2015 Cultural Dynamics, Deep Time, and Data: Planning Cyberinfrastructure Investments for Archaeology. Advances in Archaeological Practice 3:115. DOI:10.7183/2326-3768.3.1.1.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kintigh, Keith W., Glowacki, Donna M., and Huntley, Deborah L. 2004 Long-Term Settlement History and the Emergence of Towns in the Zuni Area. American Antiquity 69:432456.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kintigh, Keith W., Howell, Todd L., and Duff, Andrew 1996 Post-Chacoan Social Integration at the Hinkson Site, New Mexico. Kiva 61:257274.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McKechnie, Iain, Lepofsky, Dana, Moss, Madonna L., Butler, Virginia L., Orchard, Trevor J., Coupland, Gary, Foster, Fredrick, Caldwell, Megan, and Lertzman, Ken 2014 Archaeological Data Provide Alternative Hypotheses on Pacific Herring (Clupea pallasii) Distribution, Abundance, and VariabilityProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 111:E807E816. DOI:10.1073/pnas.1316072111.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
McManamon, Francis P., Kintigh, Keith W., Ellison, Leigh Anne, and Brin, Adam 2017 tDAR: A Cultural Heritage Archive for Twenty-First-Century Public Outreach, Research, and Resource Management. Advances in Archaeological Practice 112. DOI:10.1017/aap.2017.18.Google Scholar
Manning, Katie, Colledge, Sue, Crema, Enrico, Shennan, Stephen, and Timpson, Adrian 2016 The Cultural Evolution of Neolithic Europe. EUROEVOL Dataset 1: Sites, Phases and Radiocarbon Data. Journal of Open Archaeology Data 5:e2. DOI:10.5334/joad.40.Google Scholar
Mills, Barbara J., Clark, Jeffery J., Peeples, Matthew A., Haas, Wm. R., Roberts, John M., Brett Hill, J., Huntley, Deborah L., Borck, Lewis, Breiger, Ronald L., Clauset, Aaron, and Stephen Shackley, M. 2013 Transformation of Social Networks in the Late Pre-Hispanic US Southwest. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 110 (15):57855790. DOI:10.1073/pnas.1219966110.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Richards, Julian D. 2017 Twenty Years Preserving Data: A View from the United Kingdom. Advances in Archaeological Practice 5:227237. DOI:10.1017/aap.2017.11.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schachner, Gregson 2012 Population Circulation and the Transformation of Ancient Zuni Communities. University of Arizona Press, Tucson.Google Scholar
Schollmeyer, Karen Gust, and Driver, Jonathan C. 2013 Settlement Patterns, Source-Sink Dynamics, and Artiodactyl Hunting in the Prehistoric U.S. Southwest. Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory 20:448478.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Society for American Archaeology 1996 Society for American Archaeology Principles of Archaeological Ethics. American Antiquity 61:451452.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Spielmann, Katherine A., and Kintigh, Keith W. 2011 The Digital Archaeological Record: The Potentials of Archaeozoological Data Integration through tDAR. SAA Archaeological Record 11:2225. Electronic document, http://digitaleditions.sheridan.com/publication/?i=58423&p=24, accessed October 17, 2017.Google Scholar
Watson, Patty Jo, LeBlanc, Steven A., and Redman, Charles L. 1980 Aspects of Zuni Prehistory: Preliminary Report on Excavations and Survey in the El Morro Valley of New Mexico. Journal of Field Archaeology 7:201218.Google Scholar
Whalen, Michael E., and Minnis, Paul E. 2001 Casas Grandes and Its Hinterland: Prehistoric Regional Organization in Northwest Mexico. University of Arizona Press, Tucson.CrossRefGoogle Scholar