Database Contents

This database contains field and laboratory data from Crow Canyon's investigations. Some data are presented at the site level, but most are organized and presented by study unit. Study units have both administrative and interpretive dimensions. Whenever possible, a study unit represents an episode of past human activity that can be defined and examined as such. Thus, we assign a separate study unit to each trash deposit, human construction, and architectural space encountered at a site. When we have no basis for inferring the behavioral significance of an area or deposit, however, we define study units primarily for record-keeping purposes.

Once a specific study unit is chosen, a variety of data are available, including:

  • All digital maps and scanned color photographs depicting that study unit
  • Descriptions of the location, construction, use, dating, and abandonment of the chosen study unit
  • A listing of the analytical groups to which the study unit was assigned
  • Information on the excavations in the study unit
  • Stratigraphic profile data for all excavation units in which the chosen study unit was encountered
  • Descriptions of surfaces and masonry encountered in the study unit, if relevant
  • Descriptions of the size, shape, construction, use, and stratigraphy of features encountered in the study unit
  • Artifact summaries for the study unit, including:
    • a catalog of field specimens by surface and feature (where relevant)
    • pottery analysis data (type, form, part, finish, count, and weight)
    • animal bone analysis data (species, element, part, modification, count)
    • other artifact analysis data (category, condition, material, count, and weight)
    • chipped-stone debris analysis data (material, size, cortex status, count and weight, when collected)

Interpretive text and reports by specialists are also available for sites Crow Canyon has excavated. Check out our list of on-line research publications to access these. Also, a variety of additional data, some of which are not available in this site-specific database, are available on-line in our multi-site Research Database.