Structure of the PaleoAsiaDB

This chapter describes the specifications of the PaleoAsiaDB as of March 2017. PaleoAsiaDB is a relational database in which the tables of sites, lithic industries, and references are interlinked. It succeeded the former NeanderDB and was updated by 18 expert contributors. It compiled information on archaeological sites excavated, dated to 200–20 ka, located in Africa, Europe, Asia, or Oceania. The contents are open to the public under the Creative Commons CC-BY 4.0 licence. Regarding the data structure, the SITE table contains the basic information per single sites, such as name and geocoordinates. The LAYER table has 0 or more records per site and comprises detailed information such as lithic industries, human fossils, and other specific artefacts. The DATING table contains the radiometric dating information and refers to the LAYER table. The tables of bibliographic references (REFERENCE) and lithic industries (INDUSTRY) are attached to those main tables.