Data availability, management and storage
Sassari, Sardinia, Italy
Three day workshop organized by the Modeling Environmental Dynamics and Hominin Dispersals Around the Mid-Pleistocene Revolution (METHOD) IFG.
Location: Dipartimento di Medicina Veterinaria. Universitá di Sassari Sassari (Sardinia, Italy)
Contact: Ericson Hoelzchen Mail: Ericson.Hoelzchen@senckenberg.de
The Modeling EnvironmenTal dynamics and Hominin Dispersals around the Mid-Pleistocene Revolution (METHOD) International Focus Group (http://bit.ly/1Tpjr0q) is an open network of researchers funded by the International Union for Quaternary Science(INQUA). The METHOD IFG focuses on the study of the effects of the environmental changes occurred around 1 Ma on ecosystem functioning and human dispersal. The aim of METHOD is to promote the use of mathematical and modeling approaches to the study of those complex phenomena. This approach requires the collection and management of large amounts of data, including hominins, cultural complexes, palaeovegetation, and fauna distributions on a site by site basis. The ROCEEH Out of Africa Database (ROAD) (http:// www.roceeh.net/road/roceeh-out-of-africa-database/) constitutes a major effort to build up a geo-relational spatial information system where geological, geomorphological, palaeontological, palaeobotanical, palaeoanthropological and archaeological data is incorporated. ROAD constitutes an ideal system for data storage and management and provides tools for further analysis. ROAD may also be used as a meta-tool for access to other databases. For the METHOD IFG, ROAD is supposed to act as the core of a network of databases held and administered by project members collecting different subsets of data. Among those databases is the NQMDB (Neogene-Quaternary Mammals Database) held at CENIEH by J. Rodríguez. The Database Training Lab focuses on storage and management of data in the databases relevant to the project. Participants receive an introduction to the structure of ROAD, NQMDB and other databases. This provides all participants of the focus group with a joint data basis that may be subsequently subjected to further analyses. By the end of the workshop participants will be equipped with login data, if desired. Furthermore, we would like to take the opportunity to identify major questions with respect to the MPR in Western Eurasia, which have an impact on the distribution patterns and dispersal.