The BEAST Zooarchaeological Database for Egypt and Nubia (c. 22,000-30BC)

Repository location

Harvard Dataverse (Open Quaternary Dataverse) https://doi.org/10.7910/DVN/IBPF6T (Spedding et al. 2025).

Introduction

We present a database comprising records of vertebrates >2 kg identified from zooarchaeological remains found at sites across Egypt and Nubia from the Last Glacial Maximum to the end of the Ptolemaic Period in Egypt c. 22,000BC to 30BC as reported in the literature. The categories of faunal remains encompass bones including horncores, teeth, eggshells; mummies are excluded. The database is deposited in the Open Quaternary Dataverse (Harvard Dataverse) and provides a resource for researchers across disciplines investigating topics related to regional zoogeography and interactions between climate, human populations and biodiversity during the Holocene. The database was compiled as part of the Leverhulme-funded Biodiversity in Egyptian Archaeology during Societal Transitions (BEAST) project and has been used in the research reported in Lazagabaster et. al 2024, Bro-Jørgensen et al. 2025, and Spedding et al 2025.

Context

Steps

Published and unpublished zooarchaeological sources were searched intensively for records of remains from vertebrates ≥2 kg from Egypt and Nubia focusing on the period from the Last Glacial Maximum to the end of the Ptolemaic Period in Egypt c. 22,000BC-30BC. Soft shelled turtles were also included because of their usefulness as a climatic indicator. For each entry, the following data was recorded: Entry; Scientific_Name; Common_Name; ID_Certainty; Possible_Alternative_ID/Description; NISP; MNI; Type_of_remains; Region; Site; Context; Latitude; Longitude; Time_Period; Sub-Time_Period; Terminus Post Quem_(BC/AD); Terminus Ante Quem_(BC/AD); Terminus Post Quem_(BP); Terminus Post Quem_(BP); Notes; Bibliography.

Sampling strategy

Published sources included peer-reviewed journals, site reports (i.e. monographs, chapters in edited volumes, journal articles, newsletters), edited volumes and conference proceedings. Unpublished sources included PhD theses, reports, and personal communication.

Quality Control

The data is entered into the database as recorded in the source; references are given for the reader to assess the reliability themselves. Where the identification in the source is uncertain, it is noted in the column ‘ID_Certainty’.

Constraints

The coverage of the database will be biased by skews in the preservation of zooarchaeological material, its excavation, the ease of assigning remains to species, and the accessibility of records. For further details see associated metadata document (https://doi.org/10.7910/DVN/IBPF6T).

Object name

The BEAST zooarchaeological database for Egypt and Nubia (c. 22,000-30BC)

Data type

Secondary data

Format names and versions

The BEAST zooarchaeological database for Egypt and Nubia (c.22,000-30BC).xlsx (Excel) version 1

Creation dates

01/04/2022 to 03/12/2024

Dataset Creators

NA

Language

English

License

CC0 1.0

Publication date

09/10/2025