Balof Shelter (Horizon IV)
Basic information
Sample name: Balof Shelter (Horizon IV)
Reference: J. P. White, T. F. Flannery, R. O'Brien, R. V. Hancock, and L. Pavlish. 1991. The Balof shelters, New Ireland. In Report of the Lapita Homeland Project (eds. J. Allen, C. Gosden), pp. 46-58 [ER 3688]
Geography
Country: Papua New Guinea
State: New Ireland
Coordinate: 2° 54' 14" S, 151° 22' 23" E
Coordinate basis: based on nearby landmark
Time interval: Holocene
Section: 3688
Unit number: 4
Unit order: above to below
Max Ma: 0.01056
Min Ma: 0.00768
Age basis: radiocarbon (uncalibrated)
Geography comments: "The Balof shelters are a couple of overhangs that face each other across 20 m of collapsed doline at Madina (basis of coordinate), 90 km south of Kavieng", New Ireland, PNG.
"The sites are in secondary forest ... c. 80 m above sea level and 2.7 km south of the coast".
The material reported here is from a 1985 excavation of Balof Shelter 2.
Horizon IV is constrained by radiocarbon dates of 7680 ± 510 BP for Horizon III and 10560 ± 230 BP for Horizon V.
"The sites are in secondary forest ... c. 80 m above sea level and 2.7 km south of the coast".
The material reported here is from a 1985 excavation of Balof Shelter 2.
Horizon IV is constrained by radiocarbon dates of 7680 ± 510 BP for Horizon III and 10560 ± 230 BP for Horizon V.
Environment
Lithology: limestone
Taphonomic context: human accumulation
Archaeology: stone tools
Habitat comments: "Horizons I-V at Balof shelter 2 encompass the upper levels (0-120 cm) of the deposit, consisting of culturally derived fine grey roof debris ... marking a relatively intensive period of human site use".
Various stone artefacts including cores, chunks, flakes, chips and cobbles are present throughout the deposit.
Various stone artefacts including cores, chunks, flakes, chips and cobbles are present throughout the deposit.
Methods
Life forms: bats,rodents,other small mammals,lizards,snakes
Sampling methods: quarry,screenwash
Sample size: 566 specimens
Years: 1985
Sampling comments: "In 1985, 4 square metres were opened in Balof shelter 2, the material being excavated in 1 m2 x 10 cm units and dry sieved through 5 mm mesh".
"This excavation was extended in 1988 by a further 1.25 m2".
The material reported here pertains to 3 square metres of the 1985 excavations (Squares K2, K3, K4).
Counts are of numbers of identified specimens by mandibles, maxillae and teeth.
"This excavation was extended in 1988 by a further 1.25 m2".
The material reported here pertains to 3 square metres of the 1985 excavations (Squares K2, K3, K4).
Counts are of numbers of identified specimens by mandibles, maxillae and teeth.
Metadata
Sample number: 3862
Contributor: Benjamin Carter
Enterer: Benjamin Carter
Created: 2022-01-26 16:36:41
Modified: 2023-04-29 05:06:01
Abundance distribution
9 species
0 singletons
total count 566
geometric series index: 10.7
Fisher's α: 1.520
geometric series k: 0.5311
Hurlbert's PIE: 0.5810
Shannon's H: 1.1463
Good's u: 1.0000
Each square represents a species. Square sizes are proportional to counts.
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Register
| Dobsonia sp. | 182 | |
| D. moluccensis or D. praedatrix | ||
| Hipposideros diadema | 7 | 46.1 g insectivore |
| Melomys rufescens | 2 | |
| Rattus mordax | 4 | |
| also 5 Rattus sp. | ||
| Phalanger orientalis | 316 | |
| Varanus indicus | 14 | |
| Scincidae indet. | 17 | |
| Serpentes indet. | 21 | |
| Pteropus neohibernicus | 3 | |