Balof Shelter (Horizon VI)
Basic information
Sample name: Balof Shelter (Horizon VI)
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: Late Pleistocene
Section: 3688
Unit number: 6
Unit order: above to below
Max Ma: 0.01424
Min Ma: 0.01056
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 VI is constrained by radiocarbon dates of 10560 ± 230 BP from the base of Horizon V and 14240 ± 400 BP from the top of Horizon VII. There is also a younger date of 9970 ± 390 BP from the upper layers of Horizon VI which, accounting for error ranges, does overlap with the Horizon V date.
"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 VI is constrained by radiocarbon dates of 10560 ± 230 BP from the base of Horizon V and 14240 ± 400 BP from the top of Horizon VII. There is also a younger date of 9970 ± 390 BP from the upper layers of Horizon VI which, accounting for error ranges, does overlap with the Horizon V date.
Environment
Lithology: limestone
Taphonomic context: human accumulation
Archaeology: stone tools
Habitat comments: "Horizons VI-VII at Balof shelter 2 span reddish-brown sediment layers (120-160 cm), with several intermittent levels of light, creamy coloured soil".
"Lesser amounts of cultural material (compared to Horizons I-V) suggests that this area of the deposit was of a more natural origin".
Although various stone artefacts including cores, chunks, flakes, chips and cobbles are still present.
"Lesser amounts of cultural material (compared to Horizons I-V) suggests that this area of the deposit was of a more natural origin".
Although various stone artefacts including cores, chunks, flakes, chips and cobbles are still present.
Methods
Life forms: bats,rodents,other small mammals,lizards,snakes
Sampling methods: quarry,screenwash
Sample size: 543 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: 3864
Contributor: Benjamin Carter
Enterer: Benjamin Carter
Created: 2022-01-26 17:09:33
Modified: 2023-04-29 05:05:56
Abundance distribution
11 species
1 singleton
total count 543
geometric series index: 13.3
Fisher's α: 1.953
geometric series k: 0.5615
Hurlbert's PIE: 0.6187
Shannon's H: 1.4507
Good's u: 0.9982
Each square represents a species. Square sizes are proportional to counts.
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Register
| Dobsonia sp. | 321 | |
| D. moluccensis or D. praedatrix | ||
| Nyctimene albiventer | 4 | frugivore-insectivore |
| Melonycteris melanops | 1 | nectarivore |
| Hipposideros diadema | 12 | 46.1 g insectivore |
| Melomys rufescens | 69 | |
| Rattus mordax | 50 | |
| also 33 Rattus sp. | ||
| Phalanger orientalis | 22 | |
| Varanus indicus | 25 | |
| Scincidae indet. | 18 | |
| Serpentes indet. | 18 | |
| Pteropus neohibernicus | 3 | |