Pofatu, a curated and open-access database for geochemical sourcing of archaeological materials

Compositional analyses have long been used to determine the geological sources of artefacts. Geochemical "fingerprinting" of artefacts and sources is the most effective way to reconstruct strategies of raw material and artefact procurement, exchange or interaction systems, and mobility patterns during prehistory. The efficacy and popularity of geochemical sourcing has led to many projects using various analytical techniques to produce independent datasets. In order to facilitate access to this growing body of data and to promote comparability and reproducibility in provenance studies, we designed Pofatu, the first online and open-access database to present geochemical compositions and contextual information for archaeological sources and artefacts in a form that can be readily accessed by the scientific community. This relational database currently contains 7759 individual samples from archaeological sites and geological sources across the Pacific Islands. Each sample is comprehensively documented and includes elemental and isotopic compositions, detailed archaeological provenance, and supporting analytical metadata, such as sampling processes, analytical procedures, and quality control. Measurement(s)isotopic composition center dot chemical composition center dot contextual information for archaeological sources center dot contextual information for stone artefactsTechnology Type(s)digital curation center dot computational modeling techniqueFactor Type(s)archaeological provenance center dot artefact attributeSample Characteristic - LocationRegion (Papua New Guinea) center dot Vanuatu Islands center dot Solomon Islands center dot Fiji islands center dot Tonga Archipelago center dot Samoa center dot American Samoa center dot Wallis and Futuna Islands center dot Tuvalu Islands center dot Tokelau Islands center dot Rotuma Island Group center dot Cook Islands center dot Society Islands center dot Marquesas Islands center dot Archipel des Tuamotu center dot Gambier Islands center dot Austral Islands center dot Pitcairn, Henderson, Ducie and Oeno Islands center dot Easter Island center dot State of Hawaii center dot Micronesia center dot New Zealand Machine-accessible metadata file describing the reported data: 10.6084/m9.figshare.12073116