How to Use BRAIN
The BRAIN website consists of six pages, two of which are specifically dedicated to the database: Sites and References, containing information about the records entered in BRAIN.
Sites Page
The Sites page features a map showing the distribution of sites (yellow: archaeological sites; red: off-sites; green: spots), along with three real-time graphs displaying the number of sites per geographical district, type of record, and cultural chronology. These graphs are automatically updated with each new entry.
By zooming in on the map, users can read the names of the sites: when the cursor is placed on a coloured point representing a site, the hand-shaped pointer turns into a pointing index, displaying the site’s name.
From this page, by selecting “Go to the database”, users can access the full list of sites and their metadata. It is also possible to explore the “Easy Search and Cards” section: by clicking on a region in the map of Italy, a list of sites within that region appears. Selecting a site from the list opens a card displaying its main data.
Database Structure
BRAIN provides free access to sites’ metadata, which are publicly available under the CC BY license. By selecting “Go to the database”, users can access the main database sheet containing 19 columns, which provide geographical, chronological, and archaeological data for each site. A filter search function, available in each column, allows users to refine their queries.
The first column reports the ID identification number of each site. The next-to-last column reports the list of short scientific citations. Original publications can be accessed by clicking on the citation: if the paper is open access, it can be downloaded as a PDF file. If the publication has restricted access, users are invited to contact info.brain@unimore.it. The authors will then be contacted to verify the availability of the paper and to provide access if possible.
Access to Raw Data
Free registration is required to access raw data from the archaeobotanical and palynological analyses of the sites included in BRAIN. Once logged in, users can download datasets as .xlsx tables containing one worksheet per series of the site, named with the site ID followed by a letter.
Restricted data cannot be freely downloaded. In such cases, a pop-up message will invite users to contact info.brain@unimore.it. The BRAIN team will then request permission from the data owner(s) to share the requested dataset (see the Data Policy section).
References Page
The References page lists the sources - full references - from which the archaeobotanical and palynological analyses were derived. The list of references is sorted alphabetically by the first author’s surname. Original publications can be accessed directly from the database page by clicking on the citation in the short reference column. For publication with restricted access, users are invited to contact info.brain@unimore.it.