FAUNMAP- An Electronic Database Documenting Late Quaternary Distributions of Mammal Species

FAUNMAP is an electronic database documenting the late Quaternary
distribution of mammal species in the United States. It has been
developed at the Illinois State Museum (ISM) with support from the
National Science Foundation (BSR-9005144). This project is co-directed
by Drs. Russell W. Graham formally of ISM and now at the Denver Museum
of Natural History, and Ernest L. Lundelius, Jr. from the University
of Texas at Austin. The primary purpose of this database is to
investigate the evolution of mammalian communities. Specifically, with
statistical techniques and mapping capabilities of a Geographic
Information System (GIS), changes in the distributions of individual
species and their effects upon mammal community composition can be
documented for the late Quaternary. Understanding these processes will
also facilitate paleoenvironmental reconstructions.

For the past four years, data have been captured from paleontological
and archaeological sites that contain mammalian remains. There are
currently encoded data from 2919 sites. FAUNMAP focuses on sites in
the contiguous 48 states during the last 40,000 years, i.e., 40 ka, or
essentially the limits of radiocarbon dating.

Data were derived from the scientific literature, including selected
theses and contract reports. Information on site names and numbers,
location, relative and absolute chronologies, including cultural
associations, depositional systems, taphonomic attributes, and mammal
species from each site was recorded. The structure of the database
allows for differentiation of the smallest component of a site, e.g.,
microstratigraphy, cultural component, etc., as defined by the
original author. This information is then linked with an electronic
bibliography documenting data sources.
Faunmap is available online from:
http://www.museum.state.il.us/research/faunmap/aboutfaunmap.html

Faunmap is also available as part of the CHRONOS system:
http://portal.chronos.org/gridsphere/gridsphere