Access Data from the ROCEEH Out of Africa Database (ROAD).
roadDB
Access data from the ROCEEH Out of Africa Database (ROAD).
Offers an R interface to ROAD, wrapping SQL queries to facilitate data access and supply data frames for analysis in R.
Install
# CRAN installation
# install.packages(roadDB)
# Github installation
install.packages("devtools")
devtools::install_github("sommergeo/roadDB")
Database version
This package provides access to the ROCEEH Out of Africa Database (ROAD).
It uses a regularly updated snapshot of the database; the current version was updated on 2025-12-01.
Structure
The roadDB package has three main levels of detail (LOD) that follow a hierarchical order: Locality, Assemblage and Date. A locality can have multiple assemblages, and each assemblage can have multiple dates associated with it.
Users can query information at different LODs using dedicated functions that follow the road_get_* naming convention. These return dataframes where each row represents an item at the requested granularity and includes attribute columns relevant to those items.
An extensive set of arguments can be applied to all road_get_* functions, allowing users to refine their queries and tailor the results to their needs.
As the ROAD database is exceptionally rich in information at the assemblage level, there are subordinate functions for querying human remains, archaeology, palaeofauna and palaeobotany.
Functions
Core functions
- 1st level of detail:
- road_get_localities()
- 2nd level of detail:
- road_get_assemblages()
- road_get_human_remains()
- road_get_paleofauna()
- road_get_paleobotany()
- archaeology-related:
- road_get_lithic_typologies()
- road_get_lithic_raw_materials()
- road_get_organic_tools()
- road_get_symbolic_artifacts()
- road_get_features()
- road_get_miscellaneous_finds()
- 3rd level of detail:
- road_get_dates()
- road_get_publications()
Helper functions
- road_list_argument_values()
- road_summarize_archaeology()
Arguments
The following arguments are optional and can be used with every road_get_* function to constrain queries.
| Argument | Type | ROAD table / attribute | Search type | Example |
|---|---|---|---|---|
continent | character | country_continent / continent | exact | "Africa" |
subcontinent | character | country_continent / region | exact | "Southern Africa" |
country | character | locality / country | exact | "South Africa" |
locality_type | character | locality / type | exact | "rock shelter" |
category | character | assemblage / category | exact | "symbolic artifacts, typology" |
age_min | numeric | archaeological_stratigraphy / age_min | exact | 20000 |
age_max | numeric | archaeological_stratigraphy / age_max | exact | 3000000 |
technocomplex | character | archaeological_stratigraphy /technocomplex | exact | "ESA/ Early Acheulean" |
cultural_period | character | archaeological_stratigraphy / cultural_period | exact | "Middle Stone Age" |
The following arguments are optional and can be used with the corresponding road_get_* function to constrain queries.
| Argument | Type | ROAD table / attribute | Search type | Example(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
tool_list | character | typology / tool_list | contains | "core 29, bladelet 136, blade 1090" |
raw_material_list | character | raw_material / raw_material_list | contains | "ironstone banded" |
transport_distance | character | raw_material / transport_distance | exact | "regional (6-20 km)" |
organic_tool_interpretation | character | organic_tools / interpretation | contains | "harpoon", "worked", "retoucher" |
symbolic_artifact_interpretation | character | symbolic_artifacts / interpretation | contains | "anthropomorphic" |
feature_interpretation | character | feature / interpretation | exact | "stone construction" |
miscellaneous_find_material | character | miscellaneous_finds / material | exact | "ostrich egg shell", "metal" |
human_genus | character | publication_desc_humanremains / genus | exact | "Homo", "Paranthropus" |
human_species | character | publication_desc_humanremains / species | exact | "sapiens rhodesiensis", "cf. sapiens" |
plant_remains | character | plantremains / plant_remains | exact | "phytoliths", "plant macroremains" |
plant_family | character | plant_taxonomy / family | exact | "Anarcadiaceae", "Phyllanthaceae" |
plant_genus | character | plant_taxonomy / genus | exact | "Jasione", "Larix/Picea" |
plant_species | character | plant_taxonomy / species | exact | "Potamogeton gramineus L." |
fauna_genus | character | taxonomical_classification / genus | exact | "Lemniscomys", "Hipposideros" |
fauna_species | character | paleofauna / species | exact | "cf. germanicus", "atapuerquensis" |
bibtex | character | publication / edition / publication_source | exact | "F", "T", "False", "TRUE " |
The following table provides an overview of return attributes.
| Attribute | Funktion | Type |
|---|---|---|
locality_id | road_get_* | character |
continent | road_get_* | character |
subcontinent | road_get_* | character |
country | road_get_* | character |
coord_x | road_get_* | number |
coord_y | road_get_* | number |
locality_type | road_get_* | character |
category | road_get_* | character |
cultural_period | road_get_* | character |
technocomplex | road_get_* | character |
coordinate_source | road_get_localities | character |
subset_age_min | road_get_localities | number |
subset_age_max | road_get_localities | number |
locality_age_min | road_get_localities | number |
locality_age_max | road_get_localities | number |
is_systematic | road_get_assemblages | character |
geolayer | road_get_* (except road_get_localities) | character |
archlayer | road_get_* (except road_get_localities) | character |
human_remains | road_get_assemblages | boolean |
archaeology | road_get_assemblages | boolean |
plant_remains | road_get_assemblages | boolean |
paleofauna | road_get_assemblages | boolean |
age_min | road_get_* (except road_get_localities) | number |
age_max | road_get_* (except road_get_localities) | number |
assemblage_name | road_get_* (except road_get_localities) | character |
comment | archaeological road_get_* | character |
tool_list | road_get_lithic_typologies | character |
typology | road_get_lithic_typologies | character |
percentage | road_get_lithic_typologies | character |
raw_material_list | road_get_lithic_raw_materials | character |
transport_distance | road_get_lithic_raw_materials | character |
percentage | road_get_lithic_raw_materials | character |
organic_tool_interpretation | road_get_organic_tools | character |
organic_raw_material | road_get_organic_tools | character |
organic_tool_technology | road_get_organic_tools | character |
number | road_get_organic_tools | character |
symbolic_artifact_interpretation | road_get_symbolic_artifacts | character |
symbolic_artifact_category | road_get_symbolic_artifacts | character |
symbolic_artifact_material | road_get_symbolic_artifacts | character |
symbolic_artifact_raw_material_source | road_get_symbolic_artifacts | character |
symbolic_artifact_technology | road_get_symbolic_artifacts | character |
feature_interpretation | road_get_features | character |
miscellaneous_find_material | road_get_miscellaneous_finds | character |
miscellaneous_find_raw_material_source | road_get_miscellaneous_finds | character |
number | road_get_miscellaneous_finds | number |
human_remains_id | road_get_human_remains | number |
human_remains_category | road_get_human_remains | character |
genus | road_get_human_remains | character |
species | road_get_human_remains | character |
age | road_get_human_remains | character |
sex | road_get_human_remains | character |
skeletal_element | road_get_human_remains | character |
fauna_genus | road_get_paleofauna | character |
fauna_species | road_get_paleofauna | character |
mni | road_get_paleofauna | number |
mni_method | road_get_paleofauna | character |
nisp | road_get_paleofauna | number |
plant_remains | road_get_plantremains | character |
plant_family | road_get_plantremains | character |
plant_genus | road_get_plantremains | character |
plant_species | road_get_plantremains | character |
element | road_get_plantremains | character |
abundance | road_get_plantremains | number |
relative_abundance | road_get_plantremains | number |
age | road_get_dates | number |
negative_standard_deviation | road_get_dates | number |
positive_standard_deviation | road_get_dates | number |
material_dated | road_get_dates | character |
dating_method | road_get_dates | character |
laboratory_idlaboratory | road_get_dates | character |
publication | road_get_publications | character |
License
This package is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International CC BY-SA 4.0. Contents retrieved from the ROAD database are published under the same license and should be cited as
Kandel, A. W., Sommer, C., Kanaeva, Z., Bolus, M., Bruch, A. A., Groth, C., Haidle, M. N., Hertler, C., Heß, J., Malina, M., Märker, M., Hochschild, V., Mosbrugger, V., Schrenk, F., & Conard, N. J. (2023). The ROCEEH Out of Africa Database (ROAD): A large-scale research database serves as an indispensable tool for human evolutionary studies. PLOS ONE, 18(8), e0289513. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0289513