DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.18773777
title: The Very Long-term Iberian Fish Database
title: Archaeological Fish Occurrences within the Iberian Peninsula

description: The Very Long-term Iberian Fish Database (VLT_IberianFISH) dataset comprises a harmonised synthesis of ichthyoarchaeological records from archaeological sites across the Iberian Peninsula. Published reports, grey literature, and site monographs were systematically reviewed to extract taxonomic identifications and associated contextual metadata. Each record represents a discrete analytical unit (site, phase, or context as reported) and is linked to spatial coordinates, chronological attribution, recovery methods, and taphonomic or contextual descriptors when available. Data were standardised into a tabular schema with controlled metadata fields to ensure internal consistency and cross-site comparability. Taxonomic identifications are encoded as individual columns corresponding to reported taxa; cell values represent counts or presence information exactly as published, without taxonomic revision. This wide-format structure preserves reporting resolution and enables flexible aggregation for ecological or quantitative analyses. Quality assurance procedures included validation of delimiter integrity, uniform UTF-8 encoding, and verification of column alignment across all records. Long bibliographic and provenance information is stored in a dedicated reference field, ensuring traceability while maintaining compatibility with repository preview systems. A data dictionary accompanies the dataset and documents core metadata variables; taxonomic columns are not individually described because they correspond directly to scientific names as reported in source publications. This design supports reproducibility and facilitates reuse in comparative archaeozoological, palaeoecological, and historical biodiversity research.

The VLT_IberianFISH compiles 94,204 fish remains from 441 samples across 225 archaeological sites throughout Iberia. The identified portion of the assemblages (NISP = 81,312) comprises identifications at the species, genus, family, and order or higher taxonomic levels, as originaly reported. Spanning approximately 90,000 years – from the Middle Palaeolithic to the 19th century – the VLT_IberianFISH database offers a resource for a range of disciplines concerned with aquatic environments, human occupancy and resource exploitation.

Three supplementary files accompany the Dataset, each providing essntial contextual or supporting information:



Dictionary (VLT_IberianFISH_Dictionary_SDATA-25-05229B): Excel worksheet detailing each field and its expected format.

Taxonomic summary (VLTIberianFISH_Taxa summary_SDATA-25-05229B): Excel worksheet  that provides a synthetic overview of the fish groups represented in the dataset and their relative frequencies. It aggregates taxonomic information derived from the main dataset and functions as a consolidated inventory of reported taxa, together with the corresponding counts of identified remains. The VLTIberiaFISH_Taxa summary also records the total number of unidentified fish remains.Taxonomic nomenclature was updated where necessary to reflect current standards and widely accepted systematic frameworks. Explanatory notes were included for taxa requiring clarification, such as cases involving synonymy, extinct or locally extirpated populations, or species with restricted or historically shifting distributions. Where relevant, links to external resources and supporting references are provided within the Notes field. All cited sources are compiled in the References sheet, and the README sheet contains definitions and descriptions of all variables included in the file.

GeoPackage (VLTIberianFISH_SDATA-25-05229A.gpkg): The GeoPackage file enables users to visualize site distributions, conduct spatial analyses, integrate the dataset with other environmental or archaeological layers, and reproduce the spatial components of the dataset.