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Chronology

Chronology evidence explains what date claim the repository is prepared to carry forward for a sample or site.

Time language is easy to over-read. A record can look cleanly dated in a public table even when the underlying support is a range, a textual period label, a derived estimate, or something still unresolved.

What Chronology Review Has To Decide

  • whether the dating information is direct, derived, broad, or unresolved
  • whether the claim is strong enough for comparison across records
  • whether the public-facing label is more precise than the evidence actually supports

What You Should Be Able To Learn

  • whether the date claim is direct or reconstructed
  • whether the public label preserves or hides uncertainty
  • whether two records are actually comparable in time
  • whether a visible chronology is strong enough for reuse or only for cautious orientation

Why Chronology Needs Its Own Page

Historical datasets often mix exact dates, ranges, textual eras, and inferred period language. If those are flattened into one display field, it becomes hard to tell strong dating support from weak approximation.

This page keeps that distinction visible.

Why Public Date Language Needs Restraint

A narrow chronology claim can make a record sound much stronger than it really is. This repository therefore treats date posture as part of the evidence chain, not as display decoration.

That means:

  • exact-looking dates should only appear when the support is exact enough
  • broad or textual eras should remain visibly broad
  • unresolved chronology should remain unresolved in public language

Direct Files Behind This Surface

  • data/adna/governance/source_library/project_sample_chronology_review.json
  • data/adna/species/ovis_aries/normalized/sample_chronology.json
  • data/adna/species/ovis_aries/review/sample_chronology_provenance_review.json
  • data/adna/governance/source_library/sample_chronology_ambiguity_ledger.json

Where To Go Next

  • move to sample records if the identity lineage is still the main uncertainty
  • move to localities if the chronology looks strong but the place claim does not
  • move to coordinates if the date is acceptable and the real question is why the sample did or did not become a point