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Neotoma

Neotoma is the repository's other major pollenomics family. If LandClim helps with broad environmental framing, Neotoma often helps with a more site-centered view of pollen context across geography.

That distinction matters. Public readers should come away knowing that the repository does not rely on a single pollen source and call the job finished. It uses more than one pollenomics family because different pollen records help answer different kinds of questions.

What Neotoma Adds

Neotoma is strongest when a reader wants to understand pollen-site context in a way that can travel across a wider set of places.

It is especially useful for:

  • site-centered pollen comparison
  • broad paleoecological context around mapped places
  • keeping public interpretation from narrowing into archaeology and ancient DNA alone

Neotoma helps maintain the pollenomics identity of the repository even when other domains are more visually dramatic.

Temporal Posture In This Repository

The checked-in Neotoma surfaces should be read as chronologically uneven rather than as one fully time-expanded layer.

In the current repository state:

  • some Sweden-facing Neotoma site records carry numeric BP site spans
  • the checked-in raw capture does not yet include chronology-row detail for the same site family
  • the lake-ranking workflow therefore treats Neotoma as partly time-aware, not uniformly chronology-complete

That distinction is deliberate. The repository does not promote every Neotoma point into "same-period support" unless a numeric interval is actually present in the checked-in record state.

The shared machine-readable posture for this family lives in:

  • data/source_spatiotemporal_posture_registry.json

What Neotoma Does Not Do

Neotoma is still a context family. It should not be treated as direct proof of one narrower claim.

It does not replace:

  • direct sample review in the aDNA programs
  • archaeological interpretation from SEAD or RAÄ
  • boundary framing for country and regional filters
  • all other pollen context, including the broader REVEALS-oriented role of LandClim

It also does not let the repository pretend that all pollen context is equally resolved through time. Some site records can strengthen chronology-aware comparisons, while others remain spatial context only.

How It Differs From LandClim

Readers often notice that both families speak about pollen and environmental context. The useful difference is in emphasis.

LandClim is usually the better first source for broad environmental setting and REVEALS-style landscape interpretation. Neotoma is often the better first source for site-oriented pollen context and cross-place comparison.

Both belong in the repository. Their coexistence is a strength, not a sign that the documentation failed to choose one.

How It Appears In Public Outputs

Neotoma helps the public outputs show environmental context at a scale that stays useful across multiple geographies. It often works best as a companion layer that deepens place interpretation rather than acting as the sole basis for a claim.

In the Sweden lake evidence surfaces, Neotoma contributes in two distinct ways:

  • as direct lake-linked pollen support when a record resolves to the same lake
  • as nearby pollen context around a candidate lake within explicit distance bands

When a checked-in Neotoma record carries a numeric BP interval, it can also strengthen chronology-aware comparisons against nearby human aDNA localities. When it does not, the repository keeps it visible as spatial evidence without inflating it into stronger temporal support.

If You Need The Repository-Owned Records

The family-owned normalized outputs live under:

  • data/neotoma/normalized/
  • data/neotoma/review/temporal_review.json
  • data/source_spatiotemporal_posture_registry.json

That is the repository path behind Neotoma-derived public layers and summaries.