This article introduces datplot, an R package designed to prepare chronological data for visualization, focusing on the treatment of objects dated to overlapping periods of time. Datplot is suitable for all disciplines in which scientists long for a synoptic method that enables the visualization of the chronology of a collection of heterogeneously dated objects. It is especially helpful for visualizing trends in object assemblages over long periods of time—for example, the development of pottery styles—and it can also assist in the dating of stratigraphy. As both authors come from the field of classical archaeology, the examples and case study demonstrating the functionality of the package analyze classical materials. In particular, we focus on presenting an assemblage of epigraphic evidence from Bithynia (northwestern Turkey), with a microregional focal point in the territory of Nicaea (modern Iznik). In the article, we present the internal methodology of datplot and the process of preparing a dataset of categorically and numerically dated objects. We demonstrate visualizing the data prepared by datplot using kernel density estimation and compare the outcome with more established methods such as histograms and line graphs.

中文翻译：

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数据图

本文介绍了 datplot，这是一个 R 包，旨在为可视化准备时间顺序数据，重点是处理具有重叠时间段的对象。Datplot 适用于所有学科，在这些学科中，科学家们渴望一种能够可视化各种年代对象集合的年表的天气方法。它特别有助于可视化物体组合在很长一段时间内的趋势——例如，陶器风格的发展——它还可以帮助确定地层学的年代。由于两位作者都来自古典考古学领域，因此展示软件包功能的示例和案例研究分析了经典材料。特别是，我们专注于展示来自比提尼亚（土耳其西北部）的一系列碑文证据，在尼西亚（现代伊兹尼克）境内有一个微区域焦点。在本文中，我们介绍了 datplot 的内部方法以及准备分类和数字日期对象数据集的过程。我们演示了使用核密度估计对 datplot 准备的数据进行可视化，并将结果与​​更成熟的方法（如直方图和折线图）进行比较。