Battleship graphs- can Excel do them?

[Kimbo]

An American archaeologist called Deetz used to present data as
battleship graphs, to show variation over time among several different
items. I assume he drew them on graph paper back in the 60s. Imagine
looking down from above on several battleships parked parallel. Each is
drawn as a series of horizontal bars, usually wider in the middle and
narrower at each end. A simple example:
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--- -
-- ----
- ------
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Black pottery White pottery
(Bottom of graph= earlier time period)
The graph shows the dominance of black or white pottery at any given
time period. So this example would indicate that white pottery
developed first, and was gradually replaced out as black pottery began
to appear. A very useful way of displaying this kind of data.
So my question is- can Excel replicate this kind of graph?
Kimbo

[Tushar Mehta]

[This followup was posted to microsoft.public.excel.charting and a copy was
sent to Kimbo <nos...@anon.com>.]

Yes, it can be done. I just created one to verify the process.

I am not sure if you are simply curious or if you want to know how one would go
about creating a 'battleship graph.' If the latter, I will be happy to post
the gory details of the mechanics. If the former, I would rather save myself
the time.

If you want to try your hand at the mechanics, there are three components to
the basic idea.

First, draw a 'battleship' with a set of data points in which all the x-values
are the same and the y-values represent time (say, years).

Second, add x-error bars to each 'battleship.' I divided the magnitude in each
period in half and used this value to create + and - error bars. Format the
bars as desired.

Finally, position the 'battleships' along the x-axis so that you achieve the
desired degree of overlap between them.

--
Regards,

Tushar Mehta
www.tushar-mehta.com
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In <3811DA62...@anon.com>, Kimbo <nos...@anon.com> wrote

[Kimbo]

yeah- fiddling the error bars looks like the way to go. One day I'll buy one of
those super scientific graphing programs that does stuff like this automatically,
but for now, Excel should cope.
Thank you
Kimbo
(sorry- e-mail address is fake to avoid spammers)