Dat: Wallet
It is a database file (typically using Berkeley DB) that contains your , public addresses, transaction history, and key metadata. Unlike modern "seed phrase" wallets (BIP39), many older versions of Bitcoin Core relied solely on this file for recovery. How to Find It
Then she found the journal.
Instead of backing up individual private keys, modern wallet.dat files are generated from a single source of entropy: a (often 12 or 24 words). wallet dat