Sorting the flock: Quantitative identification of sheep and goat from isolated third lower molars and mandibles through geometric morphometrics

Jeanjean, Marine; Haruda, Ashleigh; Salvagno, Lenny; Schafberg, Renate; Lamas, Sílvia Valenzuela; Espinet, Ariadna Nieto; Forest, Vianney; Blaise, Émilie; Vuillien, Manon; Mureau, Cyprien; Evin, Allowen

doi:10.1016/j.jas.2022.105580

Cited by 15 publications

(20 citation statements)

References 56 publications

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“…The lower third molars had a very strong phylogenetic signal 5 , confirmed by GMM in Bovini 82 or Caprini 83 . GMM analysis is not yet applied to red deer teeth, unlike the more traditional morphometric studies, which are much more numerous.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 80%

Speciated mechanism in Quaternary cervids (Cervus and Capreolus) on both sides of the Pyrenees: a multidisciplinary approach

Uzunidis

Rufà

Blasco

et al. 2022

Sci Rep

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Cervids, and especially the red deer Cervus elaphus, are among the most regularly and abundantly recorded ungulates in Pleistocene/Paleolithic bone assemblages. Numerous Pleistocene or Holocene subspecies have been described, reinforcing their status as essential proxies for environmental and chronological reconstructions. Despite this, at the beginning of the Late Pleistocene, their diversity seems to have decreased. In this study, we analysed teeth and some postcranial elements of Cervus and Capreolus from north-eastern Iberia and south-eastern France to clarify their morphological characteristics and ecological adaptations. We describe a transitional form in north-eastern Iberia between the western European stock and the current form C. e. hispanicus. Such sub-speciation processes are connected to biogeographical factors, as there were limited exchanges between north-eastern Iberia and the northern Pyrenees, whereas the north-western part of the peninsula seems more connected to the northern Pyrenees. The anatomical plasticity (morpho-functional adaptation and body size) of red deer is connected to dietary flexibility (dental meso- and microwear). Conversely, Capreolus shows greater morphological and ecological homogeneity. Body size variations seem directly correlated with their ability to browse throughout the year. The marked differences between the eco-bio-geographical responses of the two taxa can be explained by their habitat selection.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 80%

Speciated mechanism in Quaternary cervids (Cervus and Capreolus) on both sides of the Pyrenees: a multidisciplinary approach

Uzunidis

Rufà

Blasco

et al. 2022

Sci Rep

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“…Despite their hardness, ungulate teeth wear with age as a result of intensive use over time and can potentially exhibit extremely variable morphology depending on the degree of wear. Recent studies on equids, bovids and caprines have indicated that age has little or no effect on the size and shape of molar occlusal surfaces [37][38][39] . Furthermore, these studies showed that when age-related variations in size and shape existed, they were homogeneous across species, indicating that age had a negligible impact on the distinction between taxa.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In order to overcome this problem, we applied geometric morphometrics which is a powerful quantitative approach that is regularly used in zooarchaeology and palaeontology to capture and graphically visualise the complexity of biological forms 34 . In recent years, these approaches have allowed a significant advance in the taxonomic identification of wild and domestic populations as well as their geographical origins in the archaeological record among several domestic ungulate species such as pig 35 , horse 36 , cattle 37 or caprine 38 . However, only a few studies have used geometric morphometrics on reindeer remains, although they were exclusively based on modern specimens and only on postcranial skeletal bones [28][29][30] .…”

Section: Investigating the Domestication And Early Management Of Rein...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Investigating the domestication and early management of reindeer (Rangifer tarandus) in the Sámi archaeological context from teeth geometric morphometrics

Pelletier

Discamps

Bignon‐Lau

et al. 2023

Sci Rep

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For centuries, reindeer herding has been an integral part of the subsistence, lifeways, economy and cosmology of the Sámi of northern Fennoscandia. Despite its importance, the timing and details of early reindeer domestication are still highly debated. Identifying domesticated individuals in the archaeological record remains complicated due to the presence of two interbreeding subspecies in Fennoscandia and a mixed socio-economic organisation by Sámi populations, which was mainly a combination of wild reindeer hunting and small-scale reindeer herding. This study proposes methodological improvement for identifying domestic individuals using 2D landmark and sliding semi-landmark based geometric morphometrics on the isolated lower molars of 389 modern specimens, and 90 teeth from four archaeological sites in Finnish Lapland. Our results indicate that despite the significant impact of wear on overall tooth morphology, our protocol is very useful for identifying subspecies (classification accuracy of the two species is between 78 and 91% depending on the wear class) and understanding the morphological changes induced by the domestication process. We suggest that the morphological variation observable among modern populations has been impacted by recent changes in herding strategies in northern Fennoscandia, and that the archaeological domesticated reindeer populations were relatively different, probably due to selection by the Sámi. This study also highlights the importance of using other direct evidence or contextual archaeological data to better trace the early evidence of a domesticated reindeer economy in northern Fennoscandia, and aid in reconstructing the socio-economic changes in Sámi populations over time.

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“…Since the 1980's, a new statistical theory of shape was developed (Adams et al, 2004) also named geometric morphometrics (Bookstein, 1978), which is now routinely applied in zooarchaeology (Cucchi et al, 2015) and has proven highly reliable for distinguishing the diversity of wild and domestic forms of suines (Cucchi et al, 2011(Cucchi et al, , 2016Evin et al, 2015) equines (Cucchi et al, 2017), bovines (Cucchi et al, 2019) and caprines (Jeanjean et al, 2022). Geometric morphometrics have been applied to SAC first and second phalanges as well as scapulae (Hernańdez et al, 2021;Hernández, 2017, 2019) but only to distinguish llama from guanaco.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Can first phalanx multivariate morphometrics help document past taxonomic diversity in South American camelids?

Neün

Dufour

Goepfert

et al. 2023

Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports

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Sorting the flock: Quantitative identification of sheep and goat from isolated third lower molars and mandibles through geometric morphometrics

Cited by 15 publications

References 56 publications

Speciated mechanism in Quaternary cervids (Cervus and Capreolus) on both sides of the Pyrenees: a multidisciplinary approach

Speciated mechanism in Quaternary cervids (Cervus and Capreolus) on both sides of the Pyrenees: a multidisciplinary approach

Investigating the domestication and early management of reindeer (Rangifer tarandus) in the Sámi archaeological context from teeth geometric morphometrics

Can first phalanx multivariate morphometrics help document past taxonomic diversity in South American camelids?

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