A morphometric exploration of sexual dimorphism in mammalian skeletons for applicability in archaeology

The objective of this research is to identify and analyze sexual characters in mammalian skeletons in order to develop new methods for sex determination of archaeological animal remains. The study begins with an examination of the evolutionary and developmental framework of sexual characters, and a review of the current methods used for sex classification of animal remains. The materials and methods used in this research have been designed to locate the tertiary sexual characters in the fox, dog, pig, deer, and sheep skeletons. Morphometric and osteometric analyses of 11 elements of the post-cranial skeleton (atlas, axis, glenoid, proximal humerus, distal humerus, proximal metacarpus, innominate, proximal femur, distal tibia, astragalus, proximal metatarsus) have been conducted. Shape and size differences of bones have been analyzed using the F- test of variance and canonical variates analysis for shape variables, and discriminant analysis and the two-sample t- test for metrical data, to determine significance. Eigenshape analysis, an outline-based form of morphometrics, has been implemented for comparing bone shapes. Score plots have been produced by comparing eigenshape scores to indicate shape trends formed by the male and female bone groups. Mean shapes, calculated by the eigenshape program, have been superimposed so that differences in bone morphology between the sexes can be identified. Two alternative methods are introduced in this study, the Mean Shape Method for identifying sexual dimorphic or tnmorphic (with castrates) bones, and the Table Test for sexing canid humeri. These methods have been tested in a blind test to check confidence of sex classification. The new methods have been applied to bone samples from archaeological sites: Silchester for dog remains, Star Carr for red deer remains, and Canterbury for sheep remains. The results suggest that dogs buried at Silchester were female individuals, that predominantly male deer were hunted at Star Can, and that castration of sheep was practiced at Canterbury. Overall, the alternative methods developed here can aid in identifying the sex of archaeological bones more effectively

Wool sheep and purple snails - Long‐term continuity of animal exploitation in ancient Meninx (Jerba/Tunisia)

Archaeological research at the ancient city of Meninx in Jerba, Tunisia, carried out by the Institut National du Patrimoine Tunisie and Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (LMU) produced more than 10,000 faunal specimens and shed light on subsistence activities spanning from the fourth century BCE until the seventh century CE. Despite its highly diverse fauna totalling at least 69 species of mammals, birds, reptiles, fish and molluscs, domestic livestock formed the mainstay of the economy at Meninx. Throughout site occupation and compared with contemporaneous sites in coastal Tunisia and Libya, sheep were of prime importance at Meninx. Diachronic demographic profiling illustrates an emphasis on the production of wool for making textiles. Together with the ubiquitous presence of crushed banded dye‐murex (Hexaplex trunculus) shells implying exploitation of purple dyes, we assume that both activities were integrated into a single chaîne opératoire for making purple‐dyed fabrics that were traded across the Mediterranean from Punic until Late Roman times. Zooarchaeological findings also suggest that during the Byzantine Period, this major economic activity came to a standstill, with people returning to more self‐sufficient subsistence strategies. An intersite comparison furthermore revealed that high proportions of ovicaprines are a typical feature of Punic–Roman sites in Jerba. But even at the height of Roman power in the region, autochthonous husbandry traditions continued to exist on the island, as illustrated by the fauna from Henchir Bourgou