Des restes de chiens magdaléniens à l’abri du Morin (Gironde, France). Implications socio-économiques d’une innovation zootechnique

• Main Authors: Boudadi-Maligne, Myriam, Mallye, Jean-Baptiste, Langlais, Mathieu, Barshay-Szmidt, Carolyn
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: French
• Published: SAMRA 2012
• Subjects: domestication; Tardiglaciaire; chien; loup; Canis lupus; Canis familiaris; Magdalénien; Morin; late glacial; dog; wolf; Magdalenian; archeo; geo
• Online Access: http://journals.openedition.org/paleo/2260

We present in this paper new remains and direct radiocarbon dates of small canids from Le Morin rock shelter (Gironde, France) which constitute a major discovery with respect to the question of wolf domestication during the European Palaeolithic.In this study a multi-proxy approach has been employed, including species identification and a consideration of the archaeological and chronological context. The canids’ remains have all been studied regarding their morphology, biometry and surface attributes. All dental and postcranial remains of canids were attributed to a species by using a thorough biometric database built from fossil and modern data from Europe. The morphometry of seven remains is outside the size range variability of wolves and therefore can be securely attributed to dog (Canis familiaris). Nineteen are attributed to wolf (Canis lupus) and six could not not be securely attributed to one sub-species or the other (Canis sp.). More than 50 % of these Canisremains bear anthropogenic marks that demonstrate the utilization of both wolves and dogs by late glacial human groups. Two of the dog remains from Le Morin rock shelter were directly dated and indicate that Magdalenian groups lived with dogs. A discussion is therefore developed in this article regarding the development of this domestication through time and space. De nouveaux restes d’un petit canidé, directement datés, provenant de l’abri du Morin (Gironde, France) sont ici présentés. Ils constituent des éléments essentiels pour discuter de la question de la domestication au cours du Paléolithique en Europe.Dans cette étude, une approche pluridisciplinaire est mise en œuvre en confrontant l’analyse des restes fauniques, des armatures lithiques de chasse et du cadre chronologique. Les restes de canidés ont été analysés d’un point de vue morphologique, métrique et archéozoologique. Les restes dentaires et post-crâniens ont été spécifiquement identifiés en utilisant un référentiel biométrique regroupant des données concernant des populations de ...