Disentangling long bones of foxes (Vulpes vulpes and Alopex lagopus) from arctic archaeological sites
International audience To discern the presence of two anatomically close species within an archaeological assemblage is always a problem for the analyst. A particularly interesting case is the distinction between the red fox (Vulpes vulpes) and the arctic fox (Alopex lagopus), which is often determi...
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ftunivnantes:oai:HAL:hal-03227105v1 2023-05-15T13:19:47+02:00 Disentangling long bones of foxes (Vulpes vulpes and Alopex lagopus) from arctic archaeological sites Monchot, Hervé Gendron, Daniel Histoire naturelle de l'Homme préhistorique (HNHP) Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle (MNHN)-Université de Perpignan Via Domitia (UPVD)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) 2010-04 https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-03227105 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jas.2009.11.009 en eng HAL CCSD Elsevier info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/doi/10.1016/j.jas.2009.11.009 hal-03227105 https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-03227105 doi:10.1016/j.jas.2009.11.009 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/ CC-BY-NC-SA ISSN: 0305-4403 EISSN: 1095-9238 Journal of Archaeological Science https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-03227105 Journal of Archaeological Science, Elsevier, 2010, 37 (4), pp.799-806. ⟨10.1016/j.jas.2009.11.009⟩ [SHS.ARCHEO]Humanities and Social Sciences/Archaeology and Prehistory info:eu-repo/semantics/article Journal articles 2010 ftunivnantes https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jas.2009.11.009 2022-07-12T23:22:30Z International audience To discern the presence of two anatomically close species within an archaeological assemblage is always a problem for the analyst. A particularly interesting case is the distinction between the red fox (Vulpes vulpes) and the arctic fox (Alopex lagopus), which is often determined using non-rigorous criteria and producing results that must be regarded with caution. Classical methods for separating these two species and determining sexual dimorphism, and eventually the sex ratio, such as analyses using uni- and bivariate plots, are based on arbitrarily fixed limits between sexes. In this text, a more robust statistical method termed mixture analysis (MA) is used to determine the species of limb bones from foxes. First, the MA is applied to a sample of each species using metric data taken from a collection of present-day fox skeletons. Afterwards, the MA is applied to archaeological samples dated to the Dorset period and retrieved from the Tayara site (near Salluit, South Hudson Strait, Nunavik). The results clearly demonstrate that the greatest length (GL) of long bones, especially the humerus and tibia, is the best measurement for distinguishing the species, followed by the distal breadth and the proximal breadth; and that GL is better suited for sexing foxes. The results of MA applied to the Tayara site collection lead to the conclusion that the red fox is present along with the arctic fox among the assemblage, and that there is no fox body size change during the last two millennia in the Eastern Arctic. Article in Journal/Newspaper Alopex lagopus Arctic Fox Arctic Hudson Strait Salluit Nunavik Université de Nantes: HAL-UNIV-NANTES Arctic Nunavik Hudson Hudson Strait ENVELOPE(-70.000,-70.000,62.000,62.000) Salluit ENVELOPE(-75.643,-75.643,62.204,62.204) Journal of Archaeological Science 37 4 799 806 |
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Open Polar |
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Université de Nantes: HAL-UNIV-NANTES |
op_collection_id |
ftunivnantes |
language |
English |
topic |
[SHS.ARCHEO]Humanities and Social Sciences/Archaeology and Prehistory |
spellingShingle |
[SHS.ARCHEO]Humanities and Social Sciences/Archaeology and Prehistory Monchot, Hervé Gendron, Daniel Disentangling long bones of foxes (Vulpes vulpes and Alopex lagopus) from arctic archaeological sites |
topic_facet |
[SHS.ARCHEO]Humanities and Social Sciences/Archaeology and Prehistory |
description |
International audience To discern the presence of two anatomically close species within an archaeological assemblage is always a problem for the analyst. A particularly interesting case is the distinction between the red fox (Vulpes vulpes) and the arctic fox (Alopex lagopus), which is often determined using non-rigorous criteria and producing results that must be regarded with caution. Classical methods for separating these two species and determining sexual dimorphism, and eventually the sex ratio, such as analyses using uni- and bivariate plots, are based on arbitrarily fixed limits between sexes. In this text, a more robust statistical method termed mixture analysis (MA) is used to determine the species of limb bones from foxes. First, the MA is applied to a sample of each species using metric data taken from a collection of present-day fox skeletons. Afterwards, the MA is applied to archaeological samples dated to the Dorset period and retrieved from the Tayara site (near Salluit, South Hudson Strait, Nunavik). The results clearly demonstrate that the greatest length (GL) of long bones, especially the humerus and tibia, is the best measurement for distinguishing the species, followed by the distal breadth and the proximal breadth; and that GL is better suited for sexing foxes. The results of MA applied to the Tayara site collection lead to the conclusion that the red fox is present along with the arctic fox among the assemblage, and that there is no fox body size change during the last two millennia in the Eastern Arctic. |
author2 |
Histoire naturelle de l'Homme préhistorique (HNHP) Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle (MNHN)-Université de Perpignan Via Domitia (UPVD)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Monchot, Hervé Gendron, Daniel |
author_facet |
Monchot, Hervé Gendron, Daniel |
author_sort |
Monchot, Hervé |
title |
Disentangling long bones of foxes (Vulpes vulpes and Alopex lagopus) from arctic archaeological sites |
title_short |
Disentangling long bones of foxes (Vulpes vulpes and Alopex lagopus) from arctic archaeological sites |
title_full |
Disentangling long bones of foxes (Vulpes vulpes and Alopex lagopus) from arctic archaeological sites |
title_fullStr |
Disentangling long bones of foxes (Vulpes vulpes and Alopex lagopus) from arctic archaeological sites |
title_full_unstemmed |
Disentangling long bones of foxes (Vulpes vulpes and Alopex lagopus) from arctic archaeological sites |
title_sort |
disentangling long bones of foxes (vulpes vulpes and alopex lagopus) from arctic archaeological sites |
publisher |
HAL CCSD |
publishDate |
2010 |
url |
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-03227105 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jas.2009.11.009 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(-70.000,-70.000,62.000,62.000) ENVELOPE(-75.643,-75.643,62.204,62.204) |
geographic |
Arctic Nunavik Hudson Hudson Strait Salluit |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Nunavik Hudson Hudson Strait Salluit |
genre |
Alopex lagopus Arctic Fox Arctic Hudson Strait Salluit Nunavik |
genre_facet |
Alopex lagopus Arctic Fox Arctic Hudson Strait Salluit Nunavik |
op_source |
ISSN: 0305-4403 EISSN: 1095-9238 Journal of Archaeological Science https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-03227105 Journal of Archaeological Science, Elsevier, 2010, 37 (4), pp.799-806. ⟨10.1016/j.jas.2009.11.009⟩ |
op_relation |
info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/doi/10.1016/j.jas.2009.11.009 hal-03227105 https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-03227105 doi:10.1016/j.jas.2009.11.009 |
op_rights |
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/ |
op_rightsnorm |
CC-BY-NC-SA |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jas.2009.11.009 |
container_title |
Journal of Archaeological Science |
container_volume |
37 |
container_issue |
4 |
container_start_page |
799 |
op_container_end_page |
806 |
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1766349603419979776 |