Prehistoric domestication of animals: effects on bone structure

Area of Science:

• Archaeological Science
• Paleontology
• Materials Science

Background:

• Distinguishing between wild and domestic animal remains is crucial for understanding ancient human-animal interactions.
• Traditional methods often rely on morphological or size-based analyses, which can be ambiguous.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the utility of mineralogical analytical techniques in differentiating wild and domestic animal bones.
• To identify consistent structural bone differences indicative of domestication.

Main Methods:

• Application of analytical techniques typically used in mineralogy to archeological bone samples.
• Comparative analysis of bone structures from known wild and domestic animal populations.

Main Results:

• Consistent and identifiable structural differences were observed between wild and domestic animal bones.
• These differences are detectable using mineralogical analytical approaches.

Conclusions:

• Mineralogical analysis offers a novel and effective method for distinguishing wild from domestic animal bones in archeological contexts.
• This technique can provide new insights into animal domestication processes and ancient husbandry practices.