Activity reconstruction of Rangifer tarandus feet in Fennoscandian -archaeology: Methodological considerations and application to archaeological material from two Sámi habitation sites
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引用次数: 1
Abstract
Objective
This study explores the presence and prevalence of working Rangifer tarandus tarandus (domestic reindeer) through entheseal changes present in Rangifer tarandus phalanges at the Sámi habitation sites of Juikenttä and Nukkumajoki, located in Finland and dating from the 14th to the 18th centuries.
Materials
Modern samples (n = 23 phalanges, Rangifer tarandus fennicus; n = 60 phalanges, Rangifer tarandus tarandus non-working; n = 72 phalanges, Rangifer tarandus tarandus working) with known life histories. Archaeological samples (n = 22 phalanges, Juikenttä; n = 118 phalanges, Nukkumajoki).
Methods
We analysed entheseal changes on the first and second phalanges of both the thoracic and pelvic limbs. The minute movements of reindeer feet create entheseal changes which are specific to different activity patterns. This analysis was compared to the results obtained from long-bone analysis.
Results
Our results show the presence of working reindeer at both sites and are consistent with previous analysis of the long bones found at the site.
Conclusions
This archaeological application of phalangeal entheseal changes suggests that reindeer phalanges may be used to assess both the presence and proportion of working animals in an assemblage.
Significance
This study provides more evidence for the use of working reindeer as early as the 14th century in Northern Finland. This work also helps to provide archaeological evidence for Sámi subsistence patterns, as well as proving new tools for zooarchaeological assessment.
Limitations
Small sample size and taphonomy may affect assessment. Additionally, entheseal changes take time to envelope and may under-represent the number of working reindeer.
Suggestions for further research
Assessment of additional modern and archaeological samples.
期刊介绍：
Paleopathology is the study and application of methods and techniques for investigating diseases and related conditions from skeletal and soft tissue remains. The International Journal of Paleopathology (IJPP) will publish original and significant articles on human and animal (including hominids) disease, based upon the study of physical remains, including osseous, dental, and preserved soft tissues at a range of methodological levels, from direct observation to molecular, chemical, histological and radiographic analysis. Discussion of ways in which these methods can be applied to the reconstruction of health, disease and life histories in the past is central to the discipline, so the journal would also encourage papers covering interpretive and theoretical issues, and those that place the study of disease at the centre of a bioarchaeological or biocultural approach. Papers dealing with historical evidence relating to disease in the past (rather than history of medicine) will also be published. The journal will also accept significant studies that applied previously developed techniques to new materials, setting the research in the context of current debates on past human and animal health.
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