Investigating the domestication and early management of reindeer (Rangifer tarandus) in the Sami archaeological context from teeth geometric morphometrics.

ABSTRACT: For centuries, reindeer herding has been an integral part of the subsistence, lifeways, economy and cosmology of the Sámi of northern Fennoscandia. Despite its importance, the timing and details of early reindeer domestication are still highly debated. Identifying domesticated individuals in the archaeological record remains complicated due to the presence of two interbreeding subspecies in Fennoscandia and a mixed socio-economic organisation by Sámi populations, which was mainly a combination of wild reindeer hunting and small-scale reindeer herding. This study proposes methodological improvement for identifying domestic individuals using 2D landmark and sliding semi-landmark based geometric morphometrics on the isolated lower molars of 389 modern specimens, and 90 teeth from four archaeo

SUBMITTER: Pelletier M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10105696 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature