A novel method for integrated age and sex determination from archaeological cattle mandibles

S. McGrory; E. M. Svensson; A. Götherström; J. Mulville; A. J. Powell; M. J. Collins; T. P. O'Connor

doi:10.1016/j.jas.2012.05.021

A novel method for integrated age and sex determination from archaeological cattle mandibles

S. McGrory^*, E. M. Svensson, A. Götherström, J. Mulville, A. J. Powell, M. J. Collins, T. P. O'Connor

^*Corresponding author for this work

Department of Chemistry

7 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Analysis of ancient cattle husbandry is compromised by the need for conventional analysis of sex and age at death to use different elements of the skeleton, usually from different individuals. We demonstrate a technique using aDNA acquired from cattle mandibles and combined with age-at-death estimation based on dental eruption in the same specimens. Application to small sample groups from two sites in Na h-Eileanan Siar (the Scottish Western Isles) show a high success rate, and demonstrates the potential for a more nuanced interpretation of ancient cattle husbandry.

Original language	English
Journal	Journal of Archaeological Science
Volume	39
Issue number	10
Pages (from-to)	3324-3330
Number of pages	7
ISSN	0305-4403
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jas.2012.05.021
Publication status	Published - Oct 2012

Keywords

Cattle
DNA
Husbandry
Mortality
Zooarchaeology

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10.1016/j.jas.2012.05.021

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abstract = "Analysis of ancient cattle husbandry is compromised by the need for conventional analysis of sex and age at death to use different elements of the skeleton, usually from different individuals. We demonstrate a technique using aDNA acquired from cattle mandibles and combined with age-at-death estimation based on dental eruption in the same specimens. Application to small sample groups from two sites in Na h-Eileanan Siar (the Scottish Western Isles) show a high success rate, and demonstrates the potential for a more nuanced interpretation of ancient cattle husbandry.",

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AU - McGrory, S.

AU - Svensson, E. M.

AU - Götherström, A.

AU - Mulville, J.

AU - Powell, A. J.

AU - Collins, M. J.

AU - O'Connor, T. P.

PY - 2012/10

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N2 - Analysis of ancient cattle husbandry is compromised by the need for conventional analysis of sex and age at death to use different elements of the skeleton, usually from different individuals. We demonstrate a technique using aDNA acquired from cattle mandibles and combined with age-at-death estimation based on dental eruption in the same specimens. Application to small sample groups from two sites in Na h-Eileanan Siar (the Scottish Western Isles) show a high success rate, and demonstrates the potential for a more nuanced interpretation of ancient cattle husbandry.

AB - Analysis of ancient cattle husbandry is compromised by the need for conventional analysis of sex and age at death to use different elements of the skeleton, usually from different individuals. We demonstrate a technique using aDNA acquired from cattle mandibles and combined with age-at-death estimation based on dental eruption in the same specimens. Application to small sample groups from two sites in Na h-Eileanan Siar (the Scottish Western Isles) show a high success rate, and demonstrates the potential for a more nuanced interpretation of ancient cattle husbandry.

KW - Cattle

KW - DNA

KW - Husbandry

KW - Mortality

KW - Zooarchaeology

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M3 - Journal article

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SP - 3324

EP - 3330

JO - Journal of Archaeological Science

JF - Journal of Archaeological Science

IS - 10

ER -

A novel method for integrated age and sex determination from archaeological cattle mandibles

Abstract

Keywords

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