EmorphProject: Reconstructing habitat type and mobility patterns of Rangifer tarandus during the Late Pleistocene in Southwestern France: an ecomorphological study

Summary: An animal´s habitat and mobility patterns hypothetically affect bone density and limb bone morphometry. The goals of this project are two: 1) test this ecomorphological hypothesis for a given taxon (Rangifer tarandus), and; 2) establish a reference sample for this taxon that will enable a reconstruction of its habitat type and degree of mobility using bone samples recovered from archaeological sites. This project quantifies the link between habitat type and mobility and bone density and morphology using X-rays and Computer Tomography (CT) and geometric morphometry (GMM). The study will focus on reindeer because it is a key prey species in many prehistoric contexts in both Europe and North America. Modern reference samples will be collected in North America, where Rangifer tarandus (caribou, aka reindeer) herds still exist in woodland (non-migratory) and tundra (migratory) habitats, making the creation of a referential framework possible. Once the relationship between habitat, mobility and bone structure has been quantified, the information collected will be applied to faunal assemblages from Upper Palaeolithic archaeological sites in Southwestern France and used to reconstruct prey mobility.

Materials included in this repository: Cross-sectional (from 20%, 35%, 50%, 65% and 80% bone sections) images from metacarpals, metatarsals and first phalanges (50% section) from extant caribou to build up a reference collection.