According to previous ecomorphological studies (e.g. DeGusta & Vrba, 2003) performed in other species, it has been proven that an animal´s environment influences its’ mobility patterns which, in turn, affects bone density and limb bone morphometry. That is why we expected that similar differences should exist between tundra dweller and forest dweller reindeer. The analysis of the internal structure of the bone, together to the shape have produced promising results and they provide a new framework to estimate the reindeer migration during the Magdalenian period and then assess its impact on the Magdalenian hunting strategies.
The results from the outgoing phase indicate that the geometric morphometrics data and geometric properties of metapodia and phalanges allow us to distinguish between animals living in tundra environments, those living in the boreal forest and, to a lesser extent, those living in montane regions. Since those animals which move medium and long distances inhabit mainly open habitats (tundra), while those which migrate shorter distances tend to live in closed habitats (forest) we conclude that it is possible to infer the degree of mobility from the morphology of the distal limb bones. However, those reindeer that perform altitudinal migrations occur in a wide range of close and open environments. Furthermore, shape changes are linked to mobility and are mainly distinguishable in metacarpals.
Since the 1950s, the extent of reindeer migrations has been a recurring question in prehistoric archaeology. As the Palaeolithic environments in Western Europe have no current analogues it is not possible to infer reindeer mobility patterns from palaeoenvironmental reconstructions, the present study, therefore, provides a novel methodology to test mobility patterns.
Thus, the practical application of this methodology in the return phase on archaeological materials has been a breakthrough, making a decisive progress on this issue. The first results (2D GMM and ML) obtained are indeed very encouraging and will allow us to reconstruct reindeer movements, examine how they affected human hunting strategies and thus, understand the precise role of reindeer in social and economic organisation of Magdalenian populations during the last Glacial period in Southwestern France.
Bibliography:
DeGusta, D., Vrba, E. 2003. A method for inferring paleohabitats from the functional morphology of bovid astragali. Journal of Archaeological Science 30: 1009-1022.
