Studying caprine breeds from protohistoric Provence and Southern Alps (France): 3D geometric morphometrics applied to postcranial bones

Past sheep and goat husbandry can be analyzed using various approaches in zooarchaeology. However, with classical osteometric studies, some limitations are generally reached for describing more precisely the phenotypical patterns of the animal breeds. In order to better understand the evolution of pastoral economies in the Bronze and Iron Age Provence (southern France) which underwent a number of economic and socio-political changes at the regional and local scales such as the emergence of complex societies, the development of colonial settlements and later the impact of Romanization, our research focuses on the characterization of the small livestock diversity exploited during this period. For this purpose, we developed a 3D geometric morphometric (GMM) approach based on the analysis of two sheep and goat postcranial bones, the humerus and the astragalus. For this comparative study, a total sample of 50 modern and 150 archaeological specimens have been collected and recorded in 3D models. The GMM and statistical analyses were performed on landmarks and curves using ‘3DReshaper’ and ‘R’ software. The results are finally compared with those obtained from osteometric studies based on standard and additional bone measurements to test and assess the degree of reliability and efficiency for discriminating different animal populations.