Osteometry, and Osteological Age and Sex Determination of the Sisimiut Reindeer Population

Description

This work focuses on the correlation between body growth, age and sex of individual animals from a reindeer population, as well as body growth and development of specific skeletal elements and the point when sexual dimorphism becomes noticeable in the dimensions of these bones. By-products are the age and sex structure of the dead community. Despite the existence of individual variation, the results collected, especially the osteometrical data, may potentially be useful for archaeological and wildlife research. The utility of this osteometrical study is here tested on material from an archaeological assemblage: reindeer bones from the late Palaeolithic site Stellmoor, located in northern Germany.