Kunst Günther Karl, Horacek Micha
Vienna Institute for Archaeological Science, Research Network Human Evolution and Archaeological Sciences, University of Vienna, Josef-Holaubek-Platz 2 (UZA II), 1090 Wien, Austria.
Department of Lithospheric Research, University of Vienna, Josef-Holaubek-Platz 2 (UZA II), 1090 Wien, Austria.
Animals (Basel). 2024 Sep 9;14(17):2624. doi: 10.3390/ani14172624.
In this study, we try to combine traditional archaeozoological biometry, based on outer bone measurements, with stable isotope analyses of bone collagen. Right from the start of archaeozoological research in Central and Western Europe, the important size variability in Roman domestic cattle has puzzled scholars. According to an established view, these differences in bone size are attributed either to the simultaneous presence of different types or even breeds or to the result of crossbreeding of smaller, native, and larger Roman cattle. Likewise, the episodic import of large-sized animals has been considered. First, we selected thirty proximal phalanges of cattle from three sites including five archaeological contexts from eastern Austria (Roman provinces of Noricum and Pannonia). The bone sample comprised the whole hitherto observed metric variability in Roman provincial cattle, and we tried to include minimal and maximal specimens. The results from stable isotope analyses (δN, δC, δO, δH) carried out on thirty proximal phalanges indicated that isotope signals were rather site-specific and, generally, not related to bone size. Therefore, we conclude that at least in the area investigated, small and large cattle types were raised and herded in the same areas and not spatially separated. There are, however, uncertain indicators of intra-site differences in isotope signals related to bone size, which should be checked on much larger sample sets.
在本研究中，我们尝试将基于骨骼外部测量的传统考古动物生物测量学与骨胶原的稳定同位素分析相结合。从中欧和西欧考古动物学研究一开始，罗马家养牛重要的体型变异性就一直困扰着学者们。根据一种既定观点，骨骼大小的这些差异要么归因于不同类型甚至品种的同时存在，要么归因于体型较小的本地牛与体型较大的罗马牛杂交的结果。同样，大型动物的偶尔进口也被考虑在内。首先，我们从三个地点选取了三十个牛的近端趾骨，包括来自奥地利东部（罗马诺里库姆和潘诺尼亚行省）的五个考古背景。骨样本涵盖了迄今在罗马行省牛中观察到的所有度量变异性，并且我们试图纳入最小和最大的标本。对三十个近端趾骨进行的稳定同位素分析（δN、δC、δO、δH）结果表明，同位素信号具有相当的地点特异性，并且一般与骨骼大小无关。因此，我们得出结论，至少在所研究的区域，小型和大型牛种在相同区域饲养和放牧，并未在空间上分开。然而，存在与骨骼大小相关的同位素信号位点内差异的不确定指标，这应该在更大的样本集上进行检验。
