Bison breeding characteristics and interpretation of archaeological seasonality revisited Export

@article{citeulike:822910, abstract = {Bison breeding behaviour has been used for the last three decades as the basis for developing methods for assigning season-of-occupation estimates to archaeological sites on the North American Plains. These methods are based upon the supposition that the North American bison breeding season is extremely short and that genetically controlled ontological characteristics such as foetal growth and tooth eruption sequences can therefore be used to infer site seasonality in a reasonably straightforward and precise manner. This paper reviews bison population studies conducted during the past 30 years to reassess present understandings of the length of North American bison breeding seasons. It is concluded that the bison breeding season regularly extends over a period of three to four months, and that initiation of ontological development will therefore also vary over the same period of time. Bison development characteristics cannot provide a reliable or precise means of assigning seasonality to archaeological sites on the North American Plains. It is suggested that methods using physical characteristics such as dental cementum incrementation which are directly affected by seasonal changes could be more productive. Copyright {\copyright} 2006 John Wiley \& Sons, Ltd.}, address = {Department of Archaeology, University of Calgary, 2500 University Drive NW, Calgary, Alberta T2N 1N4, Canada}, author = {Walde, D.}, citeulike-article-id = {822910}, citeulike-linkout-0 = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/oa.852}, citeulike-linkout-1 = {http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/cgi-bin/abstract/112651120/ABSTRACT}, doi = {10.1002/oa.852}, journal = {International Journal of Osteoarchaeology}, keywords = {bison, saisonnalite}, number = {9999}, pages = {n/a+}, posted-at = {2006-08-31 12:30:02}, priority = {2}, title = {Bison breeding characteristics and interpretation of archaeological seasonality revisited}, url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/oa.852}, volume = {9999}, year = {2006} }

TY - JOUR ID - citeulike:822910 L3 - citeulike-article-id:822910 N2 - Bison breeding behaviour has been used for the last three decades as the basis for developing methods for assigning season-of-occupation estimates to archaeological sites on the North American Plains. These methods are based upon the supposition that the North American bison breeding season is extremely short and that genetically controlled ontological characteristics such as foetal growth and tooth eruption sequences can therefore be used to infer site seasonality in a reasonably straightforward and precise manner. This paper reviews bison population studies conducted during the past 30 years to reassess present understandings of the length of North American bison breeding seasons. It is concluded that the bison breeding season regularly extends over a period of three to four months, and that initiation of ontological development will therefore also vary over the same period of time. Bison development characteristics cannot provide a reliable or precise means of assigning seasonality to archaeological sites on the North American Plains. It is suggested that methods using physical characteristics such as dental cementum incrementation which are directly affected by seasonal changes could be more productive. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. IS - 9999 JF - International Journal of Osteoarchaeology AD - Department of Archaeology, University of Calgary, 2500 University Drive NW, Calgary, Alberta T2N 1N4, Canada TI - Bison breeding characteristics and interpretation of archaeological seasonality revisited VL - 9999 SP - n/a KW - bison KW - saisonnalite AU - Walde, D PY - 2006/// UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/oa.852 ER -