Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-wzw2p Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-06-03T00:46:32.614Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The computation of ungulate age (mortality) profiles from dental crown heights

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 April 2016

Richard G. Klein  and
Kathryn Cruz-Uribe
Richard G. Klein
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 60637
Kathryn Cruz-Uribe
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 60637
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The age (mortality) profiles of ungulate species in a fossil fauna are useful for reconstructing modes of death and of bone accumulation. Crown height measurements probably provide the most practical means of obtaining age profiles in most fossil samples. Reliable, interpretable profiles will result when individual age is estimated from crown height using a mathematical model first suggested by C. A. Spinage and when the individual ages are grouped into relatively broad age classes. One potential objection to the model is that it requires tedious calculation and there is a strong possibility of calculation error when many crown heights are involved. This problem may be circumvented by the use of an interactive BASIC program appended to this paper. The user supplies the raw crown heights in a fossil sample, together with estimates of initial unworn crown height, ages of dental shedding and eruption, and maximum possible individual age. The program then tabulates the number of individuals in successive 10%-of-potential-lifespan intervals.

Type
Articles
Information
Paleobiology , Volume 9 , Issue 1 , Winter 1983 , pp. 70 - 78
Copyright
Copyright © The Paleontological Society 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Literature Cited

Frison, G. C. 1978. Animal population studies and cultural inference. Plains Anthropol. Mem. 14:44–52.Google Scholar
Klein, R. G. 1982. Patterns of ungulate mortality and ungulate mortality profiles from Langebaanweg (early Pliocene) and Elandsfontein (middle Pleistocene), South-Western Cape Province, South Africa. Ann. S. Afr. Mus. 90:49–94.Google Scholar
Klein, R. G., Cruz-Uribe, K., and Wolf, C. 1983. The calculation and interpretation of ungulate age profiles from dental crown heights. In: Bailey, G. ed. Hunter-Gatherer Economies in Late Pleistocene Europe. Univ. Cambridge Press; Cambridge.Google Scholar
Kurtén, B. 1953. On the variation and population dynamics of fossil and recent mammal populations. Acta. Zool. Fenn. 76:1–122.Google Scholar
Morris, P. 1972. A review of mammalian age determination methods. Mam. Rev. 2(3):69–104.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pitts, M. 1979. Hides and antlers: a new look at the gatherer-hunter site at Star Carr, North Yorkshire, England. World Archaeol. 11:32–42.Google Scholar
Reher, C. A. 1978. Buffalo population and other deterministic factors in a model of adaptive process on the shortgrass plains. Plains Anthropol. Mem. 14:23–39.Google Scholar
Singer, R. and Wymer, J. 1982. The Middle Stone Age at Klasies River Mouth in South Africa. Univ. Chicago Press; Chicago, Ill.Google Scholar
Spiess, A. E. 1979. Reindeer and Caribou Hunters: An Archaeological Study. Academic Press; New York.Google Scholar
Spinage, C. A. 1971. Geratodontology and horn growth of the impala (Aepyceros melampus). J. Zool. (London). 164:209–225.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Spinage, C. A. 1972. Age estimation of zebra. E. Afr. Wildl. J. 10:273–277.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Spinage, C. A. 1973. A review of the age determination of mammals by means of teeth, with especial reference to Africa. E. Afr. Wildl. J. 11:165–187.Google Scholar
Spinage, C. A. 1976. Age determination of the female Grant's gazelle. E. Afr. Wildl. J. 14:121–134.Google Scholar
Van Valen, L. 1964. Age in two fossil horse populations. Acta Zool. 45:93–106.Google Scholar
Voorhies, M. R. 1969. Taphonomy and population dynamics of an early Pliocene vertebrate fauna, Knox County, Nebraska. Univ. Wyoming Spec. Contrib. Geol. Spec. Pap. 1:1–69.Google Scholar
Wilson, M. 1980. Population dynamics of the Garnsey Site Bison. Mus. Anthropol., Univ. Michigan, Tech. Rep. 12:88–129.Google Scholar