étude ostéo-morphométrique des tortues marines de ... - Seaturtle.org
étude ostéo-morphométrique des tortues marines de ... - Seaturtle.org
étude ostéo-morphométrique des tortues marines de ... - Seaturtle.org
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Geometric morphometrics of the coracoid and scapula in living sea turtles (Cheloniidae<br />
Oppel, 1811): an archaeological perspective.<br />
INTRODUCTION<br />
Because of the current rapid <strong>de</strong>cline of sea turtles, due to human exploitations and fisheries,<br />
the investigations concerning these reptiles are focused on the urgency to know their biology.<br />
Here we present a geometric morphometric study bringing to light the interest of shape<br />
variations to i<strong>de</strong>ntify precisely sea turtles from bones.<br />
Sea turtles’ archaeological remains are frequently excavated from different regions of the<br />
whole world where the turtles interacted with human societies (Kirch and Yen, 1982; Kirch,<br />
1988; Frazier, 2003; Woodrom-Luna, 2003; Allen, 2006).<br />
Published accounts inclu<strong>de</strong> <strong>de</strong>tailed illustrations, measurements, stratigraphic interpretations,<br />
but i<strong>de</strong>ntification is in most cases only ma<strong>de</strong> at the general level “turtle”. However, sex, size,<br />
weight and age are very important pieces of information for archaeological studies. Sea<br />
turtle’s remains from archaeological sites are very useful to characterize ancient human<br />
activities. Due to their particular ethology and ecology, these leavings become more than just<br />
remains. For example, only females reach beaches: so, knowing the sex of sea turtle’s bones<br />
on an archaeological site initiates inquiries about the ancient human fisheries activities, and in<br />
addition provi<strong><strong>de</strong>s</strong> information on human migrations.<br />
This means that the interpretation of sea turtle’s bones cannot be carried out without being<br />
associated with typical faunal assemblages (waste <strong>de</strong>posit areas) or human’s artefacts (burns<br />
and cut marks, scars or damages left by capture techniques, worked bones). This ensures that<br />
sea turtles did not die during nesting, a very common phenomenon according to Frazier<br />
(2003) and Allen (2006), who <strong>de</strong>fined the kinds of faunal assemblages or human’s artefacts<br />
that must be found associated with sea turtle remains before initiating archaeological<br />
interpretations.<br />
To draw up an evaluation of all the archaeological sites where sea turtle’s bones were<br />
excavated is not the aim of this paper. Frazier (2003, 2005) and Allen (2006) reviewed this<br />
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