étude ostéo-morphométrique des tortues marines de ... - Seaturtle.org

MATERIAL AND METHODS
• Sample
Although carapace’s bones constitute the most frequent kind of remains, we decided to
exclude them. They are often fragmented, isolated and furthermore variable in terms of
number and even shape within species, i.e., not useful for species determination.
We measured skulls, lower jaws, humeri, femora, scapulae, coracoids and pubes of 303 recent
specimens, corresponding to the 8 living species of marine turtles, and kept in Peter C.H.
Pritchard’s Chelonian Research Institute (CRI, Oviedo, Florida, USA).
In the present paper, we present analyses concerning two bones: the left coracoid in dorsal
view and the left scapula in dorsal view (figure 1). They were measured respectively on 98
and 86 sea turtles (82 duplicates) (tables 2 and 3). Together, these two bones constitute the
half shoulder girdle. In an archaeological context, as the remains are from turtles that have
often been eaten, it is more significant to study these bones separately, even if they were
found joined by cartilage, which gives information in three dimensions (Depecker, 2006).
Figure 1. Left sea turtle’s shoulder girdle in dorsal view (left); left coracoid in
dorsal view (middle); scapula in dorsal view (right). SCA, scapula; CO,
coracoid, SP, scapular prong; AP, acromial process or precoracoid; GL,
glenoid cavity (toward humerus); ANT, anterior; POST, posterior; EXT,
external or lateral; INT, internal or medial; HAS, humeral articular surface;
CAS, coracoidal articular surface; SAS, scapular articular surface.
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