1998 Research Abstracts

• Age and sex determination from the mandibular dentition of raccoons: techniques and applications. 8th International Congress of the International Council for Archaeozoology. University of Victoria, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. August 23-29, 1998. Final Program and Abstracts pg. 119.
  
  Although raccoon (Procyon lotor) is the second most important mammal at many archaeological sites in the eastern U.S., comparatively little work has been done on their mortality profiles. The absence of an accurate and replicable technique for ageing archaeological material has hindered previous research on raccoon mortality profiles. Determining age and sex of raccoon remains using more accurate techniques provides important information on prehistoric hunting strategies and animal ecology. In combination with measures of relative abundance these at archaeological sites to determine intensity of exploitation.
  
  Previous techniques of ageing raccoon from dental wear were designed for the study of complete modern specimens and exhibit severe problems with replicability when applied to archaeological remains. This study presents new techniques for ageing relatively complete mandibles and isolated teeth by degree of dentin exposure. Previous techniques for sex determination need only minor modifications. Clinal variation in raccoon size and sexual dimorphism has been largely overlooked by zooarchaeologists; however, once this is controlled for canine width is an extremely accurate indication of sex.
  
  In this study raccoon mandibles are separated into five wear stages of unequal duration. Accurate drawings and descriptions of raccoon mandibles are provided for both early and late phases of each wear stage. This technique avoids the problem of deciding which drawing a mandible most closely resembles. Most mandibles fall between early and late phase drawings and can be easily placed within a single wear stage. Eleven wear stages are provided for each of the molariform teeth. These wear stages are recorded for complete mandibles. By comparison to complete mandibles, isolated teeth can also be placed in the correct wear stage. Wear on M1 is the most regular and even and has the highest degree of correlation with the overall wear stage.
  
  The distribution of raccoon by sex at several Midwestern sites indicates a changing pattern over time and suggest a change in exploitation strategies. Although previous work does not indicate a significant change in mortality profiles over time, more accurate techniques may indicate a change in exploitation by age class.
  
  
• Raccoon mortality profiles: indicators of prehistoric hunting intensity in the Midwestern United States. 63rd Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Seattle, Washington March 25-29, 1998. Abstracts of the 63rd Annual Meeting pg. 116.
  
  The absence of an accurate and replicable technique for ageing raccoons based on dental wear hindered previous research on raccoon mortality profiles. Problems in presenting unequal category intervals may have further obscured potentially important data. This study presents a new methodology involving written descriptions and line drawings of the early and late phases of each dental wear stage. Data from the Midwestern U.S. are presented in frequency density diagrams to correct for age categories of unequal duration. Changes in raccoon population parameters from Archaic through Mississippian times indicate an increase in prehistoric hunting intensity.
  
  
• Patterns of Oliver Phase faunal exploitation. 43rd Annual Midwest Archaeological Conference. Muncie, Indiana 21-24 October 1998. Program and Abstracts pg. 23.
  
  Faunal remains from six Oliver Phase sites in south-central Indiana have been analyzed by the author and a summary of available data is provided. Variations in seasonality and preservation may be responsible for the appearance of some assemblages as focused on particular species while other sites have much more diverse assemblages. Particular attention is paid to these variables when comparing Oliver Phase remains and contrasting them with interpretations of animal exploitation by other late prehistoric groups in the region.