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Mixture Analysis and Mammalian Sex Ratio Among Middle Pleistocene Mouflon of Arago Cave, France

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Hervé Monchot
Hervé Monchot*
Affiliation:
Laboratoire d'Anthropologie, Faculté de Médecine-secteur nord, Bd Pierre Dramard, 13916, Marseille Cedex 20, France
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Abstract

In archaeological studies, it is often important to be able assess sexual dimorphism and sex ratios in populations. Obtaining sex ratio is easy if each individual in the population can be accurately sexed through the use of one more objective variables. But this is often impossible, due to incompleteness of the osteological record. A modern statistical approach to handle this problem is Mixture Analysis using the method of maximum likelihood. It consists of determining how many groups are present in the sample, two in this case, in which proportions they occur, and to estimate the parameters accordingly. This paper shows the use of this method on vertebrate fossil populations in a prehistoric context with implications on prey acquisition by early humans. For instance, the analysis of mouflon bones from Arago cave (Tautavel, France) indicates that there are more females than males in the F layer. According to the ethology of the animal, this indicates that the hunting strategy could be the result of selective choice of the prey. Moreover, we may deduce the presence of Anteneandertalians on the site during spring and summer periods.

Keywords

mammalian sex ratiomixture analysismaximum likelihoodMiddle PleistoceneArago caveFrance
Type
Research Article
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 52 , Issue 2 , September 1999 , pp. 259 - 268
Copyright
University of Washington

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