Characterising 1000 Years of Byzantine Era Dog Cranial Morphology: A 3D Geometric Morphometric Approach


Koungoulos L., Gündemir O., Michaud M., Onar V.

51st Computer Applications and Quantitative Methods in Archaeology International Conference, Auckland, Yeni Zelanda, 8 - 12 Nisan 2024, ss.161, (Özet Bildiri)

  • Yayın Türü: Bildiri / Özet Bildiri
  • Basıldığı Şehir: Auckland
  • Basıldığı Ülke: Yeni Zelanda
  • Sayfa Sayıları: ss.161
  • İstanbul Üniversitesi-Cerrahpaşa Adresli: Evet

Özet

This paper describes the preliminary results of a digital morphological study of a large sample of archaeological dog skulls from the Byzantine (Roman) period in present-day Istanbul, Türkiye. Excavations at the Marmaray and Metro sites retrieved several hundred dog crania, covering over a millennium duration of deposition within the city of Constantinople’s Theodosius Harbour - from the 4th to 15th centuries AD. Most of the crania belong to adult dogs, and are of good to exceptional preservation quality, making them highly suited to morphological analyses. To date only traditional (caliper-based) and nonmetric studies have been undertaken, which suggest the vast majority were essentially stray or street dogs, rather than pets. Here, we report the first 3D geometric analysis of the Marmaray and Metro dogs. We discuss their morphological character, the extent of change and stability in their cranial forms throughout the millennium the sample covers, and their morphology relative to comparisons with present-day domestic and wild dogs.