Assessment of Late Quaternary Bison Diminution Using Linear Discriminant Analysis

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2019: General Sessions" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

The proximate cause of reduction in the overall size of late Quaternary bison is the focus of continued debate. Some researchers contend that size reduction did not occur despite well-documented changes in climate and vegetation, while others link directional change in body size to changes in forage quality and availability or human predation. Historically, assessments of bison size have used standard measurements, ratio diagrams, univariate and bivariate plots, and summary statistics to 1) distinguish males and females, and; 2) generate mean body size data. Application of Linear Discriminant Analysis to 1,000+ calcanea from 30+ localities is used to eliminate the subjectivity of sex determination and, in turn, supply a refined understanding of spatio-temporal patterns in bison body size. Results confirm that late Pleistocene animals were substantially larger than their late Holocene counterparts.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 84th Annual Meeting, Albuquerque, NM (2019)

Keywords

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 25155