<html>Looking the Part: Assessing the Ability of Craniometrics and Morphological Indices to Distinguish <i>Canis latrans </i>Skulls from <i>Canis lupus</i> and <i>Canis familiaris</i></html>
Author(s): Sarah Buckser
Year: 2025
Summary
This is an abstract from the "Unfinished Business and Untold Stories: Digging into the Complexity of ‘Animal Domestication’" session, at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.
Although 3D geometric morphometric analysis is the preferred method of analyzing skull morphology in canids, many parties lack funding or training needed for such assessments. Instead, they must rely on the simpler and more affordable methods of craniometrics and morphological indices to create a species identification. North American canid identification must separate dogs, wolves, and a third, canid species, Canis latrans, the coyote. Zooarchaeology lacks comparable data sets for craniometrics and morphological indices for coyotes, and the efficacy of such methods to distinguish coyote skulls from dog and wolf skulls remains unclear. This project measured 50 skulls from the CU Boulder Natural History Museum’s vertebrate collections and compared the ability of craniometrics and morphological indices to group coyote specimens discretely. Results show coyotes have sufficient morphological overlaps with dogs and wolves to render most craniometrics or indices ineffective, although the measurement of the mandibular P1 tooth and the palatine M1 tooth showed promise in consistently separating dog, coyote, and wolf skulls into discrete groups. While craniometrics and morphological indices may be effective in separating dogs and wolves, the presence of Canis latrans makes morphological indices and craniometrics insufficient for identifying most early North American canids.
Cite this Record
Looking the Part: Assessing the Ability of Craniometrics and Morphological Indices to Distinguish Canis latrans Skulls from Canis lupus and Canis familiaris. Sarah Buckser. Presented at The 90th Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. 2025 ( tDAR id: 510043)
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Abstract Id(s): 53369