Archaeologia Islandica - 01.01.2010, Page 68

RAMONA HARRISON
Sheep vs. Goat Relative Proportions
Phasell PhaselV PhaseV
■ Goat% DSheep%
Figure 12. Proportions of sheep and goats by Phase.
analysis, only scoring the third molar
(M3) instead of the entire mandibular
tooth row for wear scores, using the
assigned numbers for an overall mean per
period and site. All teeth used from
Skuggi show M3 TWS means of 6 - 9,
indicating an overall presence of mature
animals whose M3s are in wear. The
means further suggest that the M3s are
not heavily worn and belong to young
adult sheep and goats, comparable to the
Gásir caprine M3 TWS (Harrison 2009).
The Skuggi tooth wear data indicates a
presence of substantial numbers of young
to middle aged adults, and a lack of a
higher proportion of highly wom teeth as
seen in the Mývatnssveit collections from
Hofstaðir and Sveigakot (i.e. McGovem
et al. 2004, 2007, 2009; McGovem and
Perdikaris 2002).
Figure 12 shows the relative propor-
tions of identified sheep and goat ele-
ments at Skuggi. Sheep/goat distinctions
follow Boessneck (1969), Mainland and
Halstead (2005), and Zeder and Pilaar
(2010). Research on sheep/goat speci-
mens from the AMNH Mammology
Department further helped analyze and
distinguish sheep/goat mandibles where
possible.
During the later Viking Age and earli-
er medieval phases, the ratio of Sheep vs.
Goat was ca. 4:1. Phase V, the latest
occupation phase before site abandon-
ment, did not contain any goat elements.
The last Phase in the midden occupation
chronology comprises a smaller faunal
collection than earlier phases; therefore a
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