中国西部羊亚科和羚羊亚科颅后骨形态鉴定标准和史前人-羊关系

Identification criteria of posterior cranial osteomorphology of subfamily Caprinae and Antilopinae in western China and prehistoric human-Caprinae relationship

通过比较骨骼形态学正确鉴定考古遗址中动物遗存所代表的相关物种的种属,是解读过去人-动物-环境关系的基础.然而,在中国西部,对史前遗址中的中型牛科动物遗存的鉴定是具有挑战性的,因为这个地区分布着尺寸重叠、形态极其近似的羊亚科(Caprinae)和羚羊亚科(Antilopinae)的八个不同属种,即盘羊(Ovis ammon)、岩羊(Pseudois nayaur)、斑羚(Naemorhedus goral)、鬣羚(Capricornis milneedwardsii)、北山羊(Capra ibex sibirica)、原羚(Procapra sp.)、瞪羚(Gazella sp.)和藏羚(Pantholops sp.).此外,史前时期家养绵羊(O.aries)和山羊(C.hircus)在该地区的引入,使对这些形态相似的物种的鉴定进一步复杂化.在以往对中国西部新石器时代和青铜时代的动物考古研究中,研究人员往往未能对这些不同生物分类物种进行准确的鉴定,这可能导致对古代动物资源获取模式的缺乏依据的假设.本研究基于以往的骨骼形态学研究和对大量现生标本的统计和比较,根据现藏于欧美国家自然历史博物馆和标本库中的大量现生羊亚科和羚羊亚科动物骨骼(每个种属≥27个成年个体),总结出了一系列区分这些不同种属羊亚科和羚羊亚科动物颅后骨的形态学鉴定特征和基本度量数据.盲测实验表明,在现代标本中使用这些解剖标准可以明确地区分肱骨远端的所有类群.将这些鉴定标准应用于青藏高原东北部的史前考古标本,结果表明:在距今4000年前后的齐家文化遗址中,家养绵羊已经传入甘青地区,但是人类仍大量捕猎当地野生羊亚科动物.研究提出,对中国西部青铜时代以及更早阶段遗址中的羊亚科遗存的鉴定和人-羊关系的解读应更加谨慎.文中提出的鉴定方法可成为评估中国西部史前遗址人类获取动物资源策略的一个有效工具.

Accurate taxonomic identification of related species from archaeological sites is the basis for correct interpretation of human-animal-environment relationships in the past.However,the identification of medium-sized bovid remains in prehistoric sites is challenging in the vast area of western China,including Guanzhong,northern Shaanxi,Tibetan Plateau,Hexi Corridor,and Xinjiang.In these areas,there distributed nearly ten different species of Caprinae and Antilopinae,which are of highly similar osteomorphology and overlapping size ranges.These taxa include Ovis ammon,Pseudois nayaur,Naemorhedus goral,Capricornis milneedwardsii,Capra iber sibirica,Procapra sp.,Gazella sp,and Pantholops hodgsoni.In addition,the introduction of domestic sheep(O.aries)and goats(C.hircus)to the region during prehistory further complicates the identification of these taxa.In previous zooarchaeological studies dealing with Neolithic and Bronze Age faunas from this area,researchers often failed to make accurate taxonomic identifications of the different medium-sized bovids,and this may lead to unwarranted assumptions regarding ancient patterns of animal exploitation.Building on previous osteomorphological studies and a statistically significant number of modern comparatives(each taxa≥27 adults),we outlined a series of morphological identification features and basic metric data to distinguish the postcranial bones of these taxa,enabling the accurate taxonomic classification of eight medium-sized wild bovid genera widely distributed across the region.A blind test showed that using these anatomical criteria on modern specimens allowed separating unequivocally all taxa in the case of the distal humerus.Applying these criteria to archaeological specimens from the prehistoric northeast Tibetan Plateau,we discover that domestic sheep have been introduced to the Gansu-Qinghai area in a Qijia cultural site around 4000 years ago,while the humans still hunted a large number of local wild Caprine,including blue sheep,goral,and serow,which has often been overlooked in previous studies.Our study suggests more caution should be taken in the identification of Caprinae remains in western Chinese sites and interpretation of the human-caprine relationships during and prior to Bronze Age.The identification methods proposed by our study could be a useful tool in the future when assessing the prehistoric animal resources exploitation patterns of humans.