Confirmation of rabbit domestication in the 4th century AD at Ambrussum: evidence of morphological change in the pelvis

John P N Watson , Armelle Gardeisen (1)

1 ASM - Archéologie des Sociétés Méditerranéennes

A multivariate analysis of six measurements on the pelvis of rabbits from Ambrussum that had shown evidence of having been kept in captivity revealed that the bones differed morphologically from those of modern wild rabbits as well as being larger in size. The conclusion is that rabbits were already being deliberately bred in the 4th century AD in southern France.

Domaines: Archéologie et Préhistoire; Zoologie des vertébrés

John P N Watson, Armelle Gardeisen. Confirmation of rabbit domestication in the 4th century AD at Ambrussum: evidence of morphological change in the pelvis. 2019. ⟨hal-02074897v2⟩