Les caractères ostéoscopiques chez les Mammifères actuels et fossiles. Histoire de la méthode et apport à la connaissance des populations
Résumé
Zooarchaeology and, to a lesser extent, zoology still make little use of osteostopic (discrete) characters in intraspecific analyses. History of the method is reviewed, starting with the earliest descriptions of human discrete characters, going on with later observations on animals up to very recent zoological studies which compare results produced both by studying discrete characters and by other approaches. Through this review, we intend to show the method’s interest for the knowledge of modern as well as fossil animal populations