Author: Gary A. Wright

Publisher:

Published: 1976

Total Pages: 26

ISBN-13:

"Our inquiry revolves around several questions. Do herders predominantly kill immature animals? Precisely what is meant by 'immature' (or 'young')? Do hunters predominantly slaughter mature wild sheep? If so, under what conditions might large numbers of immature wild sheep be killed? - that is, could the age structure of kills in a domesticated population be reproduced by hunters? To investigate these questions, we have used as our study animal North American wild sheep, concentrating mainly on the Rocky Mountain bighorn (Ovis canadensis canadensis). We do this for several reasons. The Rocky Mountain (and desert) bighorns have been well studied and we are able to obtain behavioral data and population statistics from the literature. Second, because these sheep were never domesticated, we do not need to consider problems of identification of domesticates. Third, we have several ethnographical accounts of hunting procedures utilized by Native Americans. Fourth, we have access to several faunal collections for direct comparison of skeletal materials."--pages 294-295