Control mechanism of biodiversity at the Holocene time scale: the contributions of archaezoology
Mécanismes de régulation de la biodiversité à l’échelle de l’Holocène : les contributions de l’archéozoologie
Résumé
Control mechanism of biodiversity at the Holocene time scale: the contributions of archaeozoology
This project aimed to increase and use archaeozoological data for a contribution to the knowledge of the
impact of human societies on animal biodiversity at the scale of some centuries or millennia. It was developed
in four directions:
– large mammals in poorly known and hot spot biodiversity areas (Iran, Ethiopia),
– coastal areas in both intertropical (Equator, Peru, West Indies, Oman) and temperate (Aleoutians, the
European Atlantic façade) zones,
– small Brittany islands and
– origin of the mouse commensalism and cat domestication. New evidence have been found for the Holocene
geographical restriction of several species (Saiga tatarica, Equus hydruntinus, Hyaena hyaena,
Tragelaphus buxtoni, Noetiella chesneyi, Osilinus lineatus) and even of some extinctions (endemic
Microtus in Molène archipelago, Meretrix sp. In Oman). New species have been described (Meretric sp.,
Mus cypriacus). The history of the spread of the house mouse in the Mediterranean basin has been elucidated and the origin of the domestic cat has been found much earlier as expected. In addition, process of
biodiversity decrease have been described in several of the studied areas, and their natural or man-made
origin is discussed. Clear cut answers are rarely available, but most of these researches are still in progress
in order to increase data and to get the more accurate environmental and anthropological information
which will allow us to go deeper in the processes.