Bridging Morphometrics and Archaeogenetics: a non-destructive approach to species identification of sheep, goats and pigs based on bony labyrinth
Abstract
The petrous part of the temporal bone is a target for ancient DNA research due to its biomolecular preservation, yet destructive sampling risks losing valuable morphological information. Bony labyrinth morphology, captured by high-resolution 3D imaging, carries strong taxonomic and evolutionary signals, but its bioarchaeological application remains limited. We assessed the potential of bony labyrinth geometric morphometrics (GMM) for species identification of domestic animals by analysing 14 micro-CT-scanned archaeological petrosals from Spain alongside a dataset of 41 modern French and Spanish breeds of sheep and goats, as well as two pigs and two wild boars. Predictive discriminant analysis shows bony labyrinth shape reliably distinguishes these taxa, matching ancient genomic identification. Our findings demonstrate that bony labyrinth morphometrics is a robust, non-destructive approach for taxonomic identification of archaeological specimens, complementing other bioarchaeological proxies (e.g., ancient DNA, palaeoprotein). Integrated with palaeogenomic evidence, this framework enables comprehensive reconstructions of domestication processes and human-animal relationships.
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BibTeX
@article{guignet2026bridging,
title = {{Bridging Morphometrics and Archaeogenetics: a non-destructive approach to species identification of sheep, goats and pigs based on bony labyrinth}},
author = {Agathe Guignet and Adeline Hemelsdaël and Daniel Gaspar and Áine Halpin and Valeria Mattiangeli and Vanessa Navarrete and Dani López-Reyes and Mireia Sabaté Balada and Gabriel de Prado and Jaume Noguera and Pau Menéndez Molist and Joan Bernabeu Aubán and Oreto García Puchol and Lluís Molina Balaguer and Alfredo Cortell-Nicolau and Renaud Lebrun and Cleia Detry and Ana Elisabete Pires and Daniel G Bradley and Catarina Ginja and Silvia Valenzuela-Lamas and Allowen Evin},
journal = {World Archaeology},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.1080/00438243.2026.2720450},
url = {https://hal.science/hal-05784244v1},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Bridging Morphometrics and Archaeogenetics: a non-destructive approach to species identification of sheep, goats and pigs based on bony labyrinth
AU - Agathe Guignet
AU - Adeline Hemelsdaël
AU - Daniel Gaspar
AU - Áine Halpin
AU - Valeria Mattiangeli
AU - Vanessa Navarrete
AU - Dani López-Reyes
AU - Mireia Sabaté Balada
AU - Gabriel de Prado
AU - Jaume Noguera
AU - Pau Menéndez Molist
AU - Joan Bernabeu Aubán
AU - Oreto García Puchol
AU - Lluís Molina Balaguer
AU - Alfredo Cortell-Nicolau
AU - Renaud Lebrun
AU - Cleia Detry
AU - Ana Elisabete Pires
AU - Daniel G Bradley
AU - Catarina Ginja
AU - Silvia Valenzuela-Lamas
AU - Allowen Evin
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/07
JO - World Archaeology
DO - 10.1080/00438243.2026.2720450
UR - https://hal.science/hal-05784244v1
AB - The petrous part of the temporal bone is a target for ancient DNA research due to its biomolecular preservation, yet destructive sampling risks losing valuable morphological information. Bony labyrinth morphology, captured by high-resolution 3D imaging, carries strong taxonomic and evolutionary signals, but its bioarchaeological application remains limited. We assessed the potential of bony labyrinth geometric morphometrics (GMM) for species identification of domestic animals by analysing 14 micro-CT-scanned archaeological petrosals from Spain alongside a dataset of 41 modern French and Spanish breeds of sheep and goats, as well as two pigs and two wild boars. Predictive discriminant analysis shows bony labyrinth shape reliably distinguishes these taxa, matching ancient genomic identification. Our findings demonstrate that bony labyrinth morphometrics is a robust, non-destructive approach for taxonomic identification of archaeological specimens, complementing other bioarchaeological proxies (e.g., ancient DNA, palaeoprotein). Integrated with palaeogenomic evidence, this framework enables comprehensive reconstructions of domestication processes and human-animal relationships.
SN - 0043-8243
SN - 1470-1375
ER -