Draw me a sheep: a morphological investigation on appendicular. Bones of modern and ancient populations from SouthWest Asia. (Evosheep project). 28th European Association of Archaeologists. EAA Annual Meeting Budapest, Hungary

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This paper is prepared by the following authors some of which could not be listed in theauthor's list because of the software limitations:Manon Vuillien, Emmanuelle Vila, Jwana Chahoud, Hossein Davoudi, Bea de Cupere,Daniel Helmer, Moussab Albesso2, Agraw Amane7&8, Rémi Berthon1, Sofiane Bouzid2,Homa Fathi4, Joséphine Lesur1, Azadeh Mohaseb1, Lionel Gourichon, Marjan Mashkour,Thomas Cucchi.Not listed affiliations above:7 Department of Microbial, Cellular and Molecular Biology, Addis Ababa University,Ethiopia8 ILRI, Livestock Genetics Program, Addis Ababa, EthiopiaSheep husbandry has played a major role in the economy of human societies inSouthwest Asia over the last 10 millennia. However, if archaeological andarchaeozoological "clues" provide insight into husbandry practices developed by earlyhuman societies, it is still difficult to assess the diversity of first breeds these societiesrelied on, such as, anthropogenic selective pressure and ecological conditions. To tacklethis issue, EVOSHEEP project focuses on the complex history of early sheep husbandry inSouthwest Asia between the Late Neolithic and the Bronze Age using an integratedapproach including archaeozoology, morphometrics, genetics, iconography, philology.The objective is to identify the biological and anthropological components underlying theemergence and development of early sheep breeds. In this paper we present our firstresults based on modern breeds from Southwest Asia and East Africa using 3D geometricmorphometrics on isolated elements from forelimb (distal humerus) and hindlimb(calcaneum and astragalus) as a proof of concept to explore the morphological diversityof sheep. These bones have proven to be powerful tools to understand both herdingstrategies and environmental conditions. The next step is to test the morphologicalpatterns on ancient populations belonging to forty archaeological sites and covering fivemillennia of economic and cultural transformations, between the 6th and the 1stmillennium BC.

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