An assessment of the archaeological applicability of faunal ageing methods based on dental wear

Mortality profiles are central to our reconstructions of past animal hunting and herding strategies. This article considers five different ageing methods based on the progressive wear of hypsodont herbivore teeth. The Quadratic Crown Height Method and the Linear Crown Height Method are based on tooth crown height. The Grant and both Payne methods are based on occlusal wear patterns. Statistical correlations and mortality profiles constructed using caprine teeth from the Anatolian Neolithic site of Çatalhöyük are used to assess the archaeological utility of each method. All of the methods are affected by uncertainties about inter- and intrapopulation variation in rates of wear, and by issues surrounding the degree of fragmentation in an assemblage. The crown height methods are biased against younger age classes. The occlusal wear-based methods suffer less from inherent age-related biases, but have significant and potentially biasing problems related to fragmentation. The degree of fragmentation in an assemblage determines which method is most appropriate for use. Comparisons of dental wear-based mortality profiles across assemblages or sites should be treated with considerable caution, unless the same method was used on all assemblages.