Time constraints mean this is the last one from me for a while (only a few
weeks before thesis submission!)
There is a paper by Pemberton and Smith (1985) in the journal Heredity (55,
199-207). Also I think that Masseti has done quite a lot of genetic work on
Mediterranean fallow deer populations. He has found that those in Italy also
show no biochemical polymorphism so I guess the genetic bottleneck must have
occurred before fallow deer got to Italy.
With regard to Sabine's suggestion that the body part patterns of Roman
fallow deer result from factors identification; I think most of the
assemblages where fallow deer have been recovered have also contained
considerable number of red deer that were represented by more than just
their metapodia. Once specimens have been identified to 'deer' it's not
terribly difficult (for Roman/Medieval Northern Europe) to separate between
red and fallow - and some elements are more diagnostic than the metapodia.
Lastly, I was emailed by Jean-Herve (salut Monsieur Yvinec!) who suggested
that one should not completely dismiss the presence of fallow deer in France
during the Gallo-Roman period. His basis for this was that although he has,
so far, only found antler and an astragalus, these specimens were recovered
from rural sites, along way from the villas where the deer may have been
managed in associated parks. In answer to this I shall refer back to
Gerhard's point; that keeping the odd animal in a park (if they really were
kept, it doesn't appear to have been in any great number) doesn't equate to
naturalization eg. today we have elephants in zoos but not a huge number
skipping about the countryside!
Yours,
Naomi
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