Hi Tanya,
Have you seen the morphological & metric differences between domestic/wild turkey in Miles, Martin & Savage (1985), Avian Osteology? 
They take many data from Kooliath (1975), a dissertation from a 17th century locality. 
I thought this is good start.
Good luck

Eduardo Corona-M.

"Tanya M. Peres" <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

>Hello all,
>
>I have recently completely the analysis of a late eighteenth to
>mid-nineteenth-century
>farmstead in central Kentucky, USA. A number of features have been
>excavated, and most, if
>not all, are thought to have been deposited by the wealthy landowner and
>family.
>
>Here is my dilemma: in an historic context such as this (ca. 1825), if I
>have geese and turkey identified
>in the zooarchaeological record, should these be interpreted as being wild
>or domesticated? I know
>that turkeys were first domesticated in the New World, but am unsure if
>this would hold true for any
>found in an historic context. And what about geese?
>
>What makes this situation interesting is that, at this site,
>the features have a mean ceramic date of 1825, but we have
>an 1849 estate bill of sale (so approx. 25 years later) that lists geese
>and turkey (type not specified for either) as being sold at
>auction from this property. Would these animals be interpreted
>as wild or domesticated? I think it is feasible for Canadian geese to be on
>a person's
>property, and potentially caught and sold as a belonging, without actually
>being
>domesticated. I have seen Canadian geese on a number of farm properties,
>but they were not put there by the landowners, they were merely passing
>through for the winter.
>
>I am not sure exactly how to deal with this for interpretative purposes.
>
>Thanks in advance for any help or guidance you are able to send my way!
>
>Tanya Peres
>
>
>
>Tanya M. Peres, PhD, RPA
>Assistant Director
>Zooarchaeologist
>Program for Archaeological Research
>Department of Anthropology
>University of Kentucky
>1020A Export Street
>Lexington, KY 40506-9854
>859-257-1944 Office
>859-323-1968 FAX
>www.uky.edu/as/anthropology/PAR
>www.uky.edu/~tmpere2
>


-- 
Eduardo Corona-M.
Co-Organizador del Seminario.
Laboratorio de Arqueozoologia,
Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia
Moneda 16, Col. Centro.
Mexico, 06060, D.F.
Mexico.

Dirección temporal:
Laboratorio de Arqueozoología,
Fac. de Ciencias. Edif. Biología.
Cantoblanco, 28049, Madrid.
España


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