zooarchaeology Zooarchaeology (sometimes called archaeozoology), also known as faunal analysis, is a branch of archaeology that studies remains of animals from archaeological sites. Faunal remains are the items left behind when an animal dies. These include bon ...

and

paleontology Paleontology (), also spelled palaeontology or palæontology, is the scientific study of life that existed prior to, and sometimes including, the start of the Holocene epoch (roughly 11,700 years before present). It includes the study of fossi ...

, ovicaprids or caprines are domestic

sheep Sheep or domestic sheep (''Ovis aries'') are domesticated, ruminant mammals typically kept as livestock. Although the term ''sheep'' can apply to other species in the genus '' Ovis'', in everyday usage it almost always refers to domesticated ...

and

goat The goat or domestic goat (''Capra hircus'') is a domesticated species of goat-antelope typically kept as livestock. It was domesticated from the wild goat (''C. aegagrus'') of Southwest Asia and Eastern Europe. The goat is a member of the a ...

s taken together. Distinguishing sheep and goats from post-cranial skeletal remains has historically been difficult, so in many archaeological reports, the two are often reported in a single ovis/capra category. This is problematic because of their different roles in early animal husbandry.Michael Buckley, "Zooarchaeology by Mass Spectrometry (ZooMS) Collagen Fingerprinting for the Species Identification of Archaeological Bone Fragments", p. 227-250 in Christina M. Giovas, Michelle J. LeFebvre, eds., ''Zooarchaeology in Practice'', Nonetheless, experienced analysts using systematic criteria can distinguish the two with high reliability. They can also be distinguished using DNA analysis or collagen fingerprinting. Collagen has the advantage of surviving longer than DNA.

Notes

Caprids Zooarchaeology Paleontology {{paleo-mammal-stub