Lionel Gourichon [lionel.gourichon@cepam.cnrs.fr] suggested: Hello, , Lionel Gourichon [lionel.gourichon@cepam.cnrs.fr] suggested: I'm sorry to not be able to review the article of Harding et alii. , Lionel Gourichon [lionel.gourichon@cepam.cnrs.fr] suggested: I can suggest that you contact Manon Vuillien (manon.vuillien@cepam.cnrs.fr) or Emmanuelle Vila (emmanuelle.vila@mom.fr), who are familiar with the issues relating to ancient sheep morphology in the Eastern Mediterranean and Near East. , Lionel Gourichon [lionel.gourichon@cepam.cnrs.fr] suggested: Best, , Lionel Gourichon [lionel.gourichon@cepam.cnrs.fr] suggested: Lionel, Emmanuelle Vila suggested: The paper submitted by Harding et al. 2024, "The contribution of Mediterranean connectivity to morphological variability in Iron Age sheep of the Eastern Mediterranean", addresses the question of the movement of flocks by sea around the Mediterranean during the Iron Age. It examines this question by analyzing the morphology of sheep talus from two coastal sites and two inland sites in Israel and Cyprus. They hypothesize that the intra-site morphological variability of this bone must be more significant on the coastal sites than the inland sites due to the greater genetic diversity of sheep populations on the coast exposed to commercial networks. To highlight this variability, the authors use a geometric morphometric approach, which can better analyze the phylogenetic signal by isolating the variables of shape and size. Their results support the initial hypothesis, as the data show more significant variability at coastal sites. , Emmanuelle Vila suggested: The authors discuss the biases of their assemblages and are very cautious with their results. Except for one site (ABM), i) the number of sites and bones per site is minimal, and ii) the chronology is very broad, covering several centuries with the pooling of phases. These problems are common for faunal assemblages., Emmanuelle Vila suggested: The study supports the idea that maritime connectivity is related to morphological variability in the Iron Age. Later studies should verify the results by analyzing more Iron Age II assemblages., Emmanuelle Vila suggested: Despite the limited number of assemblages, this study merits attention. It explores a new approach using GMM to investigate the role of domestic animals in trade and commerce in the Mediterranean during the Iron Age, providing promising results., Emmanuelle Vila suggested: Please note that the following references cited in the text are missing from the bibliography: , Emmanuelle Vila suggested: Aubet, 2014 , Emmanuelle Vila suggested: Bartosiewicz and Lisk, 2018 , Emmanuelle Vila suggested: Briend and Humbert, 1980, Emmanuelle Vila suggested: Gambash, 2015, Emmanuelle Vila suggested: Gilboa, 2015, Emmanuelle Vila suggested: Gilboa et al., 2015, Emmanuelle Vila suggested: Gilboa and Sharon, 2017, Emmanuelle Vila suggested: Lehmann, 2001; 2021, Emmanuelle Vila suggested: Lehmann and Peilstocker, 2012, Emmanuelle Vila suggested: Nitschke et al., 2011, Emmanuelle Vila suggested: Panitz-Cohen et al., 2013; , Emmanuelle Vila suggested: Panitz-Cohen and Yahalom-Mack, 2019, Emmanuelle Vila suggested: Raban, 1981, Emmanuelle Vila suggested: Raban and Galili, 1985, Emmanuelle Vila suggested: Raban-Gerstel et al., 2008, Emmanuelle Vila suggested: Raveh and Kingsley, 1991, Emmanuelle Vila suggested: J. F. Rohlf, 2017 , Emmanuelle Vila suggested: Sapir-Hen et al., 2014, Emmanuelle Vila suggested: Stern et al., 1993a , Emmanuelle Vila suggested: Stern et al., 1993b , Emmanuelle Vila suggested: Wachsmann and Raveh, 1984, Emmanuelle Vila suggested: Yahalom-Mack et al., 2018, Emmanuelle Vila suggested: Yasur-Landau et al., 2018
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