A Contribution to the Morphometrical Study of Cattle in Colonial North America

Abstract

The importatiom of domestic animals during the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries in North America, and their subsequent adaptation to a new environment are important factors to consider when studying rural settlements established in New France along the Saint Lawrence river (Quebec, Canada). A zooarchaeological study of cattle bones dating from the French Régime (1600–1760) until the 1850s tends to support the idea that breeds of cattle and/or their geographical origins may be the main factor responsible for diachronic and synchronic morphological differences in North American cattle.