Canidae volume bone mineral density values: an application to sites in western Canada

Abstract

We present volume bone mineral density values from five different canid species: domestic dog ( Canis familiaris), wolf ( Canis lupus), coyote ( Canis latrans), red fox ( Vulpes vulpes) and swift fox ( Vulpes velox). We use these density values to investigate Canidae remains from four archaeological sites in western Canada and show the importance of explicitly stating assumptions made about the original composition of the deposited faunal assemblage as this influences whether correlations are found between density and percent survivorship (%MAU).