First asserted record of the house mouse in Morocco: application of a multidisciplinary approach to the site of Rirha (5th − 1st c. BC)
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3 juin 2024
- ISIDORE Id: 10670/1.2e1311...
- hal: hal-04599381
- doi: 10.1007/s12520-024-02002-8
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info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/doi/10.1007/s12520-024-02002-8
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Mots-clés
Mus musculus domesticus House mouse Biogeographical history Neolithic archaeology Neolithic Settlement Patterns Rirha Mauretanian time Mouse mus musculus Mouse and human Mouse behavior patterns Souris Mus musculus Hybridization behavior Domestication of animals Domestication de l'animal -bio]/Animal biology/Vertebrate ZoologySujets proches
Mouse House mice Mus musculus House mouseCiter ce document
Ángel Domínguez-García et al., « First asserted record of the house mouse in Morocco: application of a multidisciplinary approach to the site of Rirha (5th − 1st c. BC) », HALSHS : archive ouverte en Sciences de l’Homme et de la Société, ID : 10.1007/s12520-024-02002-8
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Résumé
The biogeographic and demographic history of the house mouse, Mus musculus domesticus, has been closely linked to human history since pre-Neolithic times – this species first appeared in the Near East and subsequently dispersed westward with humans into regions with local Mus species. However, if this issue is now well known for the eastern Mediterranean, data are still lacking for the western Mediterranean, and especially for north-western Africa. In the present study, we combine morphological, geometric morphometric and genetic analyses to Mus remains from the Moroccan site of Rirha, dating to the Mauretanian period (5th to 1st century BC). Thanks to this multidisciplinary approach, we were able to confirm the first asserted record of the house mouse in a well-established archaeological context in the Maghreb. The morphometric and genetic results are largely congruent, with a single discrepancy observed for one specimen, which may be linked to possible hybridization between M. m. domesticus and M. spretus species. Further analyses are required on material from other North African sites dating to earlier chrono-cultural periods to better document the oldest appearance and the dispersal of the house mouse in the south-western Mediterranean through time.
