The 10,000-year biocultural history of fallow deer and its implications for conservation policy.

Over the last 10,000 y, humans have manipulated fallow deer populations with varying outcomes. Persian fallow deer (Dama mesopotamica) are now endangered. European fallow deer (Dama dama) are globally widespread and are simultaneously considered wild, domestic, endangered, invasive and are even the national animal of Barbuda and Antigua. Despite their close association with people, there is no consensus regarding their natural ranges or the timing and circumstances of their human-mediated translocations and extirpations. Our mitochondrial analyses of modern and archaeological specimens revealed two distinct clades of European fallow deer present in Anatolia and the Balkans. Zooarchaeological evidence suggests these regions were their sole glacial refugia. By combining biomolecular analyses with archaeological and textual evidence, we chart the declining distribution of Persian fallow deer and demonstrate that humans repeatedly translocated European fallow deer, sourced from the most geographically distant populations. Deer taken to Neolithic Chios and Rhodes derived not from nearby Anatolia, but from the Balkans. Though fallow deer were translocated throughout the Mediterranean as part of their association with the Greco-Roman goddesses Artemis and Diana, deer taken to Roman Mallorca were not locally available Dama dama, but Dama mesopotamica. Romans also initially introduced fallow deer to Northern Europe but the species became extinct and was reintroduced in the medieval period, this time from Anatolia. European colonial powers then transported deer populations across the globe. The biocultural histories of fallow deer challenge preconceptions about the divisions between wild and domestic species and provide information that should underpin modern management strategies.

Elucidating the sustainability of 700 y of Inuvialuit beluga whale hunting in the Mackenzie River Delta, Northwest Territories, Canada.

Beluga whales play a critical role in the subsistence economies and cultural heritage of Indigenous communities across the Arctic, yet the effects of Indigenous hunting on beluga whales remain unknown. Here, we integrate paleogenomics, genetic simulations, and stable δ13C and δ15N isotope analysis to investigate 700 y of beluga subsistence hunting in the Mackenzie Delta area of northwestern Canada. Genetic identification of the zooarchaeological remains, which is based on radiocarbon dating, span three time periods (1290 to 1440 CE; 1450 to 1650 CE; 1800 to 1870 CE), indicates shifts across time in the sex ratio of the harvested belugas. The equal number of females and males harvested in 1450 to 1650 CE versus more males harvested in the two other time periods may reflect changes in hunting practices or temporal shifts in beluga availability. We find temporal shifts and sex-based differences in δ13C of the harvested belugas across time, suggesting historical adaptability in the foraging ecology of the whales. We uncovered distinct mitochondrial diversity unique to the Mackenzie Delta belugas, but found no changes in nuclear genomic diversity nor any substructuring across time. Our findings indicate the genomic stability and continuity of the Mackenzie Delta beluga population across the 700 y surveyed, indicating the impact of Inuvialuit subsistence harvests on the genetic diversity of contemporary beluga individuals has been negligible.

No sustained increase in zooarchaeological evidence for carnivory after the appearance of Homo erectus.

The appearance of Homo erectus shortly after 2.0 Ma is widely considered a turning point in human dietary evolution, with increased consumption of animal tissues driving the evolution of larger brain and body size and a reorganization of the gut. An increase in the size and number of zooarchaeological assemblages after the appearance of H. erectus is often offered as a central piece of archaeological evidence for increased carnivory in this species, but this characterization has yet to be subject to detailed scrutiny. Any widespread dietary shift leading to the acquisition of key traits in H. erectus should be persistent in the zooarchaeological record through time and can only be convincingly demonstrated by a broad-scale analysis that transcends individual sites or localities. Here, we present a quantitative synthesis of the zooarchaeological record of eastern Africa from 2.6 to 1.2 Ma. We show that several proxies for the prevalence of hominin carnivory are all strongly related to how well the fossil record has been sampled, which constrains the zooarchaeological visibility of hominin carnivory. When correcting for sampling effort, there is no sustained increase in the amount of evidence for hominin carnivory between 2.6 and 1.2 Ma. Our observations undercut evolutionary narratives linking anatomical and behavioral traits to increased meat consumption in H. erectus, suggesting that other factors are likely responsible for the appearance of its human-like traits.

A primer for ZooMS applications in archaeology.

Collagen peptide mass fingerprinting by matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight (MALDI-TOF) mass spectrometry, also known as zooarchaeology by mass spectrometry (ZooMS), is a rapidly growing analytical technique in the fields of archaeology, ecology, and cultural heritage. Minimally destructive and cost effective, ZooMS enables rapid taxonomic identification of large bone assemblages, cultural heritage objects, and other organic materials of animal origin. As its importance grows as both a research and a conservation tool, it is critical to ensure that its expanding body of users understands its fundamental principles, strengths, and limitations. Here, we outline the basic functionality of ZooMS and provide guidance on interpreting collagen spectra from archaeological bones. We further examine the growing potential of applying ZooMS to nonmammalian assemblages, discuss available options for minimally and nondestructive analyses, and explore the potential for peptide mass fingerprinting to be expanded to noncollagenous proteins. We describe the current limitations of the method regarding accessibility, and we propose solutions for the future. Finally, we review the explosive growth of ZooMS over the past decade and highlight the remarkably diverse applications for which the technique is suited.

An endemic pathway to sheep and goat domestication at Asikli Höyük (Central Anatolia, Turkey).

Sheep and goats (caprines) were domesticated in Southwest Asia in the early Holocene, but how and in how many places remain open questions. This study investigates the initial conditions and trajectory of caprine domestication at Asikli Höyük, which preserves an unusually high-resolution record of the first 1,000 y of Neolithic existence in Central Anatolia. Our comparative analysis of caprine age and sex structures and related evidence reveals a local domestication process that began around 8400 cal BC. Caprine management at Asikli segued through three viable systems. The earliest mode was embedded within a broad-spectrum foraging economy and directed to live meat storage on a small scale. This was essentially a "catch-and-grow" strategy that involved seasonal capture of wild lambs and kids from the surrounding highlands and raising them several months prior to slaughter within the settlement. The second mode paired modest levels of caprine reproduction on site with continued recruitment of wild infants. The third mode shows the hallmarks of a large-scale herding economy based on a large, reproductively viable captive population but oddly directed to harvesting adult animals, contra to most later Neolithic practices. Wild infant capture likely continued at a low level. The transitions were gradual but, with time, gave rise to early domesticated forms and monumental differences in human labor organization, settlement layout, and waste accumulation. Asikli was an independent center of caprine domestication and thus supports the multiple origins evolutionary model.

The fauna from Mughr el-Hamamah, Jordan: Insights on human hunting behavior during the Early Upper Paleolithic.

As a corridor for population movement out of Africa, the southern Levant is a natural laboratory for research exploring the dynamics of the Middle-to-Upper Paleolithic transition. Yet, the number of well-preserved sites dating to the initial millennia of the Early Upper Paleolithic (EUP; ∼45-30 ka) remains limited, restricting the resolution at which we can study the biocultural and techno-typological changes evidenced across the transition. With EUP deposits dating to 45-39 ka cal BP, Mughr el-Hamamah, Jordan, offers a key opportunity to expand our understanding of EUP lifeways in the southern Levant. Mughr el-Hamamah is particularly noteworthy for its large faunal assemblage, representing the first such assemblage from the Jordan Valley. In this paper, we present results from taxonomic and taphonomic analyses of the EUP fauna from Mughr el-Hamamah. Given broader debates about shifts in human subsistence across the Middle-to-Upper Paleolithic transition, we also assess evidence for subsistence intensification, focusing especially on the exploitation of gazelle and the use of small game. Taphonomic data suggest that the fauna was primarily accumulated by human activity. Ungulates dominate the assemblage; gazelle (Gazella sp.) is the most common taxa, followed by fallow deer (Dama mesopotamica) and goat (Capra sp.). Among the gazelle, juveniles account for roughly one-third of the sample. While the focus on gazelle and the frequency of juveniles are consistent with broader regional trends, evidence for the regular exploitation of marrow from gazelle phalanges suggests that the EUP occupants of Mughr el-Hamamah processed gazelle carcasses quite intensively. Yet, the overall degree of dietary intensification appears low-small game is rare and evidence for human capture of this game is more equivocal. As a whole, our results support a growing body of data showing gradual shifts in animal exploitation strategies across the Middle-to-Upper Paleolithic transition in the southern Levant.

Evidence of artefacts made of giant sloth bones in central Brazil around the last glacial maximum.

The peopling of the Americas and human interaction with the Pleistocene megafauna in South America remain hotly debated. The Santa Elina rock shelter in Central Brazil shows evidence of successive human settlements from around the last glacial maximum (LGM) to the Early Holocene. Two Pleistocene archaeological layers include rich lithic industry associated with remains of the extinct giant ground sloth Glossotherium phoenesis. The remains include thousands of osteoderms (i.e. dermal bones), three of which were human-modified. In this study, we perform a traceological analysis of these artefacts by optical microscopy, non-destructive scanning electron microscopy, UV/visible photoluminescence and synchrotron-based microtomography. We also describe the spatial association between the giant sloth bone remains and stone tools and provide a Bayesian age model that confirms the timing of this association in two time horizons of the Pleistocene in Santa Elina. The conclusion from our traceological study is that the three giant sloth osteoderms were intentionally modified into artefacts before fossilization of the bones. This provides additional evidence for the contemporaneity of humans and megafauna, and for the human manufacturing of personal artefacts on bone remains of ground sloths, around the LGM in Central Brazil.

Geometric morphometric analysis of Pleuronectiformes vertebrae: A new tool to identify archaeological fish remains?

Flatfish (Pleuronectiformes) vertebrae are difficult to identify to species due to the lack of diagnostic features. This has resulted in a lack of understanding of the species abundances across archaeological sites, hindering interpretations of historical fisheries in the North Sea area. We use a new approach, utilising a combined 2D landmark-based geometric morphometric analysis as an objective and non-destructive method for species identification of flatfish vertebrae from the North Sea area. Modern specimens were used as a reference to describe the morphological variation between taxa using principal component analysis (PCA) and to trial an automated classification using linear discriminant analysis. Although there is limited distinction between taxa using PCAs, the classification shows high accuracies, indicating that flatfish species identifications using geometric morphometrics are possible. Bone samples (n = 105) from two archaeological sites in the United Kingdom and France were analysed using this approach and their identifications were verified using collagen peptide mass fingerprinting. The success rate of species identification was usually less than 50%, indicating that this technique has limited applicability due to preservation/fragmentation of archaeological fish bone. Nonetheless, this could prove a valuable tool for modern and non-fragmented samples. Furthermore, the technique applied in this study can be easily adapted to work on other landmark datasets.

Ecospaces of the Middle to Upper Paleolithic transition: The archaeofaunal record of the Iberian Peninsula.

The rich archaeofaunal record of Iberia provides a means of exploring potential differences between Neanderthal and anatomically modern human interactions with the environment. In this article, we present an analysis of Iberian archaeofaunas dating between 60 and 30 ka to explore if, how, and why the faunal ecospaces of Neanderthals and anatomically modern humans differed. We test for impacts of chronology (as a proxy for Neanderthal and anatomically modern human exploitation) and environmental regionalization (using bioclimatic regions) on archaeofaunal composition, using a combination of cluster (unweighted pair-group method using arithmetic averages) and nonmetric multidimensional scaling. Our chronological analysis finds no significant compositional difference between Neanderthal and anatomically modern mammalian faunal assemblages; however, bioclimatic regionalization is stronger in anatomically modern human-affiliated assemblages than in Neanderthal ones, a finding that may indicate a difference in site occupation duration or foraging mobility between Neanderthals and anatomically modern humans.

Anthropogenic predictors of varying Holocene occurrence for Europe's large mammal fauna.

Understanding how species respond to different anthropogenic pressures is essential for conservation planning. The archaeological record has great potential to inform extinction risk assessment by providing evidence on past human-caused biodiversity loss, but identifying specific drivers of past declines from environmental archives has proved challenging. We used 17 684 Holocene zooarchaeological records for 15 European large mammal species together with data on past environmental conditions and anthropogenic activities across Europe, to assess the ability of environmental archives to determine the relative importance of different human pressures in shaping faunal distributions through time. Site occupancy probability showed differing significant relationships with environmental covariates for all species, and nine species also showed significant relationships with anthropogenic covariates (human population density, % cropland, % grazing land). Across-species differences in negative relationships with covariates provide ecological insights for understanding extinction dynamics: some mammals (red deer, aurochs, wolf, wildcat, lynx, pine marten and beech marten) were more vulnerable to past human-environmental interactions, and differing single and synergistic anthropogenic factors influenced likelihood of past occurrence across species. Our results provide new evidence for pre-industrial population fragmentation and depletion in European mammals, and demonstrate the usefulness of historical baselines for understanding species' varying long-term sensitivity to multiple threats.

Solving the two-decades-old murder case through joint application of ZooMS and ancient DNA approaches.

Bones are one of the most common biological types of evidence in forensic cases. Discriminating human bones from irrelevant species is important for the identification of victims; however, the highly degraded bones could be undiagnostic morphologically and difficult to analyze with standard DNA profiling approaches. The same challenge also exists in archaeological studies. Here, we present an initial study of an analytical strategy that involves zooarchaeology by mass spectrometry (ZooMS) and ancient DNA methods. Through the combined strategy, we managed to identify the only biological evidence of a two-decades-old murder case - a small piece of human bone out of 19 bone fragments - and confirmed the kinship between the victim and the putative parents through joint application of next-generation sequencing (NGS) and Sanger sequencing methods. ZooMS effectively screened out the target human bone while ancient DNA methods improve the DNA yields. The combined strategy in this case outperforms the standard DNA profiling approach with shorter time, less cost, as well as higher reliability for the genetic identification results. HIGHLIGHTS: • The first application of zooarchaeology by mass spectrometry technique in the forensic case for screening out human bones from bone fragment mixtures. • Application of ancient DNA technique to recover the highly degraded DNA sequence from the challenging sample that failed standard DNA profiling approaches. • A fast, sensitive, and low-cost strategy that combines the strengths of protein analysis and DNA analysis for kinship identification in forensic research.

Early evidence for mounted horseback riding in northwest China.

Horseback riding was a transformative force in the ancient world, prompting radical shifts in human mobility, warfare, trade, and interaction. In China, domestic horses laid the foundation for trade, communication, and state infrastructure along the ancient Silk Road, while also stimulating key military, social, and political changes in Chinese society. Nonetheless, the emergence and adoption of mounted horseback riding in China is still poorly understood, particularly due to a lack of direct archaeological data. Here we present a detailed osteological study of eight horse skeletons dated to ca. 350 BCE from the sites of Shirenzigou and Xigou in Xinjiang, northwest China, prior to the formalization of Silk Road trade across this key region. Our analyses reveal characteristic osteological changes associated with equestrian practices on all specimens. Alongside other relevant archaeological evidence, these data provide direct evidence for mounted horseback riding, horse equipment, and mounted archery in northwest China by the late first millennium BCE. Most importantly, our results suggest that this region may have played a crucial role in the spread of equestrian technologies from the Eurasian interior to the settled civilizations of early China, where horses facilitated the rise of the first united Chinese empires and the emergence of transcontinental trade networks.

Ancient DNA evidence for the ecological globalization of cod fishing in medieval and post-medieval Europe.

Understanding the historical emergence and growth of long-range fisheries can provide fundamental insights into the timing of ecological impacts and the development of coastal communities during the last millennium. Whole-genome sequencing approaches can improve such understanding by determining the origin of archaeological fish specimens that may have been obtained from historic trade or distant water. Here, we used genome-wide data to individually infer the biological source of 37 ancient Atlantic cod specimens (ca 1050-1950 CE) from England and Spain. Our findings provide novel genetic evidence that eleventh- to twelfth-century specimens from London were predominantly obtained from nearby populations, while thirteenth- to fourteenth-century specimens were derived from distant sources. Our results further suggest that Icelandic cod was indeed exported to London earlier than previously reported. Our observations confirm the chronology and geography of the trans-Atlantic cod trade from Newfoundland to Spain starting by the early sixteenth century. Our findings demonstrate the utility of whole-genome sequencing and ancient DNA approaches to describe the globalization of marine fisheries and increase our understanding regarding the extent of the North Atlantic fish trade and long-range fisheries in medieval and early modern times.

Early Pleistocene hominin subsistence behaviors in South Africa: Evidence from the hominin-bearing deposit of Cooper's D (Bloubank Valley, South Africa).

Evidence of the consumption of meat through hunting or scavenging by Early Pleistocene hominins is scarce, particularly in South Africa. Moreover, the interpretations of taphonomic evidence are subject to an important discussion commonly called the 'hunting-vs-scavenging debate.' Until today, only the Swartkrans Members 1-3 site has yielded a butchered bone assemblage large enough to permit reconstruction of carcass acquisition strategies by Early Pleistocene hominins in South Africa. This leaves an information gap between 1.4 and 1.0 Ma. Here, we provide the first evidence of meat consumption by hominins during this gap, based on the zooarchaeological study of the large mammal bone assemblage recovered from the Cooper's D site, South Africa. Based on skeletal part representation, our results show density-mediated attrition of bovid bones due to predepositional and postdepositional destruction. We argue that this attrition is the result of both abiotic (i.e., decalcification) and biotic (i.e., carnivore ravaging) processes. Bovid mortality profiles point out the involvement of ambush predators such as large felids. Bone surface modifications also indicate that the assemblage has been accumulated mostly by carnivores but with some hominin involvement as well. We observe all the stages of animal carcass processing (skinning, disarticulation, defleshing, marrow extraction) as well as the exploitation of a diversity of prey size classes at both Swartkrans Members 1-3 and Cooper's D. Thus, our study shows the importance of the Cooper's D bone assemblage for understanding Early Pleistocene hominin subsistence behaviors. Moreover, this article highlights the need for including long bone flake specimens in the analysis of large bone assemblages from South African caves to better understand the Early Pleistocene hominin bone damage record.

Seasonality and Oldowan behavioral variability in East Africa.

The extent, nature, and temporality of early hominin food procurement strategies have been subject to extensive debate. In this article, we examine evidence for the seasonal scheduling of resource procurement and technological investment in the Oldowan, starting with an evaluation of the seasonal signature of underground storage organs, freshwater resources, and terrestrial animal resources in extant primates and modern human hunter-gatherer populations. Subsequently, we use the mortality profiles, taxonomic composition, and taphonomy of the bovid assemblages at Kanjera South (Homa Peninsula, Kenya) and FLK-Zinj (Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania) to illustrate the behavioral flexibility of Oldowan hominins, who were targeting different seasonally vulnerable demographics. In terms of the lithic assemblages, the specific opportunities and constraints afforded by dry season subsistence at FLK-Zinj may have disincentivized lithic investment, resulting in a more expedient toolkit for fast and effective carcass processing. This may have been reinforced by raw material site provisioning during a relatively prolonged seasonal occupation, reducing pressures on the reduction and curation of lithic implements. In contrast, wet season plant abundance would have offered a predictable set of high-quality resources associated with low levels of competition and reduced search times, in the context of perhaps greater seasonal mobility and consequently shorter occupations. These factors appear to have fostered technological investment to reduce resource handling costs at Kanjera South, facilitated by more consistent net returns and enhanced planning of lithic deployment throughout the landscape. We subsequently discuss the seasonality of freshwater resources in Oldowan procurement strategies, focusing on FwJj20 (Koobi Fora, Kenya). Although more analytical studies with representative sample sizes are needed, we argue that interassemblage differences evidence the ability of Oldowan hominins to adapt to seasonal constraints and opportunities in resource exploitation.

South Brazil pre-colonial sharks: Insights into biodiversity and species distributions.

South Brazil's archaeological coastal sites (shellmounds and middens) show a diverse collection of shark faunal remains, some of which belong to species considered rare nowadays for the region. However, shark archaeological remains identification in this region has been historically insufficient and prone to mistakes. This study identified shark fauna and estimated body size (total length) present at two archaeological sites: Rio do Meio (1220-977 Cal B.P.) and Enseada II (4286-3783 Cal B.P.), located in Santa Catarina, South of Brazil. Here, 1600 teeth and 3588 vertebrae were analysed and identified. We showed higher historical shark species richness than previously reported for South Brazil in historical and archaeological studies. In total, we identified at least 15 species of sharks (11 species and four identifications at the genus level). The presence of juvenile shark remains adds to the evidence of pre-colonial fishing impacts in local shark populations. The consistent recovery of adults and juveniles of Carcharias taurus points to a possible nursery area on the mouth of Babitonga bay. The high teeth frequency (43%) of C. taurus suggests the South Brazil coastline was once home to abundant populations of this critically endangered species. Furthermore, we discuss the presence of rare species nowadays, suggesting a possible historical residency for adult populations of Carcharodon carcharias based on the presence of juveniles and young-of-the-year on archaeological sites. The occurrence of Negaprion brevirostris, a tropical species, might have been facilitated by ocean current variations.

Subsistence behavior during the Initial Upper Paleolithic in Europe: Site use, dietary practice, and carnivore exploitation at Bacho Kiro Cave (Bulgaria).

The behavioral dynamics underlying the expansion of Homo sapiens into Europe remains a crucial topic in human evolution. Owing to poor bone preservation, past studies have strongly focused on the Initial Upper Paleolithic (IUP) stone tool record. Recent excavations and extensive radiocarbon dating at Bacho Kiro Cave (Bulgaria) pushed back the arrival of IUP H. sapiens into Europe to ca. 45,000 years ago. This site has exceptional bone preservation, and we present the study of 7431 faunal remains from across two IUP layers (I and J) and one Middle Paleolithic layer (K). We identified a shift in site use and occupation intensity through time, marked by increased find density and human modifications in Layer I. Alongside a decrease in carnivore presence and seasonality data demonstrating human presence in all seasons, this indicates a more frequent or prolonged occupation of the site by IUP groups. Contrarily, the dietary focus across the IUP and Middle Paleolithic layers is similar, centered on the exploitation of species from a range of habitats including Bos/Bison, Cervidae, Equidae, and Caprinae. While body parts of large herbivores were selectively transported into the site, the bear remains suggest that these animals died in the cave itself. A distinct aspect of the IUP occupation is an increase in carnivore remains with human modifications, including these cave bears but also smaller taxa (e.g., Canis lupus, Vulpes vulpes). This can be correlated with their exploitation for pendants, and potentially for skins and furs. At a broader scale, we identified similarities in subsistence behavior across IUP sites in Europe and western Asia. It appears that the first IUP occupations were less intense with find densities and human modifications increasing in succeeding IUP layers. Moreover, the exploitation of small game appears to be limited across IUP sites, while carnivore exploitation seems a recurrent strategy.

Using niche construction theory to generate testable foraging hypotheses at Liang Bua.

Niche construction theory (NCT) has emerged as a promising theoretical tool for interpreting zooarchaeological material. However, its juxtaposition against more established frameworks like optimal foraging theory (OFT) has raised important criticism around the testability of NCT for interpreting hominin foraging behavior. Here, we present an optimization foraging model with NCT features designed to consider the destructive realities of the archaeological record after providing a brief review of OFT and NCT. Our model was designed to consider a foragers decision to exploit an environment given predation risk, mortality, and payoff ratios between different ecologies, like more-open or more-forested environments. We then discuss how the model can be used with zooarchaeological data for inferring environmental exploitation by a primitive hominin, Homo floresiensis, from the island of Flores in Southeast Asia. Our example demonstrates that NCT can be used in combination with OFT principles to generate testable foraging hypotheses suitable for zooarchaeological research.

Earliest isotopic evidence in the Maya region for animal management and long-distance trade at the site of Ceibal, Guatemala.

This study uses a multiisotope (carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, and strontium) approach to examine early animal management in the Maya region. An analysis of faunal specimens across almost 2,000 years (1000 BC to AD 950) at the site of Ceibal, Guatemala, reveals the earliest evidence for live-traded dogs and possible captive-reared taxa in the Americas. These animals may have been procured for ceremonial functions based on their location in the monumental site core, suggesting that animal management and trade began in the Maya area to promote special events, activities that were critical in the development of state society. Isotopic evidence for animal captivity at Ceibal reveals that animal management played a greater role in Maya communities than previously believed.

Archaeological mitogenomes illuminate the historical ecology of sea otters (Enhydra lutris) and the viability of reintroduction.

Genetic analyses are an important contribution to wildlife reintroductions, particularly in the modern context of extirpations and ecological destruction. To address the complex historical ecology of the sea otter (Enhydra lutris) and its failed 1970s reintroduction to coastal Oregon, we compared mitochondrial genomes of pre-extirpation Oregon sea otters to extant and historical populations across the range. We sequenced, to our knowledge, the first complete ancient mitogenomes from archaeological Oregon sea otter dentine and historical sea otter dental calculus. Archaeological Oregon sea otters (n = 20) represent 10 haplotypes, which cluster with haplotypes from Alaska, Washington and British Columbia, and exhibit a clear division from California haplotypes. Our results suggest that extant northern populations are appropriate for future reintroduction efforts. This project demonstrates the feasibility of mitogenome capture and sequencing from non-human dental calculus and the diverse applications of ancient DNA analyses to pressing ecological and conservation topics and the management of at-risk/extirpated species.