Osteology of the Kuri Maori: The prehistoric dog of New Zealand

This paper describes osteometric dimensions and anatomical features of the Polynesian dog of New Zealand (kuri) and phenotype reconstruction is made using regression formulae. Compared to other prehistoric dog populations, kuri were found to exhibit low to moderate levels of morphological variation. Studies of ancient dog remains have tended to focus on the metric variation found in cranial remains, and post-cranial elements are not reported. It is suggested that a holistic approach, incorporating anatomical and osteometric data from cranial and appendicular remains, will provide better archaeological data on which to base population comparisons. (C) 1997 Academic Press Limited.