Teeth are thought to be less affected than post-cranial elements by factors such as age, region, sex, and post-Pleistocene climate change, making changes in tooth size a better gage of domestication-induced morphological change in Sus scrofa. Rigorous empirical evaluation of this assumption, however, has been lacking. Here we examine the impact of multiple factors on molar size in an assemblage of modern wild boar from Southwest Asia, as well as a large assemblage of ancient S. scrofa from an archaeological site in southeastern Turkey dated to 11,600 cal. BP. We find that age related interstitial wear has a profound impact on molar lengths. Comparisons of length measurements of S. scrofa molars should only be made if one strictly controls for the state of wear, as well as the stage of crown development and eruption in third molars. Breadth measurements, on the other hand, are little affected by progressive wear and, as a result, are preferable to length measurements in the analysis of molar size in S. scrofa. We also evaluate the impact of logarithm size index (LSI) scaling on molar dimensions. Molar lengths are subject to a number of factors that distort meaningful patterning rendering LSI values of length dimensions of little utility in the evaluation of molar size in S. scrofa. With the exception of the upper first molar, LSI values of molar breadths appear to both capture and amplify patterns seen among unconverted measurements of individual teeth. Our evaluation also confirms the assumption that the size of post-cranial elements is more profoundly affected than molars by factors such as region and Post-Pleistocene climate change. While sexual dimorphism also has a greater impact on the size of post-crania than on molars, the degree of sexual dimorphism in molar breadths, as well as in M3 lengths, is still substantial and must be taken into account in any study of S. scrofa molar size. Before interpreting downward shifts in molar size as an indicator of domestic status, archaeozoologists need to first to consider the possible impact of differences in the proportions of males and females in archaeological assemblages. We conclude with a number of recommendations for new protocols for the analysis of S. scrofa dental metrics. We also offer observations about the impacts of factors like region, sex, and change over time on the size of the molars of this species that may open up new areas of research.

人们认为牙齿受年龄，区域，性别和更新世后气候变化等因素的影响比颅后因素少，因此使牙齿大小的变化成为驯化诱导的Sus scrofa形态变化的一个更好的衡量标准。但是，对此假设缺乏严格的经验评估。在这里，我们研究了多种因素对来自西南亚的现代野猪群以及来自土耳其东南部考古遗址的大型古鳄科（S. scrofa）的大型组合的磨牙大小的影响，该物种可追溯到11,600 cal。BP。我们发现与年龄相关的间隙磨损对磨牙长度有深远影响。鳞球菌长度测量的比较仅在严格控制磨牙的磨损状态以及第三磨牙的冠形成和萌发阶段的情况下，才可以制作磨牙。另一方面，宽度测量几乎不受渐进磨损的影响，因此，在分析S. scrofa中的摩尔大小时，宽度测量优于长度测量。我们还评估了对数尺寸指数（LSI）缩放对摩尔尺寸的影响。摩尔长度受多种因素影响，这些因素会使有意义的构图变形，从而使长度尺寸的LSI值在S. scrofa的臼齿大小评估中没有多大用处。。除了第一磨牙的上方，磨牙宽度的LSI值似乎可以捕获和放大在未转换的单个牙齿测量结果中看到的模式。我们的评估还证实了这样的假设，即区域和后更新世气候变化等因素对后颅骨元素的影响比对臼齿的影响更大。虽然性二态性对后颅骨的大小的影响比对臼齿的影响大，但在臼齿宽度以及M3长度上性二态性的程度仍然很重要，在任何S的研究中都必须考虑到。 cro摩尔大小。在将臼齿大小的向下变化解释为家庭状况的指标之前，考古学家需要首先考虑考古组合中男女比例的差异可能产生的影响。最后，我们为S. scrofa牙科指标分析的新协议提供了许多建议。我们还提供有关区域，性别和随时间变化的因素对该物种的臼齿大小的影响的观察结果，这可能会开拓新的研究领域。