Dental mesowear is a widely used tool in archaeology and palaeontology for the reconstruction of the overall diet of mammals. This method is based on the characterisation of the height and relief of dental cusps, as they vary according to diet. The use of this method on domestic ungulates presents limitations because (1) currently, very few reference frameworks are available, and (2) the qualitative categorisation of cusps limits our observations and interpretations. In this work, we introduce the analysis of quantitative dental mesowear, based on the measurement of the angle and height of cusps from photographs. The use of this method on 26 present-day domestic sheep with two different feeding strategies showed very significant differences: the group with a dominant rangeland diet has high cusps with acute angles, and the group with a dominant grassland diet has lower cusps with obtuse angles. This method has been compared with the traditional technique of mesowear score, which consists in the qualitative categorisation of cusps into seven categories. However, the analysis showed that mesowear score is more prone to observer error than quantitative mesowear. In addition, quantitative mesowear better reflects the variability in dietary behaviours of extant sheep since observations are not limited into seven categories. To test quantitative mesowear in archaeological samples, we analysed caprine mesowear at two Iron Age sites (sixth-fifth centuries BC) from the northeast of the Iberian Peninsula: Empúries and Ullastret. The results show that caprids at the Ullastret site have a slightly more abrasive diet than at Empúries, which is consistent with data obtained from dental microwear in previous work. Overall, we show the potential of this technique, which can be combined with traditional techniques, to distinguish past caprine feeding strategies.

Dental mesowear 是考古学和古生物学中广泛使用的工具，用于重建哺乳动物的整体饮食。这种方法基于牙尖的高度和浮雕的特征，因为它们因饮食而异。在国内有蹄类动物上使用这种方法存在局限性，因为 (1) 目前，可用的参考框架很少，(2) 尖头的定性分类限制了我们的观察和解释。在这项工作中，我们基于对照片中牙尖的角度和高度的测量，介绍了定量牙科中观磨损的分析。对采用两种不同饲养策略的 26 只当今家养绵羊使用这种方法显示出非常显着的差异：以牧场为主的饮食组具有高尖角，草原饮食占主导地位的组具有较低的尖角和钝角。该方法与传统的中磨损评分技术进行了比较，后者包括将牙尖定性分类为七个类别。然而，分析表明中观磨损分数比定量中观磨损更容易出现观察者误差。此外，由于观察不限于七类，定量中穿能更好地反映现存绵羊饮食行为的可变性。为了测试考古样品中的定量中观磨损，我们分析了伊比利亚半岛东北部两个铁器时代遗址（公元前 6-5 世纪）的山羊中观磨损：Empúries 和 Ullastret。结果表明，Ullastret 站点的 caprids 的饮食比 Empúries 的略多，这与之前工作中从牙科微磨损中获得的数据一致。总的来说，我们展示了这种技术的潜力，它可以与传统技术相结合，以区分过去的山羊饲养策略。