Archaeological eggshell is a commonly recorded, yet underutilized material for understanding human-environment interaction in the past. In addition to the use of archaeological eggshell as a paleoenvironmental proxy, archaeologists have innovated important new approaches to the study of archaeological avian eggshell, including the application of scanning electron microscopy (SEM) for the characterization of eggshell microstructures. These studies have demonstrated the importance of eggshell for understanding how ancient communities exploited and interacted with avifauna. In this paper, we build on these methodological advances by testing new approaches to image avian eggshell and characterizing complex eggshell surface microstructures. We demonstrate the utility of capturing high-resolution 3-dimensional (3D) eggshell surfaces using advanced imaging modalities (optical profilometry, scanning electron microscopy, digital microscopy, computed tomography), to model changes in eggshell microstructures that are correlated with ontogeny. Using the Common Ostrich (Struthio camelus) as our model system, we introduce a statistical modeling approach to predict the ontogenetic age of ratite eggshell using roughness measurements of 3D features. Successful prediction of ontogenetic age has great potential to reveal archaeological patterns of human exploitation of avian eggs. These findings further illustrate the importance of archaeological eggshell for investigating human-environment interactions, emphasizing the need for archaeologists to use field methods (hand/trowel excavation and fine mesh screen) that facilitate eggshell recovery.

考古蛋壳是一种普遍记录但未充分利用的材料，用于了解过去的人类与环境的相互作用。除了使用考古蛋壳作为古环境代理之外，考古学家还创新了重要的新方法来研究考古鸟类蛋壳，包括应用扫描电子显微镜 (SEM) 来表征蛋壳微观结构。这些研究证明了蛋壳对于了解古代社区如何利用鸟类并与之互动的重要性。在本文中，我们通过测试对禽蛋壳成像和表征复杂蛋壳表面微结构的新方法，在这些方法学上的进步的基础上进一步发展。我们展示了使用先进的成像方式（光学轮廓测定法、扫描电子显微镜、数字显微镜、计算机断层扫描）捕捉高分辨率 3 维 (3D) 蛋壳表面的效用，以模拟与个体发育相关的蛋壳微结构的变化。使用普通鸵鸟 (Struthio camelus ) 作为我们的模型系统，我们引入了一种统计建模方法，使用 3D 特征的粗糙度测量来预测平胸蛋壳的个体发育年龄。成功预测个体发育年龄具有揭示人类利用禽蛋的考古模式的巨大潜力。这些发现进一步说明了考古蛋壳对于研究人类与环境相互作用的重要性，强调考古学家需要使用现场方法（手/镘刀挖掘和细网筛）来促进蛋壳恢复。