ON THE SOURCES OF STUDIES OF DOMESTIC-ANI MAL BREEDS IN FRANCE BEFORETHE 19TH-CENTURY

The archaeozoologist would like to compare his own rough osteological data to acurate zootechnical and ethnological-references. However, the se are rare and poor, and they do not go back before the XVIIIth centu ry. Nevertheless, we may consider that the breeds described then had b een present for a long time, and that they were the basis for the zoot echnical improvements which took place during the XIXth century. The r ecurrent method, consisting in going from ancient descriptions up to s till older breeds or types, seems to be the best to follow.