[Taxonomy of European and Persian fallow deer on the basis of bone remains in Turkey].

The site of Sirkeli Höyük is located on the Cukurova-Plain in southern Turkey upon the river Ceyhan. During the excavation bones were recovered from strata that date from the Chalkolithikum (4th millenium B.C.) to Hellenistic-Roman Times (2nd/1st century B.C.). The analysis of these remains evaluates the nutritional habits of the Höyük inhabitants and the reconstruction of the former landscape. Apparently it consisted of a vast steppe with gallery forests along the rivers and fens. The identification of the deer bones posed considerable problems, because the site is located in the region, where the distribution areas of European and Persian Fallow Deer overlap. Up to now these cervides were usually regarded as two different species. Antler morphology as well as size variation in the bones of prehistoric Fallow Deer suggest a closer relationship between the two forms, for which a subspecific status is proposed.