Technical note: Taxonomic identification of petrosal bone morphology

Identification of petrosal bones to taxon is important due to the exceptionally well preserved quantity of endogenous DNA found in them. Here we present practical descriptive criteria to allow reliable differentiation of the petrosal bones of some of the most common domestic and wild mammalian taxa of the Old World. This should simplify the identification and documentation of the bone during initial sorting for analysis and help separately curate specimens for taxon-specific ancient DNA studies.