Taphonomy of Animal Bones: Species, Sex, Age and Breed Variability of Sheep, Cattle and Pig Bone Density

By E. Ioannidou. 2003

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Abstract The results of an experiment conducted using photondensitometry to measure bone density are presented. The species examined are domestic and farmed wild pig ( Sus scrofa ), domestic cattle ( Bos taurus ) and domestic sheep ( Ovis aries ). Inter-taxonomic variability and intra-taxonomic differences related to sex, age and breed are discussed. A comparison of the sheep density data published by Lyman (1982) and the data obtained in this research is made. Variability was noticed not only at inter-specific level but and most importantly at intra-specific level too, a fact indicating that large samples of skeletons of the same species should be examined if reliable results are to be obtained. The results are applied to archaeological materials from Britain putting particular emphasis on applying the two sets of sheep density data to the same assemblages and using separate density models for mature and immature pig specimens.

Subfields: Anthropology, Archeology, Paleontology

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/c506967525fc63bf30c3b92cf2963d76d2de5809