To: Elizabeth Terese Newman,
This reference containing a limited discussion of a possible ritual
significance of house mouse remains from Turkey might be relevant:
Brothwell, D. 1981. The Pleistocene and Holocene archaeology of the house
mouse and related species. In R.J. Berry (ed.), Biology of the House Mouse.
London, Academic Press: 1-13.
Also, shrews are known to have been of ritual significance in ancient Egypt
and possibly also partially commensal. They are also ubiquitous in barn owl
pellets in Israel for example and in their derived archaefaunal assemblages
especially in cave sites.
It is of course difficult to determine the depositional origins of such
remains without taphonomic analysis. You might want to look at skeletal
element representation patterns and epiphysial fusion and possibly tooth wear
to determine the age distribution.
Some other relevant references are availabele in case you would be interested.
Good luck,
Lior Weissbrod
PhD student
Department of Anthropology,
Washington University in St.Louis,
Campus Box 1114
St. Louis, MO 63130
e-mail: [log in to unmask]
Elizabeth Terese Newman wrote:
> Hi,
>
> I am a PhD student in Mesoamerican archeaology, and am working with a
> friend of mine on a term project on the Caracol at Chichen Izta in
> Yucatan, Mexico. The 1935 report from the original excavations at the
> Caracol state in passing that the archaeologists found a chache
> underneath the floor containing the bones of 41 shrews (Cryptotis
> mayensis), identified by Glover M. Allen at the Museum of Comparative
> Zoology at Harvard University. The two of us are wondering if any of
> you know of other, similar caches, or have any ideas on why shrews?
> Any thoughts you have on this would be most welcome. The two of us
> have been puzzling over this for months!
>
> Thanks very much!
>
> Elizabeth Terese Newman
> Department of Anthropology
> Yale University
> [log in to unmask]
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