Hi,
I was just wondering if anyone could give me any pointers as to the nature of the remains from a medieval pit I am analysing. The pit consists only of cattle metapodials (9 metacarpals and 18 metatarsals, with one distal metacarpal and one distal metatarsal, the rest being the proximal end). All the metapodials have been chopped midshaft, with no other cut marks present. I asume it is part of the butchery process, but I would have thought that if this was due to the waste produced by butchery, that at least some phalanges would be present, and the remains would be mainly distal metapodials. If the ends of the bones had been removed elsewhere and the proximal shafts are part of the animal kept, why are there no further cut marks from dismemberment, and no carpals/tarsals present and no evidence of the tibia or radius.
I assume the remains are from the butchery of the cattle, but I cannot think what aspect of cattle processing the remains represent. Can anyone suggest what was being done to the cattle?
I hope I have explained myself in a comprehensible way
Thank you in advance,
Emma-Jayne
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Emma-Jayne Evans, Oxford Archaeology
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