Colleagues working in Greece may have the answer. There are
temples there that have votive/ritual deposits that come
from the right hand side of the hip/thigh ie the right
femur and, I think, part of the right hand side of the
pelvis. Historical references suggest that fat from this
region is also deposited (but rarely survives). I can't
recall the details without looking up some references,
sorry. I think that the Greek examples are from sheep but,
given the different husbandry patterns in the two areas,
there may be some religious connection ie same beliefs,
local method of expression. Very interesting to hear that
Pippa had a similar deposit at a different RB site,
presumably also in southern England. Poses all sorts of
questions regarding possible continuity from Iron Age
special deposits or importation/adaptation of 'Roman' (ie
originating somewhere within the Roman Empire) practices.
Any classical Greek scholars out there?
Sue
On Wed, 26 Mar 2003 20:17:48 +0000
[log in to unmask] wrote:
> Dear Jacqui,
> I have no ideas about the origin or significance of your group of femurs.
>
> But you may be interested to know that when she was working at Southampton
> Pippa Smith found a similar group in the assemblage from the RB site at
> Westhampnett, Sussex, a TWA excavation. As far as I remember, those too were
> about a dozen femurs, all or mostly from the same side. The site (and
> assemblage) has not yet been published, and I don't know if Pippa reached any
> conclusions or found any parallels.
>
> The taphonomy can't be very complicated - the process must be boiling, stewing
> or soaking. But the significance seems a mystery. The femoral heads may have
> been taken for use a spindle whorls, but why only select RHS?? Why were the
> femora not chopped for marrow?? The context may be significant. I shall be very
> interested to see if anyone has suggestions.
>
> Cheers
> Dale
>
>
> Quoting Jacqui Mulville <[log in to unmask]>:
>
> > I have a 'special deposit' from an early romano-british pit. There was a
> > minimum
> > of 12 right cattle femurs, (and not much else) and most were complete
> > unfused
> > shafts. The epiphyses were missing from all of them which suggests the
> > bone had
> > degenerated suffienctly for ends to be lost before being placed in the
> > pit as a
> > secondary deposit.
> >
> > Now could the loss of the epiphyses be a result of cooking? But what
> > sort of
> > cooking would involve complete femur shafts (apart from roasting) - and
> > would
> > that loosen the epiphyses? I can imagine stewing doing so - but not
> > roasting -
> > or would the roasting process also loosen things up? Any ideas how
> > long it
> > would take for the connective material to rot away leaving loose
> > epiphyses if
> > not cooked?
> >
> > Just trying to work out the formation processes - so any top tips on
> > taphonomy
> > and timing welcome.
> >
> > jacqui
> >
> > Jacqui Mulville
> > Lecturer in Bioarchaeology
> > School of History and Archaeology
> > Cardiff University
> > Cardiff
> > CF10 3XU
> >
> > 02920 874247
> >
>
>
>
> Dale Serjeantson
> Visiting Research Fellow
> Department of Archaeology
> University of Southampton
> Southampton SO17 1BJ
> Email: [log in to unmask]
---------------------
[log in to unmask]
Dr. Sue Stallibrass
English Heritage Archaeological Science Advisor for North-West England
School of Archaeology, Classics & Oriental Studies (SACOS)
University of Liverpool
Hartley Building
LIVERPOOL L69 3GS
direct telephone: +44 (0)151 794 5046 departmental FAX: +44 (0)151 794 5057
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