Hi Carina,
Try a search using crib-biting as a keyword. This paper (below) by Brown and Anthony may include useful references as I'm sure Anthony has published papers on unusual incisor wear and crib wear in horses before. Peter Rowley-Conwy also discussed crib wear on horse incisors in a Current Anth. article but our library's server is down - perhaps you can find it more easily than me.
Brown D. & Anthony, D. (1998) Bit Wear, Horseback Riding and the Botai Site in Kazakstan. Journal of Archaeological Science 25:331-347.
Best of luck.
Ariane Burke,
Universite de Montreal
-----Original Message-----
From: Carina Phillips [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Sat 27/03/2004 6:29 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Cc:
Subject: [ZOOARCH] Horse skulls
Dear all,
I have a Roman horse skull and mandible with very strange tooth wear. The maxillary incisors are much less worn than the mandibular incisors, the maxillary incisors aging at 7 years and the mandibular ones at approx 15 years. The associated molars appear to exhibit the same degree of wear on both the mandibular and maxillary teeth. It is clear that the incisors are from the same animal as the maxillary incisors lip slightly to account for the smaller mandibular incisors. Does anyone know of any causes and/or similar occurrences?
Another horse skull from the same site, this time dating to the Late Iron Age-1st Century, had no teeth intact. The skull was from an adult animal and complete, except for the teeth. Would the skull have been left to decompose somewhere else, losing its teeth before being buried here and if so how long would it have to decompose for to lose its teeth? Or could the teeth have been removed deliberately?
Thanks for any help
Carina Phillips
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