Dear all,
Recently, I examined zooarchaeological remains from the Hero Shrine of
the baby Opheltes from the site of Nemea, Greece. The deposit dates to
the Archaic period. The bulk was cremated, so there were lots of tiny
fragments. Nevertheless, results revealed a signficant predominance of
lower left leg bones (tibia and downwards) of ovicaprids (principally
sheep). This remained the case even after I standardized for taphonomic
biases -- it appears it was culturally determined. Body part and/or
side preference is noted at a few other sacrificial deposits among
ancient sites around the Aegean; however, in these cases (only a few I
should add) the right side is preferred. I'm not aware of side choices
among Roman samples I'm familiar with across the Mediterranean, and am
curious if others have come across side preferences in ritual deposits.
Side data are not always recorded, so this may be part of the trouble.
Still, as I mentioned, the choice of the left side at Nemea is usual in
the Aegean and brings up issues such as right = godly, left = sinister.
I've checked through the ancient literature and have come to the
conclusion that for some reason the hero Opheltes at Nemea had to be
distinguised in sacrifice from gods, such as Zeus (who is also
associated with the site -- but sadly the ritual sample associated with
his temple yielded insufficient faunal data).
Any thoughts and comparative information would be greatly appreciated.
Many thanks in advance,
Michael MacKinnon
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Dr. Michael MacKinnon
Department of Anthropology
University of Winnipeg
515 Portage Avenue
Winnipeg, Manitoba R3B 2E9
Canada
phone: (204) 786-9752
e-mail: [log in to unmask]
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