Hi Fay

I have observed such extra foramina in the mandibles of modern sika, 
fallow and red deer from my own work with these species, but I did not 
quantify them, thus as such I don't know the exact frequency within my 
own samples of the ontogenetic series (sika deer n = 45m, 41f; fallow 
deer n = 119m, 108f; red deer n = 24m, 38f). From my observations and 
what I remember, the formaina were located on the buccal side of the 
mandible and below pm2 as well as below the diastema part of the 
mandible. Some were elongated and quite large, others were small. I 
did not record any details as such pertaining to age effects or indeed 
sex differences. 
Well there's my halfpenny's worth, if you're interested further, I can 
dig out all the mandibles and record exact details..... 

Sláinte
Ruth

Ruth F. Carden, B.Sc.(Hons) Ph.D.
School of Biological and Environmental Science
College of Life Sciences
Science Centre (West)
University College Dublin
Belfield, Dublin 4
Ireland
Fax: +353 1 7161152
Mobile: (+)353 879426561

----- Original Message -----
From: fay worley <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Thursday, July 20, 2006 4:44 pm
Subject: [ZOOARCH] Non-metric traits on sheep and goat mandibles
To: [log in to unmask]

> Dear All,
> 
> I am looking at a large assemblage from a Roman site in southern 
> England and am noticing that just under half the sheep/goat 
> mandibles have an extra foramen below the p2 or p3 on the buccal 
> side. Some also have a double mental foramen.  So far I have only 
> recorded approx. 50 mandibles but the assessment data suggests 
> that there are probably 150 more in the complete assemblage.   I 
> was wondering if anyone has recorded these extra foramen and can 
> suggests whether they are a frequently present. Or are there any 
> papers which consider non-metric foramen on mandibles? I can only 
> find references to foramen on sheep femora.
> 
> Thanks,
> 
> Fay
> 
> 
> 
> -------------------------------------------------------------------
> -----------
> Fay Worley,  Oxford Archaeology
> [log in to unmask]
> 
> 
> 
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