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ZOOARCH  July 2008

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Subject:

Fw: The age of Ox, sheep and pig (J. B. Simonds 1854)

From:

Anthony Legge <[log in to unmask]>

Reply-To:

Anthony Legge <[log in to unmask]>

Date:

Fri, 18 Jul 2008 10:46:06 +0100

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 Dear All,
 There are few publications on dental ageing in domestic mammals that appear
 to be (a) original and (b) reliable. A good source is J. B. Simonds (1854)
 'The Age of the Ox, the Sheep and the Pig.' (London, W. S.Orr). I have used 
this
 source for may years for cattle ageing (see. A. J. Legge 1992 'Excavations 
at
Grimes Graves 1972-76 Fascicle 4: Animals. Environment and the Bronze Age 
Economy.'
London, British Museum Press, especially pp18-31). I used Simonds' data in
the ageing of the cattle jaws from two excavations at Grimes Graves,
and the population age profile led me to suggest (1981, 1989, 1992) that 
intensive
dairy production was well established by the Bronze Age. This interpretation
met with cries of horror and dismay at the time, though these objections are
somewhat muted of late.

 In his introduction, Simonds stated that his work is based on 'above 2000
 animals whose ages were correctly known.' I believe that most of these were
 cattle.
>
 Simonds' publication was the unacknowledged source of the 'modern' tooth
eruption data given by Silver in (Eds. Brothwell and Higgs) 'Science in
Archaeology' (2nd edition date). Silver's paper further propagated the 
belief
that domestication has caused the acceleration of tooth
eruption. However, Silver's 'modern' data  was middle 19th century and 
correct, while his
earlier 19th century soures were erroneous. While accelerated tooth eruption 
may
well occur under certain conditions, the reasons for this are not
understood, nor has this been clearly demonstrated. The frequent repetition
of this belief in archaeological publications does not make it so.

All tooth eruption sources dated before Simonds work are very wrong, as are
many published after that time. Payne (1984, Circaea 2, #2, 77-82) noted 
that German sources for
the tooth eruption in cattle gave long eruption ages before c. 1850, and
 shorter times after this. I think it probable that Simonds' work led to 
these
changes.

Recently, a friend has kindly given me a copy of Simonds' original
 publication, and I have now scanned this for my web page at 
www.arch.cam.ac.uk/~ajl68/
>
 Look at the foot of the  page under 'Miscellanea' and click on Simonds'
title. The (pdf) file is quite large at 123 pp. but worth printing off.
 Note that in the original page 63 was printed as page 60.
>
 Simonds was well known in the later 19th century, as President of the Royal
Veterinary College in 1863, and as Veterinary Examiner to the Royal
Agricultural Society, and it was this work that led him to compile his
study of dental ageing. Professor G. T. Brown, was Simonds' deputy at the
Royal Vet. College, later succeeding him as President 1880. Simonds and
Brown worked together on the 1870s rinderpest plague in Europe and Britain,
compiling a government report on this. However, when Foot and Mouth Disease
arrived in Britain,  Simonds decided that this was unimportant, and in the
1890s Brown took the view that the Tuberculin Test was too unreliable to
 permit the eradication of bovine TB, a particular issue now in the UK!
You cannot always be right.

For anyone who  shares my recondite interest in 19th century veterinarians,
there is a short biography of Simonds: (Pattison, I. 1990 'A Great British
Veterinarian Forgotten: J. B. Simonds.' London, J. H. Allen and Co.).
Simonds also published his own autobiography (J. B. Simonds 'Autobiography'
London, Adlard.) as well as other works on Sheep 'Rot', liver fluke and
other veterinary matters.
>
In 1882  G. T. Brown also published a work on dental ageing (G. T. Brown
 1882 'Dentition as Indicative of the Age of the Animals of the Farm.' J. 
Royal
Agricultural Society of England, 2nd series, 18, 385-438).  This is often
cited as a source in archaeological papers concerend with dental ageing.
However, this work appears to be largely derived from Simonds' earlier work,
at least where cattle,  sheep and pig  are concerned, as the ages for 
eruption events
are effectively identical in the two works. Brown did add a good deal on the
development of horse dentition. He also used most of Simonds' original 
engravings
of cattle, pig  and sheep teeth and jaws, though with slight 
acknowledgement.
 These high quality engravings were made by the well-known engraver R B 
Utting,
who also illustrated many archaeological works of the time.

Thus, rather than citing Brown 1886, (or the 2nd edition of 1902) it is 
preferable to cite
Simonds 1854 as the original source of these data.
>
 I hope you find this of use.
>
 Best regards,
>
 Tony Legge.
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