Wim:
I have one metatarsal with cut off spur. It comes from 17th century
Göteborg in Sweden. The bones comes from a quarter with craftsmen (bone
shafts for knives and forks) but the site has never been published. I
don't know of any tradition of cock-fighting in Sweden. When I first saw
the bone I thought that the removal of the spur was to avoid stings during
handling the live cock in the market. I can not see any signs of healing
around the margins of the cut surface. Has anyboby seen such traces of
healing which one could expect on cut off spurs of cocks surviving for
some time after the incision?
Leif Jonsson
Naturhistoriska Muséet
Göteborg
Sweden
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