Dear Ariane -- I doubt it would be "traces". Hooves, meaning the
keratinized hoof capsules plus the associated solar structures, are very
difficult to tear away from their anchorage to the more internal
structures. The bond, consisting not only of triple interdigitation of the
lamellae but also of 'rivets' of collagen fibers binding the opposed
sheets, is so tight that in my carcass dissection classes we use cutting
and immersion in boiling water, followed by an exercise in manly strength
using farriers' tools, to peel the capsules off so that students can see
the sensitive and insensitive laminae.
I highly doubt that anybody in antiquity went to this much trouble; I
doubt they cared about visualizing the laminae or any other anatomical
structure within the capsule, for that matter. If they were aiming to make
glue out of hoof horn, they would have simply chopped the foot off and
thrown the whole thing in the boil-pot.
I have a few 2nd phalanges, both of cattle and horse, from Vindolanda that
show chop-marks that must have been made by a heavy cleaver. There are
also a large number of 1st phalanges, almost all of cattle, that have been
cloven transversely in half. From this I conclude that the foot was
commonly cut off through about the middle of the pastern. -- Dr. Deb
> Hello,
> Could somebody please direct me to references that explicitly describe the
> removal of hooves (any/all ungulates) by humans and the resulting traces
> on bone?
> Thank you,
> Ariane
>
> Prof. Ariane Burke,
> Dept. d'anthropologie,
> Université de Montréal,
> C.P. 6128, Succursale Centre-Ville
> Montreal, QC
> Canada, H3C 3J7
> Tel. 514-343-6574
> http://www.mapageweb.umontreal.ca/burkea/
>
>
> ________________________________
>
> From: Analysis of animal remains from archaeological sites on behalf of
> Umberto Albarella
> Sent: Tue 2009-07-07 4:04 PM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: [ZOOARCH] attachments on bonecommons
>
>
>
> Dear Zooarchers,
>
> Since I have not done it for a while and we have had quite a few new
> members
> lately I would like to remind everyone that although you can't send
> attachments
> directly to Zooarch, you can upload them on BoneCommons, following the
> instructions at:
>
> http://www.alexandriaarchive.org/icaz/icazForum/viewtopic.php?t=596
>
> You can use:
> username: ZOOARCH
> password: bones.
>
> Once you have done that you can send an email to Zooarch with the weblink
> (URL)
> to your attachment.
>
> Cheers,
> Umberto
>
>
> --
> Umberto Albarella
> Department of Archaeology
> University of Sheffield
> Northgate House
> West Street
> Sheffield S1 4ET
> United Kingdom
> Telephone: (+) 44 (0) 114 22 22 943
> Fax: (+) 44 (0) 114 27 22 563
> http://www.shef.ac.uk/archaeology/staff/albarella.html
> For Archaeologists for Global Justice (AGJ) see:
> http://www.shef.ac.uk/archaeology/global-justice.html
>
> "There is no way to peace. Peace IS the way".
>
>
>
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