Dear all,
The concensus seem to be either red deer (Cervus elaphus) or elk (Alces alces). It's probably red deer, since elk was extinct in Britain at the Roman period, but for safety's sake I'll check size and morphology differences in a reference collection.
Thank you!
/Lena
----- Original Message -----
From: "Lena Strid" <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask]
Sent: Friday, 9 December, 2011 12:05:32 PM
Subject: Mystery bone time! (well, mystery species)
Dear all,
I have a frontal bone I can't place to species. It's cattle sized, from
a Roman coastal site in south-eastern Britain. Above the orbit there is
a large foramen (c. 1x1 cm), which all the cattle specimens I've seen
are lacking. After the foramen the skull rises sharply towards the
midline. Parts of the skull has been chopped off slightly behind the
orbit, where the brain case begins, and the mid-part of the frontal bone
is also broken off.
Any ideas? Is the foramen a non-metric trait for cattle, or is this
another species altogether?
Pictures: From the side:
http://i893.photobucket.com/albums/ac137/ossamentaDW/Benbilder/P1030680.jpg
From above:
http://i893.photobucket.com/albums/ac137/ossamentaDW/Benbilder/P1030681.jpg
From the front:
http://i893.photobucket.com/albums/ac137/ossamentaDW/Benbilder/P1030682.jpg
From below:
http://i893.photobucket.com/albums/ac137/ossamentaDW/Benbilder/P1030683.jpg
Thanks in advance,
Lena Files attached to this email may be in ISO 26300 format (OASIS Open
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Files attached to this email may be in ISO 26300 format (OASIS Open Document Format). If you have difficulty opening them, please visit http://iso26300.info for more information.
This email has been processed by SmoothZap - www.smoothwall.net
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