I think you definitely have evidence of skinning there. It's a rather common location for cut marks on medieval cat skulls, and I guess they wanted a bit of extra to hold on to while they were treating the skin/fur. After all, the skin from the head would also include holes for the eyes and ears (if the latter were cut off) and would not be very useful if you wanted the fur for lining garments or for fur blankets.
Hack marks would of course be a bit excessive for removing the skin, but I'm not sure how much meat there are on hyena skulls. They may not have been eaten normally (?), but there's always the possibility for using the meat for ritual or medicinal purposes.
/Lena
----- Original Message -----
From: "Johanna Sigl" <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask]
Sent: Wednesday, 15 February, 2012 5:16:36 PM
Subject: Skinning
Dear all,
I was wondering if there are cutmarks to be expected if one skins a
larger mammal's head and where these would be? Was the head skinned at
all in ancient times? Would they want to preserve the skin without the
bone? I was wondering about these questions because I have a maxilla
from an adult hyena in my material from Aswan which shows hack marks
behind P3 reaching through the orbit and some small cuts at the
preserved part of the orbit (zygomatic bone) as well as at the
dorso-oral rim of the fragment. Would you think this animal was skinned?
I found several references to Binford (1981), Bones : ancient men and
modern myths. Does someone have a pdf copy of this book by chance?
Thanks in advance.
Best wishes,
Johanna Sigl
PhD candidate
Institute for Egyptology
Institute for Paleoanatomy
LMU Munich
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