So far consensus seems to be these things are too big for fowl, which
makes pretty good sense. Hmmm... guess my colleague will need to look
for a new taphonomic agent.
I did track this down for those who are interested:
http://www.lomasdesign.com/thebrotherslomas/?cat=9
unfortunately none of the photos have scales.
Thanks all,
Peter
On Thu, Aug 30, 2012 at 12:38 PM, GIDNEY L.J. <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> I agree with Naomi that even my geese wouldn't swallow anything that big. However, there is a tradition of feeding crushed ceramic fragments as grit to fowl in the lead mining dales to try and stop them picking up lead mine spoil and poisoning themselves and those eating the eggs & meat.
>
> ________________________________________
> From: Analysis of animal remains from archaeological sites [[log in to unmask]] on behalf of Naomi Sykes [[log in to unmask]]
> Sent: 30 August 2012 16:43
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: [ZOOARCH] gastrolith/gizzard stones
>
> Hi Peter,
>
> How big are your chickens?! I've never seen ours swallow anything quite so large...but I'd like to see them try...
>
> Cheers, Naomi
>
>
> ________________________________________
> From: Analysis of animal remains from archaeological sites [[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Peter Popkin [[log in to unmask]]
> Sent: 30 August 2012 16:03
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: [ZOOARCH] gastrolith/gizzard stones
>
> Hi all,
>
> A colleague of mine has come across a number of interesting pieces of
> ceramic that he suspects were used by domestic fowl as
> gastroliths/gizzard stones. Has anyone else encountered these or come
> across a publication identifying and describing these? Everything I've
> seen only deals with typical stone versions, not ceramics.
>
> I've uploaded a photo of a few examples on Zoobook:
> http://zooarchaeology.ning.com/photo/albums/gastrolith
>
> Thanks,
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