Dear All,
I wonder if I might beg your thoughts on a Roman temple assemblage I am analyzing from Israel. The assemblage shows a clear preference for species, with 1,826 of 1,837 burnt NISP belonging to sheep/goat. From the few unfragmented bones which could be identified to species - first phalanx, second phalanx, and radius - however, there does seem to be a fairly equal representation of sheep and goat in the assemblage. I am dubious about seeing such a clear preference for species, but without distinction between sheep and goat. As these are very young animals (high numbers of neonates) and they are all burnt at a very high temperature, I wonder if age or burning might affect morphology enough to make it difficult to distinguish between species? Of course, this may very well be the fault of my own identification/interpretation, but I was hoping that someone might have some thoughts? Many apologies if this has already been covered in the zooarch listserve - I had a hunt but couldn't find any direct correlates.
With many thanks and all warmest wishes,
Rachel
Institute of Archaeology
Merton College
Oxford University
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