Dear zooarchs ,
I was wondering if there is much information available on deer antlers, since I have little experience in this field. A colleague of mine dug some up in a medieval (13th century) NW European, urban excavation.
I know roe deer (Capreolus capreolus), red deer (Cervus elaphus) and fallow deer (Dama dama) all can be distinguished based on the antlers, but what I was really wondering about is whether they can be properly aged, only looking at the antlers.
I have found some biological papers about Fallow deer kept (in captivity) that show the aging of the animal up to 7 years.
Riney T., 1954 : Antler growth and shedding in a captive group op Fallow deer (Dama dama) in New Zealand, Transactions of the Royal society of New Zealand. Vol 82, part2, pp 369-578.
I was wondering how reliable this aging based on the antlers is? I realise individual fitness and ecological factors, will have an (big) impact on the growth of antlers but will it influence the general growth pattern enough, in which year a certain branch is formed, to make it unreliable?
Does anyone have some more experience in this field? Also in an archaeological context, where it is just have the antlers not the rest of the animal?
Kind regards
Emmy Nijssen
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