Dear all,

I was wondering if anyone had any ideas on some bone I have from a well dated as post-medieval.  The bone consists of the partial remains of at least 15 horses, mixed in with a very small amount of domestic waste.   Only some vertebrae and ribs were articulated all other bone is disarticulated, whether this has occurred due to slumping of the bone at decomposition I am unsure.  However knife cuts were the only evidence of butchery and their position indicates that the horses were skinned, defleshed and dismembered.  Whole skeletons were not present, however all elements were represented in varying numbers, with the bones from the hind legs being the most frequent.  All bones came from adult animals, those that could be aged were15yrs+.

My only idea at the moment is that of a knackers yard, however the rest of the archaeological evidence from the site shows no evidence for this.  The good preservation of the bone suggests they were deposited quickly, but why and how often do fifteen old horses get slaughtered and deposited at once?  The site is by a main road of this period- perhaps they were transport animals, but again why deposit so many at once.  Also why use a knife to dismember a carcass, as opposed to presumably quicker method of chopping, particularly as the bones appear to have been deposited quickly.

Any ideas would be gratefully received!

Carina Phillips