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Dear Zooarchers, About 2 years ago, a farmhouse dated as roman or postroman (1st-4th century AD) has been discovered in the suburbs of Athens. During the excavation of this villa the archaeologists found into a storage room, a mamal skeleton (young artiodactyl, deer/calf) lying into a pit which was interpreted -at that time- as an animal burial. The animal’s head and the right limbs were missing but the rest of the skeleton remained in the exact anatomic position except from a violently shifted rib. A team constituted from paleontologists and conservators was called to the field to pack, transfer and conserve the skeleton. However in the laboratory we were surprised to discover that the skeleton actually lies into a teracotta vessel (1.40m diameter & 0,80-1m extant height & tapers to a point at the bottom ) that broke in order to contain the whole animal. Before the placement of the animal, the pot was filled with large ceramic fragments in layers, and finally the animal was curled up on the top of them. During the cleaning procedure we found small quantities of charcoal among the ceramic fragments but no traces of fire to the vessel’s walls. As not being a zooarchaeologist myself but a conservator, I’ve already addressed to a Greek specialist who told me that there are a lot of similar finds but gave me no specific example. I have some ideas concerning the interpretation of the find (animal sacrifice, stored food, burial of a beloved animal or foundation deposit) but every fresh idea as well as any parallels or references will be gratefully received and appreciated. If someone is particularly interested I can give him/her more details. Thanks in advance! Katerina Douka Conservator --------------------------------- Do You Yahoo!? Αποκτήστε την δωρεάν σας@yahoo.gr διεύθυνση στο Yahoo! Mail.