I have some questions about a horse skeleton that will be starring in an
upcoming paper by myself and two undergraduates. The bones in question come
from an approximately 2m deep pit, one of two adjacent features next to the
southwestern corner of a 2nd-century AD temple from Nijmegen-Maasplein, the
Netherlands. We have much of the vertebral column (C1-C3 and T12 back to the
sacrum, both halves of the pelvis, some pieces of cranium including many of
the upper and lower teeth, a complete left hind leg and a left forefoot. There
are a number of long bones in the adjacent feature that we suspect may be from
the same horse.
The individual is male, judging by the well-developed lower canines, and
the estimated withers height of about 153 centimeters makes it one of the
larger ones I know of from the Roman Netherlands. Based on the tooth wear, I
am estimating the age at 8 to 11 years. However, I was expecting an older
animal than that because the 5th and 6th lumbar vertebrae are completely fused
together.
Three questions, then. First: does anybody out there know how typical
fusion of lumbar vertebrae is in horses of around 10 years of age? Second:
could such a pathology be produced by either riding or draught use? And
finally: is it likely that such a pathology would make the horse unsuitable
for further use (i.e., so that it would be put down, or in this case might be
chosen for use as a sacrificial animal)?
Erik Filean, M.A.
Department of Anthropology
114
Macbride Hall
The University of Iowa
Iowa City, Iowa, USA
52242
