Jessica
I suspect the only way is to do a DNA test. There is now just about
enough known about the mitochondrial DNA of aurochsen to distinguish them
from domesticated cattle, at least in northern Europe. The person who
knows most about this is Ceiridwen Edwards. This is her webpage:
http://www.gen.tcd.ie/molpopgen/ceiridwen.htm
best wishes
Andrew
On Tue, 17 Oct 2006, Erik Filean wrote:
>
>
> In a message dated 10/17/2006 7:58:59 AM Central Standard Time,
> [log in to unmask] writes:
>
> Dear all,
> We found a complete skeleton of a bovid calf at a prehistoric site and by
> the size of it; it was originally identified as Aurochs. We obtained a 14C-date
> and a stable isotope signature from it. The date is 13th century and the
> signature more in line with cattle... Does someone know of a death sure
> morphological detail (also applicable to an immature skeleton) to tell cattle and
> aurochs apart? Your help is greatly appreciated!
> Jessica
>
>
> Unfortunately, I think you're going to have a hard time making a firm
> species identification for a calf. Even in adult cattle, there is too much
> potential overlap in size between the wild and domestic forms, especially between
> aurochs cows and domestic bulls. To date, I've been willing to identify
> specimens as aurochs only when there is definitive evidence for the sex of the animal
> and the size clearly exceeds the range of variation in the local domestic
> population. Needless to say, sexing a juvenile skeleton can be a bit of a
> challenge in and of itself!
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Dr. Andrew Millard [log in to unmask]
Department of Archaeology, Durham University, Tel: +44 191 334 1147
South Road, Durham. DH1 3LE. United Kingdom. Fax: +44 191 334 1101
http://www.dur.ac.uk/a.r.millard/
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