From: fiona beglane <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask]
Sent: Friday, August 29, 2008 5:54:43 PM
Subject: Re: [ZOOARCH] 'withered' horncore
That's an interesting idea Deb. Searching the internet - sometimes it goes wrong in modern husbandry and the animal ends up with a small horn. Also came across a reference to using an elastrator (castrating band) for dehorning adult goats. http://www.hoeggergoatsupply.com/info/elastrator.shtml so this would be similar to your idea of tying a tourniquet around the horn.
Thanks
Fiona
----- Original Message ----
From: "[log in to unmask]" <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask]
Sent: Thursday, August 28, 2008 10:19:18 AM
Subject: Re: [ZOOARCH] 'withered' horncore
Just as a matter of curiosity -- is there evidence from any time period of
the attempt to de-horn cattle? I know that this is sometimes done in the
Third World by tourniqueting the horn in young cattle with a piece of
wire. Constricting the circulation eventually causes the horn to slough
off. Perhaps similar methods were used in antiquity. Certainly unless they
knew how to cauterize the artery, this method might have worked better
than sawing the horn off. And it's a lot less bloody. It's analogous to
the way of castrating sheep that you do with a rubber band.
I have a couple of cow skulls from Vindolanda that appear to have
constriction-grooves about the bases of the horn cores, and the horn cores
in those cases are shriveled-looking. I also wonder if sometimes attempts
at de-horning, by whatever method, might have failed or partly failed,
leaving "the cow with the crumpled horn" to stand out in the herd. -- Deb
Bennett
>
> I have not seen anything quite like this before. However, factors like
> disease and malnutrition can cause the slowing, or even stoppage, of
> growth, hence conditions like Harris Lines (lines of arrested growth).
> Another factor that can cause that kind of thing are endocrine
> disturbances.
>
> If it was due to constriction by a rope, I'd half expect to see some kind
> of furrow where the rope was, but there doesn't appear to be one. I guess
> some sort of traumatic injury might also have affected it - maybe it got
> damaged as a juvenile and then never formed properly. If so, though, I'd
> suggest that the injury was an old one as there's no real evidence of a
> fracture or similar in the photo.
>
> Do you happen to have its partner? It would be interesting to know if the
> condition was bilateral or not.
>
> Stephanie Vann, PhD
> Archaeozoologist
>
>
>
> Date: Wed, 27 Aug 2008 07:55:26 -0700
> From: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: [ZOOARCH] 'withered' horncore
> To: [log in to unmask]
>
>
>
>
> Hello Zooarchers,
> I have put a photo of a cattle horncore on bone commons. This can best be
> described as withered. The first 3cm is perfectly normal, but after this
> the diameter shrinks down so that the final 5cm is much narrower. The
> surface is not damaged i.e. the horncore has not been planed or filed
> down. The horncore is affected all round the diameter.
>
> Any suggestions: disease/illness? malnutrition? constriction of the
> growing horncore by e.g. a rope?
>
> The link is
>
> http://www.alexandriaarchive.org/icaz/icazForum/viewtopic.php?p=1134#1134
>
> Thank you
>
> Fiona
>
>
>
>
>
>
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