Dear all,

How small was the smallest dog you have recorded? We have a reference collection toy poodle whose humerus measures Bd= 18.5 and SD =6.4, and an archaeological specimen that I am trying to identify which is even smaller! The archaeological reference specimen doesn’t have the supracondylar foramen one would expect on a cat or mustelid, the condyles are too flared and the olecronon fossa too shallow and triangular for it to be a rabbit or hare.  It has a supractrochlear foramen. It does look like a canid, only tiny!  

 

I would be grateful for any distal humerus measurements from smaller dogs either in archaeological assemblages or reference collections.  I’m most interested in archaeological measurements from the Roman period in Britain and modern reference specimens.

 

Thanks for any measurements you can provide,

Fay

 

Fay Worley

Zooarchaeologist

English Heritage

Fort Cumberland

Fort Cumberland Road

Eastney

Portsmouth

PO4 9LD

Tel: 02392 856789

Fax: 02392 8567001