Dear colleagues,

I am working on an Early Bronze Age assemblage from Greece with a high number of well-preserved dog remains. Having limited experience on dog bones I have a series of questions on how to record more information from dog remains.
1) Is there any formalised scheme of recording tooth wear on dog mandibles? I was thinking of recording few crude stages of wear on some of the mandibular teeth but if there is something used more widely by colleagues it might be worth adopting for comparability reasons. Also, I understand that tooth wear on dog teeth might not indicate age as reliably as in ruminants but still it might be a crude indication of age clusters beyond epiphyseal fusion and eruption.

2) Has anyone noticed dog long bones that exhibit deformations that are reminiscent of rickets? I will post fotos in the near future but I am referring e.g. to the posterior face of tibia bulging out instead of being flatish (i.e. a section would be strongly elliptical in shape) or a particularly curved femur.

3) How common is the absence of the second and/or third molars? Does it indicate different breed or is it just occuring randomly in all dog populations?

4) Any references for dog consumption in prehistoric Europe (preferably Greece and/or eastern mediterranean)? I am finding extensive cutmarks. I have come accross that before in a Neolithic assemblage but not to this extent.

Thank you in advance for your help and apologies for the extent of my questions.

All the best to all,
Angelos Hadjikoumis