Dear Sylvia,
there is an evidence very similar to your description from
Enns in Upper Austria, displaying a very shallow large pit
that was lined with bovine horncores ("Hornzapfenboden").
The dating is about 16th c. The finding has been
interpreted as a kind of pond, having been used for
separating the horn-sheaths from the cores by means of
biological degradation of the soft connective tissues.
Most of the horncores (appr. 330 pieces) have been
determined as large-sized specimens, stemming usually from
oxen, maybe Hungarian Longhorns..
The reference is:
G. Knecht, Mittelalterlich-Fruehneuzeitliche
Tierknochenfunde aus Oberoesterreich (Linz und Enns).
Thesis, Fac.Vet.med. Munich, 1966.
The Thesis has been published as a whole in
"Naturkundliches Jahrbuch der Stadt Linz", but I don't know
the exact citation.
If you are Interested I can send you a copy.
greetings
Gerhard
Prof.Dr. Gerhard Forstenpointner
Dept.of Anatomy, Archaeozoological Unit
University of Veterinary Medicine
Veterinaerplatz 1
A-1210 Vienna
AUSTRIA
ph:0043/1/25077-22503
fax:0043/1/25077-2590
e-mail:[log in to unmask]
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