Dear Ceiridwen,
At the medieval site of West Cotton we had bones of polecat (Mustela putorius),
weasel (Mustela nivalis) and a mustelid that looked intermediate in size
between stoat (Mustela erminea) and weasel. Though we could not be sure we
thought it more likely to be rather small stoats due to the much smaller size
of the weasel bones found at the same site (though sexual dimorphism is here a
factor, females being substantially larger).
The references is:
Albarella U & Davis S. 1994 . The Saxon and Medieval animal bones excavated
1985-1989 from West Cotton, Northamptonshire. London: English Heritage AML
report 17/94.
I think if you could do the DNA it would be interesting also in order to clarify
the issue of the taxonomic identification - and why there were such large
weasels or small stoats in the Middle Ages! If you will end up having weasels
this will of course have been for you a bit of a waste of time.
I am writing this to the list as others may be interested in this information
but if you would like to know more you may want to continue this correspondence
off list. I don't have the material anymore but this in charge of English
Heritage and I will be able to let you know in which bags and boxes these
mustelid bones are.
Cheers,
Umberto
--
Umberto Albarella
Department of Archaeology
University of Sheffield
Northgate House
West Street
Sheffield S1 4ET
United Kingdom
Telephone: (+) 44 (0) 114 22 22 943
Fax: (+) 44 (0) 114 27 22 563
http://www.shef.ac.uk/archaeology/staff/albarella.html
For Archaeologists for Global Justice (AGJ) see:
http://www.shef.ac.uk/archaeology/global-justice.html
"There is no way to peace. Peace IS the way".
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