We see a lot of cut marks and butchering breakage on hyoids from Bison and other animal kill sites here in Wyoming. These are normally associated with tongue removal and not throat cutting. My experience in fleshing modern animals for skeleton processing would be that throat cutting does not come close to hitting the hyoids and therefore there should be no damage to them from cutting the throat. They are just to "deep" in the neck and to high up the throat. Tongue use of somekind would be more logical.
Danny
--- [log in to unmask] wrote:
From: Jacqui Mulville <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [ZOOARCH] hyoids and throat cutting
Date: Wed, 24 Feb 2010 16:36:05 +0000
Does anyone have any references or comments on
a. why animals throats are cut? I seem to remember Derek Rixson mentioning
this facilitated the removal of the blood and therefore preservation of the
carcass.
b. archaeological evidence for throat cutting from hyoids?
Is this covered in Binford? I do not have 'Bones' to hand.....
I often see cut marks on hyoids and I am trying to remember if the link to
throat cutting can be evidenced in the literature.
Thanks for any input
Jacqui Mulville (PhD),
Osteography
http://osteography.wordpress.com/
Future Friends/Future Animals
http://www.cardiff.ac.uk/hisar/archaeology/futureanimals/
http://futureanimals.wordpress.com/
School of History and Archaeology, Cardiff University,
Humanities Building, Colum Drive, CARDIFF, CF10 3EU
http://www.cardiff.ac.uk/hisar/people/archaeology/jm1/
Tel: + 44 (0) 29 2087 4247
Fax: + 44 (0) 29 2087 4929
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