Lee,
One possibility is a chronic draining abscess from an infected air
sinus. The defect seems to have a rounded margin with a suggestion of
periosteal new bone around the aperture and a broad shallow groove
running along the outer surface to the base of the core. This
possibility could be tested by checking for the presence of periosteal
reaction or periosteal new bone inside the air cell. Is is possible to
look through the aperture at the interior, possibly with the aid of a
hand lens and a pen torch?
Garrard
"Lee G. Broderick" wrote:
>
> Dear all,
>
> I’ve recently come across a pathology on a goat (/Capra hircus/) horn
> core that I don’t recognise. The pathology consists of a hole in the
> horn that is natural (i.e. not man made), I don’t know if any infections
> could exist within the horn which could lead to such phenomena, but
> wonder if anyone has seen anything similar? Given the wealth of
> experience out there, I suspect the answer is yes!
>
> The specimen itself is from a Mediaeval assemblage in the UK, and I have
> uploaded photos to my zooarchaeology.ning page:
> http://zooarchaeology.ning.com/photo/photo/listForContributor?screenName=aoetrjnubm3
>
> Best regards,
>
> Lee G. Broderick. BA (Hons), MSc, FZS
> Zooarchaeologist
> www.zooarchaeology.co.uk <http://www.zooarchaeology.co.uk>
>
--
Garrard Cole
Osteoarchaeologist
Honorary Research Assistant
UCL Institute of Archaeology
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