Hi,
When you find waste pieces of antler you often find gnaw marks on tips of the antlers but not on the edges of the sawed surfaces. Rodents start gnawing on sharp edges, not on flat or rounded areas. So when you find gnaw marks on the natural tip of the antler and not on the sawed edge this indicates that the antler did not come from a hunted animal but an antler that had been casted. On such antlers the mice and voles start gnawing on the tips and at the proximal end. The gnawings are in the size of Apodemus, Microtus and Clethrionomys, in human habitations you find Mus and Rattus. Gnaw marks of Rattus and Arvicola are of similar size.
Leif Jonsson
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