Thank you to Dr Umberto Alberella for directing me here (albeit a while ago!)
I am posting as I am currently undertaking an MRes in Archaeology whereby I am looking at prehistoric standing stones in the south west of England. I have an unpublished site where an excavation took place and the articulated remains of a pig were recovered from a pit near to a standing stone. The remains have been analysed and it was determined that the pig was between 18 and 24 months at the time of its death, however, the remains were too degraded for C14 dating. It is clear that all parts of the pig were present....except for its teeth! The absence of the teeth is definitely not through unsystematic recovery, they simply were not there. I have been in contact with a vet who specialises in farm animals and they knew of no reason as to why a pig may have been born with no teeth or why they would have to be removed at such a young age. And so I am wondering whether anyone is aware of any instances in which the complete remains of a large domesticated mammal (preferably pig) have been found in association with a prehistoric monument or why the teeth may be missing? And if so what sort of period in time we are looking at for such a practice. We have considered the idea that they may have been removed for use as amulets or personal ornamentation but I am coming up short of articles in my search.
If anyone knows of any similar practices are there any papers that I may be directed to?
Many thanks
Heather
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