ENTHESEAL CHANGES: A METHOD TO DETECT ACTIVITIES IN ARCHAEOLOGICAL HORSE SKELETONS
Channel: European Association of Archaeologists
Date: 2020-11-01

The discoveries of complete equid skeletons in funerary contexts attest to strong equid-human relationships over time. Horses were implicated in a diversity of functions as mounted, draft, or pack animals. If zooarchaeologists can confirm their domesticated status, they can only hypothesize about their real use. This paper proposes a means to answer this question based on entheseal changes, defined as modifications of tendinous and ligamentous attachments on bones. The study of these alterations developed in biological anthropology over the last 30 years in order to reconstruct the socio-economic activities, life conditions, health status and division of labor in past human groups. However, despite the potential demonstrated by these research results, studies of entheseal changes in faunal remains are much less common. Inspired by methods used for human remains, 23 appendicular equine entheses of the scapula, humerus, radio-ulna, os coxae, femur, tibia and phalanges were recorded macroscopically. Modern documented specimens were analysed to establish a reference baseline composed of wild (Equus caballus przewalskii, zebras) and domesticated equids (Equus caballus, Equus asinus, hybrids). Age, sex, body proportions and type of activities, which can influence the development of entheseal lesions, were tested. This work provides an initial attempt to identify past equine activities from archaeological contexts.


Author(s): Binde, Marion - Cochard, David - Knüsel, Christopher John (UMR 5199 PACEA, Université de Bordeaux)