8/14/2023 0 Comments Baby animal age for cattle![]() ![]() demonstrated how factors such as weathering and climate changes diagenetic composition. Favourable environmental factors such as 20% humidity and oxygen increase the risk of fungal attack. studied four different European climatic regimes (including Sweden), finding that fungi might also cooperate with bacterial attack giving signs of “bacterial signature” (21). Furthermore, early taphonomy was found to have a pronounced impact in benign environments and soil conditions had more impact on bone in the long term. studied bone degradation from five different European prehistoric sites with varied contexts (including Sweden), demonstrating a correlation between histological damage and porosity. Microbial attack is a major factor, of up to 80%, in collagen loss, compared to almost no histological alteration in temperate regions. A range of diagenetic outcomes can potentially affect the radiographic examination of ancient bones in specific ways. When deposited in soil, the properties of archaeological bone change, as internal and external processes decompose the bone structure. Bone consists of inorganic minerals such as calcium and organic material containing lipids, carbohydrates, protein and water. Minerals, protein, size and gross morphology all have different effects on the composition of bone during the life history of an animal. The study by Červený shows that changes appear in the growth zone between the diaphysis and epiphysis after the age of 2½ years, making it possible to identify cattle metapodials from animals even older than ten years. When ossification of the distal trochlea in cattle metapodials is complete, the fusion line disappears, making it only possible to age an element visually as belonging to an animal aged older than 2½ years. ![]() offers an interesting perspective on the ageing of cattle metapodials. In particular the radiographic study by Červený –complemented and described by Kratochvil et al. X-ray analyses have been used to estimate age and sex and to understand animal exploitation in prehistory. Unfortunately, the morphological analysis of epiphyseal closure is more or less restricted to the identification of four age stages foetal, unfused, nearly fused and completely fused elements. Epiphyseal fusion data are often utilized in the ageing of long bones, together with data on tooth eruption and wear patterns. Studies by Prummel and Sterba of the identification of foetal skeleton elements have made it possible to separate different species and to identify bones from animals as young as 60 days old. The development of ossification in long bones and general growth patterns are commonly used to investigate the slaughter patterns and breeding strategies of the past. Prehistoric animal husbandry involved the use of cattle for dairying and meat production or as draught animals. These results highlighted the slaughter age difference between oxen/bulls and cows, enabling a better understanding of animal husbandry and the selection of draught cattle at Eketorp ringfort. Bone elements with changes in the articular surfaces were more common in metapodials from cows with an X-ray age of over 3–4 years. Two metatarsals from cows were documented with distal asymmetry indicating that cows were also used as working animals. This could be the result of repetitive mechanical stress. The bone element also indicates a denser outer cortex of the medial diaphysis in comparison to the inner medulla. Asymmetry in male metatarsals such as distal broadening of the lateral part of the medial trochlea was visible on the X-ray images. This suggests that male cattle were used both in meat production and as draught animals. The results also show a correlation between metapodials with a pathology connected to biomechanical stress and older animals. These differences may reflect a change in demand for meat related to the character of the site. ![]() More oxen/bulls than cows reached the advanced age of over 8 years, yet in phase III more oxen/bulls seem to have been slaughtered between the ages of 2 and 8 years. ![]() The X-ray analyses suggest that several animals in both phases were slaughtered aged 4–8 years. In this paper conventional X-ray analysis of cattle metapodials is used to study the age structure of slaughtered cattle at Eketorp ringfort on the island of Öland, Sweden. ![]()
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