Eating Meats.
- Thread starter CawthorneH
- Start date
I don't know. What amazes me more is that the only two creatures with small bones are fowl and humans.
Red
Red
No, they aren't, but degraded or disturbed neonate inhumation can be mistaken for bird, especially if the diagnostic bones are missing or so badly damaged that it would need a specialist to analyse them properly.
The problem was time, if they were human remains. How old ? were they old/old or new enough to be a crime scene or a hidden burial of miscarriage or the like.
As I said, quick and dirty analysis, and I am reliably informed not used solely by archaeologists.
M
The problem was time, if they were human remains. How old ? were they old/old or new enough to be a crime scene or a hidden burial of miscarriage or the like.
As I said, quick and dirty analysis, and I am reliably informed not used solely by archaeologists.
M
I'll bow to your superior knowledge - or despair of "science". If the diagnostic bones are missing, I don't know how a pet burial as an example could be excluded.
blimey! what a debate.being a farmers son you grow up with having meat on your plate.i feel cheated if dont get meat everyday.i've known veggies and will admit on occasion enjoyed a veggie meal with no meat substitute.veg, beans etc.funny how they had raging wind! now i agree with some other posts,whats with the meat shaped veggie stand in? if you dont eat meat for whatever reason why the hell is it there.i had a veggie cousin who sat opposite me while i tucked into a nice big steak and kept saying oh that poor animal how could you.she didnt have to sit there! she couldve moved.it was bred to die and feed me woman! i'll leave you with this,have you seen the expression on gordon ramsays face when he's introduced to a veggie? this my bit.now wheres that bacon buttie!!
The most common finds in 'domestic' sites, of such small bones, (ribs, small limbs) are from domestic fowl. Occasionally sommat just doesn't sit well and indicates further investigation.
Bones decay primarily by mineral leaching. This leaves the collagen and that breaks down very quickly. If the soil is mineral rich though, then the leaching process is much slower, but, in very early, i.e. not near full term, or the delivery of an undernourished mother (generally the foetus is a total parasite and will take minerals and the like to the mother's disadvantage) then the mineral structure of the bones is not sound. Almost eggshell like at times. In these circumstances the bones that survive the burial process, *and* the subsequent pressure of the soil on top, are the ones I mention.
I have seen a baby's skull from such a site that was in so many pieces that all I could say was that it was very fragile bone. No teeth, no jaw, the sutures of the skull hadn't closed so all of that had just crumbled to fragments.
The only confusion would be with neonate piglet, and to be honest those would have been disarticulated for consumption. In general we don't seperate the rib cage of a chicken, though it's common to remove the drumsticks and wings. Think of a chickens rib bones, that's the size I'm talking about.
M (who got into it after all
)
Mmm but why chicken? Rather than say...partridge? Can't imagine many eat a neonate pig but surely pet monkeys die now and again?
<messing with Mary mode //off>
<messing with Mary mode //off>
It's about context. All of archaeology is about context and it's interpretation. Where were the remains found; in what context; how were they deposited, when were they deposited, why were they deposited there ?
That and smell. Basically only two things smell like bacon when they're cooking. Pigs and humans.
I'm told that monkeys don't smell the same
but tbh there are and always have been damned few monkeys in the UK anyway.
If the bones were human then in comes a whole new set of parameters for the site. If they're not, get on with it. If they are then the age comes into play, the deposition details and the intent.
M
That and smell. Basically only two things smell like bacon when they're cooking. Pigs and humans.
I'm told that monkeys don't smell the same
but tbh there are and always have been damned few monkeys in the UK anyway.If the bones were human then in comes a whole new set of parameters for the site. If they're not, get on with it. If they are then the age comes into play, the deposition details and the intent.
M
Did that... first 'divisive' post I could see was this one:
http://www.bushcraftuk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=66806&p=809707#post809707
Wait a second... isn't that you?
Yup... until you waded in, the thread was going swimmingly thanks, lots of give and take and people expressing their personal preferences, as I read it.
