A metrical distinction between sheep and goat metacarpals

Type:

Book Chapter

Author:

Sebastian Payne

Published:

2017

Publisher:

Routledge

The osteological separation between sheep and goats presents considerable difficulties. Two measurements are taken on any distal metacarpal condyle: the medio-lateral width of the condyle and the anteroposterior width of its external trochlea. These two measurements are plotted against each other for all the available distal metacarpal condyles. A sample of modern sheep and goats of known identity was collected by Mr. E. S. Higgs in 1963 in Verroia, a town in northern Greece near the site of Nea Nikomedeia, about fifty miles west of Thessaloniki. It is important to stress that it is not suggested that a diagnostic ratio, based on these two measurements, can be used to identify every individual sheep/goat distal metacarpal condyle. AU that is claimed is that if this method is applied to the sheep/goat metacarpals from a reasonably homogeneous archaeological context, the sheep and the goats are likely to form two distinct clusters, and can be identified.

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