Horse Bones Research Articles

Horses in the Late Tagar Economy: Kosogol I Settlement Materials (Krasnoyarsk Region)

The archaeological studies developed two concepts concerning the character of Tagar economy: semi-nomadic and sedentary. They are based on different approaches to burial assemblage materials, accidental findings, and general opinion on stock-raising economy in Eurasian forest-steppes and steppes. The zooarchaeological profile of Tagar settlements can resolve this argument. A high share of horse bones may mean a semi-nomadic or nomadic lifestyle, while low share of equine remains can be a sign of a sedentary economy. The research featured Tagar settlements in the forest-steppe areas of the interfluve area between the Kiya and the Chulym. The paper describes the zooarchaeological collection of the archeological site of Kоsоgol I, the largest Early Iron Age settlement in the area. The collection includes 6,634 samples, of which 687 belong to horses. The authors believe that cattle breeding was the main branch of the Tagar economy. Horses were the third most important group. However, horses were not meat animals, as bones of young horses were quite rare among the kitchen waste. The Tagars killed mature or old work horses (older than 12–13), which could not work anymore. Hunting was a secondary branch of their economy: they hunted does, as well as water and moor fowl near the settlement. The results of Kosogol I zooarchaeological assemblage study proved the theory about the sedentary cattle breeding of the early Tagar people.

Taphonomy of Pleistocene large mammal remains in the deposits of river Raba, southern Poland

An assemblage of 120 mammal remains of Pleistocene age has been collected from the fluvial deposits of river Raba at a gravel pit in the village of Targowisko, 30 km east of Kraków, southern Poland. Nearly 100 remains represent woolly mammoth Mammuthus primigenius . Other remains belong to four or five such mammal species as horse Equus ferus , woolly rhinoceros Coelodonta antiquitatis, red deer Cervus elaphus and steppe bison Bison priscus or aurochs Bos primigenius . Pleistocene coarse-grained deposits containing isolated bones, teeth and tusks occur in the lowermost part of the fluvial succession in the open pit, presently inundated by groundwater. The surfaces of the majority of bones and teeth show abrasion damages by fluvial transport, including their rounding and smoothing as well as scratches and grooves. Traces of carnivore activity are visible on mammoth and horse bones. The location, dimension and shape of these marks suggest wolf or cave hyena gnawing.

Результаты архео- и этнозоологических исследований на поселении позднего бронзового века Черноречье-2

Abstract: The work is devoted to the analysis of archaeozoological and ethnozoological materials, which are represented by the settlement of Chernorechye-2 and modern animal husbandry in the valley of the Uy river. The main period of the settlement’s functioning is associated with the Alakul culture of the Late Bronze Age of the Southern Urals (the 17th — 15th centuries BC). The aim of the article is to reconstruct various aspects of animal husbandry based on the analysis of the bones of livestock and data obtained while studying the section of the river valley adjacent to the site. The bones from the Chernorechye-2 settlement of were analyzed using standard and generally accepted archaeozoological methods. Analysis of the archaeozoological collection made it possible to reconstruct the cattle-breeding character of the settlement throughout its entire existence. The inhabitants of the site comprehensively exploited cattle, sheep, goats and horses. Paleopathological analysis revealed no basis for reconstructing the working use of bulls and horses. Joint analysis of archaeozoological and ethnozoological data allows us to propose a settled model form of pastoralism as the highest priority for the Chernorechye-2 settlement. Part of the area of the settlement buildings could be used as a stall for livestock. Keywords: South Urals, Late Bronze Age, Alakul culture, pastoralism, paleopathology, osteochondrosis, osteophagia, cattle, caprines, horse Acknowledgements: Excavations of the settlement were carried out within the framework of the international project Wenner Gren Anthropological Foundation “Uy River Valley Communities of Practice Project” No. 9542. I would like to express my gratitude to the team of archaeologists of the UC for the Study of the Problems of Nature and Man of Chelyabinsk State University for the opportunity to work with materials and study the valley of the Uy River. I would also like to express thanks to Christina I. Barrón-Ortiz, Deb Bennett and William Taylor, and other members of the ZOOARCH community for advice on the horse bones and the literature provided. Special thanks to the reviewers of the article whose comments allowed us to improve the work.

Acquisition et exploitation des ressources animales et lithiques sur le site Moustérien de Mirefleurs (Puy-de-Dôme)

The Mousterian open air site of Mirefleurs is located on a versant dominated by a basaltic flow, in the Allier valley (Fig. 1). Since 1970's, the site has been digged several times. This paper presents the results of several diggs located in different parts of the site. The stratigraphic data result from an intervention realized in 2003. The site of Mirefleurs delivered a lithic industry and a plentiful fauna, disrupted in various times by solifluxion (Fig. 3). Fauna is widely dominated by Horse, which shows more affinities with Equus caballus germanicus than with the shape of the upper Palaeolithic Equus caballus gallicus (Prat, 1968; Guadelli, 1987) (Tables 3 to 32). The characteristics of this animal indicate an age near the end of isotopic stage 3, corresponding at a cold and dry environment. The AMS datations realized on horse bones give an age of 37,700±2600 BP and 28,210±820 BP. The absence of marks of carnivores on the bones lets suppose an unimportant participation of these last ones and a human origin in the implementation of this accumulation of bones. It seems that horses have been killed without any selection and with an important waste. This behaviour would explain the low representation of males, the strong representation of the adults and the small quantity of notches observed on bones. Lithic industry indicates a local exploitation of raw materials (Table 44). Discoïde and centripetal recurrent débitage are dominant (Figs. 9–11). Blanks are mostly retouched in different kinds of scrapers (Figs. 12 and 13). A second chaîne opératoire concerns flint tablets, which are retouched in some bifacial scrapers. Technological and typological characteristics of this lithic industry allow an attribution to Quina Mousterian (Niederlander et al., 1956; Combier, 1967; Le Tensorer, 1978).

Of Kings and Horses: Two New Horse Skeletons from the Royal Cemetery at el-Kurru, Sudan

This article presents the zooarchaeological evidence from two horse burials at the royal cemetery of el-Kurru, Sudan. The skeletons, whose survival after excavation was unknown, were recently rediscovered in storage in the Sudan National Museum. The article outlines the archaeological context of these specimens, their importance for research on equids in the ancient Nile valley and the first results of their zooarchaeological analysis.

Animal Bones and Bone Artefacts from the Viking Age Site of Tornimäe in Saaremaa

Archaeological investigations in Tornimäe in the eastern part of the island Saaremaa took place in 1963, 1968 and 2004. Artefacts found during the excavations are mainly dated to the Viking Age. Most of the finds are pottery shards, some metal artefacts were found, and also animal bones. The majority of mammal bones are bones of domestic animals. Nearly half of these are caprine bones, bones of cattle, pig and horse are less numerous. Wild game bones are few, only seals were hunted more often. Bird and fish bones are also represented. Only a few bone artefacts were among the finds, more fragments of bone items were found among the animal bones during the identification of osteological material. The bone artefacts found in Tornimäe are rather simple items which do not require special skills from the bone worker and could have been made by the users of these artefacts. The uses of bone artefacts are well suited with the location of the site at the seashore.

Остеологические материалы городища Уфа-2 (исследования 2013 и 2016 гг.)

Goals. The article discusses results of studies that dealt with osteological collections obtained during excavations at Ufa-2 hillfort in 2013 and 2016. Special attention is paid to the dynamics in livestock structure during the period of the monument’s functioning. Results. Analysis of the bone material distribution in the cultural layer of the once inhabited part of the monument makes it possible to clarify the consistent pattern revealed earlier through materials of 2017 excavations. The lower stratum of the cultural layer (stage 1) is dominated by bones of sheep and goats, while the upper ones (stage 2) witness a decrease in the share thereof accompanied by a gradual increase in the number of horse bones. Stage 3 identified in 2017 is not clearly distinguishable in the materials obtained in 2013, which might be due to a violation of the cultural layer integrity in the area and employed methods of osteological materials selecting. 2016 archaeological survey of the moat gave rise to a hypothesis that the fortification (moat) was built in the 3rd–4th centuries AD and functioned for one or two centuries only to be further repeatedly filled with soil taken from the inhabited part of the site. Conclusions. Analysis of osteological collections from undisturbed layers of the moat (backfilling stages 1 and 2) shows that chronologically stage 1 can be correlated to an increase in the amount of Turbasli culture and Romanovka type ceramics in the cultural layer of the inhabited areas. And stage 2 may have taken shape by the middle or end of the chronological period. Thus, the findings confirm and clarify the hypothesis proposed on the basis of the analysis of archaeological data conducted.

The metapodial hammers from the Lower Palaeolithic site of Schöningen 13 II-4 (Germany): The results of experimental research

Bones tools have been used by hominins for over a million years and are found in a broad array of shapes and sizes. The function of metapodia exhibiting battering damage on epiphyses from the Lower Palaeolithic site of Schöningen 13 II-4, however, was unknown when they were first described in 2008. Crushing, chipping, and flaking damage on lateral and medial epicondyles was originally ascribed to stone tool production and/or maintenance. A detailed re-examination of the metapodia assemblage, however, did not result in the discovery of small flint particles embedded in the battered surfaces, a common feature in bones from Schöningen that have been used to knap flint. While recent experiments have demonstrated the effective use of metapodia in flint working, they did not produce the characteristic battering damage on the epicondyles when purely working flint. An alternative explanation for the use of metapodia was found in ethnography: the Nunamiut frequently used reindeer metapodia as hammers to fracture other limb bones. It was therefore hypothesised that the metapodia from Schöningen were used as hammers to fracture other limb bones in order to gain access to bone marrow. Actualistic experiments with fresh horse bones presented in this paper verify this hypothesis; horse metapodia were effective tools to break open other limb bones and the metapodia sustained the characteristic battering damage that is observed in the fossil record of Schöningen. Whether the metapodial hammers are the product of incidental improvisation or a quickly abandoned innovation during the transition from the Lower to the Middle Palaeolithic remains unclear.

Different Approach to Horses-The Use of Equid Remains in the Early Middle Ages on the Example of Ostrów Tumski in Wroclaw.

Simple SummaryWroclaw, the capital of Silesia located in south-western Poland, was one of the most important settlement agglomerations in the Western Slavic region in the period from the mid of the 10th to the 12th/13th century. The center of Wroclaw was a multi-part fortified settlement located on the Ostrów Tumski Island, the seat of the ducal and church authorities in the Middle Ages. Apart from spectacular finds of architectural monuments and elite products from various spheres of material culture, thousands of seemingly less interesting artefacts were found in Ostrów Tumski, among them a series of over 100,000 animal remains. A detailed and multifaceted analysis of the archaeozoological materials from Wroclaw clearly shows various interactions between the inhabitants of the stronghold and the animals living among them or nearby. One of the most important species in everyday life of the settlement was the horse. This animal is primarily associated with horseback riding and knighthood, possibly also with draught purposes. However, were these really the only functions of the horse and other equids? The aim of this article is to show the varied role of the horse, inter alia, its usage as a raw material source for the production of items made of bone, hair and leather, and sometimes even for food.The following article concerns the functional use of horse bones in the early Middle Ages (mainly in the period from the mid of the 10th to the 12th/13th century). The authors try to explain how such remains were used and how common it was. It is also discussed whether the special role of the horse in medieval societies somehow restricted its post-mortem usage, or perhaps there was no difference between the skeletal remains of horses and other species in this regard. For this purpose, statistical calculations on the use of the bones of various mammals were made. Only the remains of the species determined during the archaeozoological analysis were taken into account. The specific use of individual parts of a horse skeleton was also noted. In addition, the analysis also encompasses all other types of horse remains that could be used by humans (hide, hair, etc.). The consumption of horse meat was discussed separately: on the basis of the preserved traces, an attempt was made to determine whether it had happened, and if so, how popular it had been. Overall, such comprehensive analysis aims to show the various roles of the horse. It was not only a mount, but also a beast of burden, a source of food and raw material as well. The main purpose of this study is to describe the role of horses in human medieval societies of Ostrów Tumski on the basis of accessible equid remains. The highlighting of the human–horse relationship in the past allows us to understand the importance and value of the horse both as a life companion and the source of food or leather and bone tools.

OPTIMIZATION OF THE METHOD OF DNA ISOLATION FROM FOSSILS

The history of the origin and domestication of farm animals has always interested mankind. However, these issues are covered in the literature in great detail only from the time when herds of domestic animals have already formed. Most often, the genesis of individual species, the original forms that formed the basis of domestication, remain unclear. [2] An example is the history of domestication of the horse, as the horse played a central role among other domestic animals in the development of human society. In the study of mammal fauna of the Pleistocene-Holocene of Europe there is a problem of studying the origin of the domestic horse Eguus cabalus L., ie, the establishment of wild ancestors of domesticated breeds, place, time and process of their domestication. Analysis of literature data on paleontological and archaeological finds in Ukraine showed that most researchers believe that the first domesticated horses began to recognize horses, the remains of which were found during archaeological excavations of the settlement of the third millennium BC. BC in Botai (Northern Kazakhstan), but from which taxon the opinions of scientists differ. Some believe that it could be Tarpan, however, there is an opinion that a large horse could not come from a small tarpan and Przewalski's horse. Therefore, preference was given to the hypothesis of the origin of the domestic horse from the ancient Pleistocene. At present, the problem of the origin of the domestic horse does not go beyond hypotheses and assumptions, and this is primarily due to the slight difference between the bones of the domestic and wild horse. The plasticity of the skeleton of the genus Eguus is very weak and this explains the problems faced by paleontologists in trying to develop the evolutionary history of horses. Thus, to understand the processes of domestication of this animal, in addition to archaeological and paleontological research methods, it is necessary to use tools from other fields of science, such as molecular genetic analysis of DNA samples. One of the variants of test systems for studying genetic polymorphism is the use of ISSR markers, which allow to analyze DNA fragments and make certain phylogenetic connections in the studied groups.
 In the laboratory of genetics of the Institute of Breeding and Genetics of Animals named after M.V.Zubets NAAS began research in the field of paleogenetics, namely – the study of the molecular genetic component in the fossils of ancient members of the genus Eguus using ISSR-markers. Inverted repeats are of particular interest because they are unevenly distributed throughout the genome and do not require prior knowledge of the nucleotide sequence of the test DNA. A significant point in the selection of research methods for us was that intermicrosatellite polymorphism is used to study interspecific and intraspecific genetic variability. It is believed that DNA fragments obtained by ISSR analysis can be species- and breed-specific, and this method is widely used by researchers in the study of breed groups.
 The purpose of our work is to develop a new method of DNA isolation from fossil remains (bones) of ancient horses and the production of ISSR-PCR with isolated DNA samples in the laboratory of genetics IRGT. M.V.Zubets NAAS according to the available reagents and existing protocols.
 The research was carried out on samples of fossil bones of horses of the Pleistocene period (about 10 thousand years BC). One bone was found in the village. Beeches of Zhytomyr region in a career. Excavations were carried out in 1960, the metacarpal bone (os. Tarsicentral). Another bone was found in Novgorod-Siversky, Chernihiv region. in a career. Excavations were conducted by Boriskovsky PI in 1935. A tooth found in the village of Tarpan was used to study a wild tarpan horse (4.5 thousand years BC). Skibnytsia, Trostyanets district, Vinnytsia region. Excavations were conducted in 1959 by VM Danylenko. The paleontological material for the study was provided by the Kyiv National Museum of Natural History of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Department of Paleontology.
 As a result of this work for the first time in the Department of Genetics and Biotechnology IRGT. Research on paleogenetics has been started by M.V.Zubets. We optimized the method of extracting genetic material from fossils and obtained DNA from the bones of a horse of the Pleistocene period (about 10 thousand years BC) and the tooth of a wild horse tarpan (4.5 thousand years BC). Also, the optimal conditions for PCR were selected to work with DNA obtained from fossil remains, to study polymorphism with ISSR markers, and electrophoregrams of amplification products were obtained.

Early evidence for mounted horseback riding in northwest China

Horseback riding was a transformative force in the ancient world, prompting radical shifts in human mobility, warfare, trade, and interaction. In China, domestic horses laid the foundation for trade, communication, and state infrastructure along the ancient Silk Road, while also stimulating key military, social, and political changes in Chinese society. Nonetheless, the emergence and adoption of mounted horseback riding in China is still poorly understood, particularly due to a lack of direct archaeological data. Here we present a detailed osteological study of eight horse skeletons dated to ca. 350 BCE from the sites of Shirenzigou and Xigou in Xinjiang, northwest China, prior to the formalization of Silk Road trade across this key region. Our analyses reveal characteristic osteological changes associated with equestrian practices on all specimens. Alongside other relevant archaeological evidence, these data provide direct evidence for mounted horseback riding, horse equipment, and mounted archery in northwest China by the late first millennium BCE. Most importantly, our results suggest that this region may have played a crucial role in the spread of equestrian technologies from the Eurasian interior to the settled civilizations of early China, where horses facilitated the rise of the first united Chinese empires and the emergence of transcontinental trade networks.

Equine dental and skeletal fluorosis induced by well water consumption.

Two horses that consumed well water with high fluoride content exhibited clinical signs of chronic dental and skeletal fluoride toxicosis and were later euthanized and autopsied. Both horses had degenerative disease of multiple joints and multiple dental defects. Elevated fluoride concentrations were found in bone and tooth samples of both horses, well water, and feed. Microscopically, abnormalities were noted in bone and tooth samples, and consisted mostly of foci of cement necrosis and hypercementosis. Horses exhibiting bilateral, highly symmetrical dental and/or skeletal lesions, with chronic lameness, should be evaluated for the possible presence of fluoride toxicosis.

Disentangling taphonomic histories at Old Uppsala, a Late Iron Age central place in Sweden, using Multiple Correspondence Analysis (MCA)

Multiple Correspondence Analysis (MCA) has been applied to animal bones from the Late Iron Age (650–1050 CE) at the site of Old Uppsala, Sweden, to explore meat consumption and waste management at the site and to evaluate the inferential value of MCA, as indicated by earlier research using this technique. MCA describes variation within the data, which provides a platform from which to contextualize taphonomic traces at Old Uppsala. The data comprises bones from the many pit houses at Old Uppsala, categorized by taxon, anatomical parts and presence of taphonomic markers from burning, butchery, gnawing, trampling and weathering. The results show a clear variation in the distribution of animal bones between the pit houses. For example, differences in fragmentation degrees and in signs of bone exposure indicate different accumulation rates between the assemblages. The results also suggest that cultural practices affected the distribution of animal bones, especially in terms of spatial and social differences in animal consumption. The frequencies of bones from the axial skeleton, from pig, and possibly also from horse, differed within the settlement. We suggest that the uneven patterns of especially pig and horse bones were shaped by context specific meat consumption, influenced by the animal symbolism of the Old Norse societies, where these animals had strong, albeit different, symbolic connotations.

Horse eyeballs and bone hammers: surprising lives of the Neanderthals

Rebecca Wragg Sykes’s book paints a vivid portrait of our adaptable ancient relatives. Rebecca Wragg Sykes’s book paints a vivid portrait of our adaptable ancient relatives.

Effects of aquatic conditioning on cartilage and bone metabolism in young horses.

While beneficial in rehabilitation, aquatic exercise effects on cartilage and bone metabolism in young, healthy horses has not been well described. Therefore, 30 Quarter Horse yearlings (343 ± 28 kg; 496 ± 12 d of age) were stratified by age, body weight (BW), and sex and randomly assigned to 1 of 3 treatments for 140-d to evaluate effects of aquatic, dry, or no exercise on bone and cartilage metabolism in young horses transitioning to an advanced workload. Treatments included nonexercise control (CON; n = 10), dry treadmill (DRY; n = 10), or aquatic treadmill exercise (H2O; n = 10; water: 60% wither height, WH). Horses were housed individually (3.6 × 3.6 m) from 0600 to 1800 hours, allowed turnout (74 × 70 m) from 1800 to 0600 hours, and fed to meet or exceed requirements. During phase I (days 0 to 112), DRY and H2O walked on treadmills 30 min/d, 5 d/wk. Phase II (days 113 to 140) transitioned to an advanced workload 5 d/wk. Every 14-d, WH, hip height (HH), and BW were recorded. Left third metacarpal radiographs on days 0, 112, and 140 were analyzed for radiographic bone aluminum equivalence (RBAE). Every 28-d, serum samples were analyzed for osteocalcin and C-telopeptide crosslaps of type I collagen (CTX-1), and synovial fluid samples were analyzed for prostaglandin E2, collagenase cleavage neopeptide (C2C), collagenase of type I and type II collagen, and carboxypeptide of type II collagen using ELISAs. All data were analyzed using PROC MIXED of SAS, including random effect of horse within treatment, and repeated effect of day. Baseline treatment differences were accounted for using a covariate. There were treatment × day interactions (P < 0.01) where OC and CTX-1 remained consistent in both exercise groups while inconsistently increasing in CON. There were no treatment differences (P > 0.30) in RBAE, BW, or HH, but all increased over time (P < 0.01). There were no treatment × day interactions of synovial inflammation or markers of cartilage metabolism; however, there was an effect of day for each marker (P<0.03). Changes in biomarkers of cartilage turnover in horses exercised at the walk, whether dry or aquatic, could not be distinguished from horses with access to turnout alone. This study indicates that early forced exercise supports consistent bone metabolism necessary for uniform growth and bone development, and that there are no negative effects of buoyancy on cartilage metabolism in yearlings transitioned from aquatic exercise to a 28-d advanced workload.

Data-Driven Computational Simulation in Bone Mechanics.

The data-driven approach was formally introduced in the field of computational mechanics just a few years ago, but it has gained increasing interest and application as disruptive technology in many other fields of physics and engineering. Although the fundamental bases of the method have been already settled, there are still many challenges to solve, which are often inherently linked to the problem at hand. In this paper, the data-driven methodology is applied to a particular problem in tissue biomechanics, a context where this approach is particularly suitable due to the difficulty in establishing accurate and general constitutive models, due to the intrinsic intra and inter-individual variability of the microstructure and associated mechanical properties of biological tissues. The problem addressed here corresponds to the characterization and mechanical simulation of a piece of cortical bone tissue. Cortical horse bone tissue was mechanically tested using a biaxial machine. The displacement field was obtained by means of digital image correlation and then transformed into strains by approximating the displacement derivatives in the bone virtual geometric image. These results, together with the approximated stress state, assumed as uniform in the small pieces tested, were used as input in the flowchart of the data-driven methodology to solve several numerical examples, which were compared with the corresponding classical model-based fitted solution. From these results, we conclude that the data-driven methodology is a useful tool to directly simulate problems of biomechanical interest without the imposition (model-free) of complex spatial and individually-varying constitutive laws. The presented data-driven approach recovers the natural spatial variation of the solution, resulting from the complex structure of bone tissue, i.e. heterogeneity, microstructural hierarchy and multifactorial architecture, making it possible to add the intrinsic stochasticity of biological tissues into the data set and into the numerical approach.

Krajina posledního glaciálního maxima a strategie lovu koní ve střední Evropě: příklad lokality Stránská skála IV

With the end of MIS3, the unity of larger Gravettian settlements based predominantly on mammoth exploitation split into a mosaic of smaller Epigravettian sites with specific behaviors and economies. Based on C14 chronology, the site of Stránská skála IV (together with Grubgraben, Ságvár and Kašov), correlates with a brief warm period after the Last Glacial Maximum around 22 ka calBP. We detected two main accumulations of predominantly horse bones under a rock cliff suggesting that the site was not a regular settlement but rather a specialised hunting site. No features or hearths were recovered. Lithic raw materials were imported from long distances, and the horse hunting strategy profitted from the specific geographic qualitites of the site. Preferential location of Epigravettian sites in secluded valleys is a pattern generally recognized in Moravia and usually explained as a response to the harsh MIS2 climates.

Comparison of speed of onset and analgesic effect of 2% mepivacaine hydrochloride deposited within or outside the neurovascular bundle at the level of the proximal sesamoid bones in horses with naturally occurring forefoot-related lameness.

To compare the speed of onset and analgesic effect of mepivacaine deposited within or immediately outside the neurovascular bundle at the base of the proximal sesamoid bones in horses. 6 horses with naturally occurring forefoot-related lameness. In a crossover study design, horses were randomly assigned to receive 1 of 2 treatments first, with the second treatment administered 3 to 7 days later. Trotting gait was analyzed with an inertial sensor-based motion analysis system immediately before treatment to determine degree of lameness. Afterward, ultrasound guidance was used to inject 2% mepivacaine hydrochloride around the palmar digital nerves of the affected forelimb at the level of the base of the proximal sesamoid bones either within the subcircumneural space or outside the circumneural sheath. After injection, gait was reevaluated at 5-minute intervals for 45 minutes. Mepivacaine deposition outside the circumneural sheath did not resolve lameness in any horse; for 3 horses, the mean time to 70% reduction of initial vertical head movement was 13.3 minutes, and the remaining 3 horses had no such reduction at any point. Mepivacaine deposition within the subcircumneural space resulted in a mean time to 70% reduction of initial vertical head movement of 6.7 minutes and mean time to resolution of lameness of 21.7 minutes. Results suggested that when peripheral nerves of horses lie within a sheath, local anesthetic solution should be deposited within the sheath for an effective nerve block. If local anesthetic solution is deposited outside the sheath, the nerve block may yield erroneous results.

OSTEOLOGICAL MATERIALS FROM CARAVANSERAI SHENGELDY

The article discusses osteological material from the excavations of the Shengeldy caravanserai. In the descriptions of the representatives of the fauna from the medieval caravanserai of Shengeldy and in table 1, the majority of bone remains are identified to a species. Examination of the species composition of the fauna shows their not rich species composition, although as a result of the study all species of domestic ungulates are found. Bone remains were determined by species, skeleton elements and degree of fragmentation. Bones found: horses (Equus caballus), cattle (Bos taurus), sheep (Ovis aries), goats (Capra hircus) and camel (Camelus bactrianus); wild animals - kulan (Equus hemionus), saiga (Saiga tatarica) and turtles (Testudines). Among domestic animals, the bones of horses and small cattle prevail. Cattle ranks third in number. One camel bone was found. Of the bones of domestic animals, 23.4% were intact and 76.6% were fragmented. Among the departments of the skeleton of domestic ungulates, carcass bones (scapula, vertebrae, ribs) and upper legs (femurs and tibia) predominate. Several fragments of human bones were found. Morphometric studies of the bones of horses, sheep, goats and cattle were carried out. Geometric morphometric methods have revealed morphological differences and similarities between species.

Stable isotope and radiocarbon analyses of livestock from the Mongol Empire site of Avraga, Mongolia

The Mongol Empire site of Avraga in eastern Mongolia has been proposed to be the site of Chinggis Khan's ordū, or winter base camp. We performed radiocarbon and multi-element stable isotope analyses of livestock bones and teeth from Avraga to assess its chronological association with Chinggis Khan and to investigate livestock husbandry and isotopic variability. The radiocarbon results indicate that the primary occupation of Avraga was during and perhaps just after Chinggis Khan's lifetime, and that there was a later use of a large platform area which has been argued to have a ritual function related to Chinggis Khan. Carbon, nitrogen, oxygen and strontium stable isotope analysis of sheep, goat, cattle and horse bones and teeth provide insight into the management of livestock during the Empire, and also provide an improved basis for evaluating human stable isotope data from the region.