Purpose

Improve understanding of the links between biological variables (sex, body size and anatomical position) and adaptive remodelling of autopodia, and the identification of traction use in the archaeological record.

Methods

A modified version of the recording system for identifying draught cattle in the archaeological record (Bartosiewicz et al., 1997) was applied to a sample of 1509 bones from six sites from medieval England. Analysis focused on identifying correlations between pathological and sub-pathological changes in lower-limb bones in relation to anatomy, sex and body mass.

Results

A correlation between sex, body mass and lower limb bone changes was demonstrated. The need to consider anterior and posterior limb bone elements separately to maximise the potential for identifying cattle used for traction was identified. Changes in hindlimb elements were highlighted as the most useful indicator of draught use.

Contribution

This study provides new, detailed evidence for a previously poorly understood correlation between the effects of anatomical position, sex and body size and the nature of skeletal changes traditionally associated with draught cattle. It pulls together findings and makes comprehensive suggestions for future studies.

Limitations

This is a purely methodological paper. Although general results are presented, there is insufficient space to include a full case study. This will be published separately within the results of the FeedSax project.

Further research

Future studies into the use of cattle for draught purposes in the past should take in to account the sex and size of the animals under consideration, and analyse anterior and posterior elements separately.

中文翻译：

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识别过去的牛：大规模考古数据分析的经验教训

目的

提高对生物变量（性别、体型和解剖位置）与自足适应性重塑之间的联系的理解，以及考古记录中牵引使用的识别。

方法

用于识别考古记录中的牛的记录系统的修改版本（Bartosiewicz 等，1997）被应用于来自中世纪英格兰六个地点的 1509 块骨头样本。分析的重点是确定与解剖结构、性别和体重相关的下肢骨骼的病理和亚病理变化之间的相关性。

结果

证明了性别、体重和下肢骨骼变化之间的相关性。确定需要分别考虑前肢和后肢骨骼元素，以最大限度地识别用于牵引的牛的潜力。后肢元素的变化被强调为最有用的草案使用指标。

贡献

这项研究为以前鲜为人知的解剖位置、性别和体型的影响与传统上与役用牛相关的骨骼变化的性质之间的相关性提供了新的详细证据。它将研究结果汇总在一起，并为未来的研究提出全面的建议。

限制

这是一篇纯粹的方法论论文。尽管提供了一般结果，但没有足够的空间来包括完整的案例研究。这将在 FeedSax 项目的结果中单独发布。

进一步的研究

过去对牛用于吃水目的的未来研究应考虑所考虑动物的性别和大小，并分别分析前部和后部因素。