The
Palæopathology
of
Horse Husbandry
Method
Bones of contemporary horses, whose history we know, and those of archaeological horses, whose history we can infer from their context, are being compared with the bones of animals whose history we would like to understand. Modern comparative material includes New Forest and Exmoor ponies as well as veterinary specimens. Ancient material includes, on the one hand, bones from animals whose function we know - for example, riding horses from Scythian graves: Ak-Alakha (Ukok Plateau, Altai), Bashadar (Altai), Licovichi (Ukraine)---and, on the other, those from animals we want to understand---for example, from Eneolithic or Copper Age settlement sites (around 4500 to 3000 BC) such as Dereivka (Ukraine) and Botai (Kazakhstan).
Archaeological Specimens
The photograph below shows the 10th, 11th, 13th--18th thoracic vertebrae of a horse from Ak-Alakha 5, Kurgan 3. New bone has developed around the articular processes and centrum epiphyses.
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The x-ray below is of the 14th thoracic vertebra (lateral view) of a horse from Ak-Alakha 5, Kurgan 3. It can be seen here that the crack in the centrum epiphysis does not penetrate into the body of the vertebra, but is confined to the denser epiphyseal bone. It is hypothesised that the stresses generated by bearing a rider on its back could have been responsible for its formation.
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The photograph below illustrates the 14th thoracic vertebra (caudal view) of a 7--10 year old horse from Ak-Alakha 5, Kurgan 3. Each of the four horses from this burial (as well as that from Lisovichi in the Ukraine) has similar cracks and new bone development in the centrum epiphysis of at least one vertebra in the caudal thoracic region of the spine (thoracic 11--18).
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Modern Specimens
Below is the 14th thoracic vertebra from a 23-year old Exmoor Pony. None of this pony’s centrum epiphyses are cracked and, in spite of its advanced years, the development of new bone is relatively insignificant.
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The photograph below shows the 11th--18th thoracic vertebrae of a 23-year old Exmoor Pony. By comparison with the much younger horse from Ak-Alakha, the development of new bone around the articular processes and centrum epiphyses of this Exmoor Pony is relatively insignificant. Much larger samples will be needed before we can draw more than the most preliminary of conclusions from this.
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A research project being carried out at the McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research (University of Cambridge) by Dr M.A. Levine with Prof. G.N. Bailey (Department of Archaeology, University of Newcastle), Prof. L.B. Jeffcott (Department of Clinical Veterinary Medicine, University of Cambridge), in collaboration with Katherine Whitwell FRCVS (equine pathologist, Newmarket) and with technical support from Mrs J.C. Rippengal. HTML by D.I. Redhouse. © University of Cambridge 1998.