Maureen,

Skinning would have resulted in a disarticulation of
the "feet" or cut marks at the distal ends of the
tibia and ulna/radius.

Burial often involves the entire animal or, in the
case of ritual burial, certain elements.  An animal
missing the chest cavity alone sounds more like a
carnivore kill that subsequently became buried.
Carnivores often go for the organs of small animals,
consuming and fragmenting the ribs and transporting
the vertebrae away from the main carcass.

-April

______________________
April M. Beisaw, RPA
Zooarchaeology and Taphonomy Consulting
[log in to unmask]
http://www.taphonomy.com
______________________

--- basedowm <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> Differential deterioration doesn't explain it. We
> had some very tiny elements
> from the present parts preserved in good condition
> -- i.e, from the feet. No
> reason why the ribs and vertebrae would deteriorate
> when elements of similar
> or lesser size and robustity were well-preserved.
>
> Regarding the other message, when I mentioned
> apotropaic functionalism and put
> "head and hooves" in quotes I was thinking of
> prehistoric European examples --
> had no idea this sort of thing continued so late in
> a European context though.
> Thank you! Interesting.
>
> Maureen Basedow
> Visiting Asst. Professor
> UNCW
>
> >===== Original Message From Brian Kenny
> <[log in to unmask]> =====
> how about differential preservation
> some bones deteriorate more readily than others
>
>
> >From: basedowm <[log in to unmask]>
> >Reply-To: HISTORICAL ARCHAEOLOGY <[log in to unmask]>
> >To: [log in to unmask]
> >Subject: partial racoon burial
> >Date: Sun, 10 Jun 2001 09:18:30 -0400
> >
> >From a slave cabin site (late 18th, early 19th
> century), in a clearly
> >defined
> >pit next to what was probably a door post, the
> partial burial of a young
> >racoon. That's the odd part - the burial consisted
> only of complete
> >skull/jaw
> >parts and long bones/mandibles. Although we had the
> entire context in situ
> >and
> >took the entire pit fill back to the lab for fine
> sieving there was no
> >trace
> >of spine ribs or anything else in the middle. Yes
> the young racoon could
> >have
> >been a buried pet, but why the decided partiality
> and suggestive location
> >(i.e., apotropaic burials near doors/windows at
> slave cabin sites, etc.) ?
> >Does anyone know of a "head and hooves" custom for
> ritual burial in the
> >American Southeast, any period, or any other
> comments here that might help
> >with interpretation. Also, no butchering or cut
> marks were present,
> >although
> >this is not terribly significant with an animal
> this young as it could have
> >been easily disarticulated simply by pulling apart
> once skinned.
> >
> >Thanks for any help.
> >
> >Maureen Basedow
> >Visiting Assistant Professor of Archaeology
> >UNC-Wilmington
>
>
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