Rassadnikov A.Yu.

OSTEOPHAGIA IN DOMESTIC UNGULATES IN THE BRONZE AGE SETTLEMENTS OF THE TRANS-URALS (ACCORDING TO ARCHAEOZOOLOGICAL AND ETHNOZOOLOGICAL MATERIALS)

The paper provides a detailed description of the bones, which were subject to chewing and exposed to digestive enzymes of cattle and small cattle. Eating bones is called osteophagia. The bones with such changes were found in the archaeozoological collections of two fortified settlements of the Bronze Age in the Trans-Urals. They are Kamennyi Ambar and Konoplyanka. While processing the collection and inspecting modern cattle paddocks, all forms and stages of chewing bones among cattle and small cattle were detected.

Key words: osteophagia, Southern Trans-Urals, the Bronze Age, Archaeozoology, Ethnozoology, bone chewing by ungulates, cattle (Bos Taurus), small cattle (Ovis et Capra), ungulates digestive corrosion.