Ossamenta

Last Friday was Day of Archaeology 2013. And I didn't post a thing. Well, to be fair, it would have been a very unrepresentative day, since I took half the day off to show some visiting friends Oxford. Perhaps I'll do something for next year.

But I have something fun to show you. Among the bones from a small, fairly "normal"/boring evaluation there was a very fragmented horse skull with two deformed teeth. One had a large hole in the occlusal surface - that's the chewing surface - and a large groove on the side. They may be connected. There is still soil deep in the hole and in the groove that I haven't been able to remove. I guess if I soaked the tooth it would be possible, but I don't want to risk any flaking from long immersion. The other tooth also has a large groove on two sides.


Lingual (tongue-side) and side view


Buccal (lip-side) and occlusal view

I think that I might be dealing with caries in the occlusal surface that went deep and caused an infection in the root. The infection went outward and into the gum, from which it went into the neighbouring tooth. But I have never seen such deformation before, and occlusal caries in human teeth - admittedly far smaller than horse teeth - usually break the crown from within without any other changes in the enamel surface.

I think I need to bring the teeth to the next PZG meeting, as it's a pathology-themed meeting. Hopefully someone there will recognise this.