| Entry: | Today in the faunal lab we have been looking at the goodies turning up in the priority units from TPC Building 110. Yesterday we found a segment of sheep/goat femur worked into a pipe or whistle (30216); today's top find is, I think, a really gruey pathological specimen (30221): a proximal femur from a large bird which looks like it suffered a break followed by formation of a false joint and septic arthritis. The animal must have lived quite a while and been lame and in pain. Which makes me wonder a little about the mentality of bone specialists (human or animal) who can see a specimen like this and, at the same time as thinking 'ouch', can say its 'really cool' or 'a nice bit of pathology'. By the way, we don't know what species the bird is, except its not stork. The pathology obscures the morphology and makes ID difficult. I'm holding out for pelican! |
