Evidence of the use of a horn yoke in the Middle La Tène period, and an analysis of animal finds from La Tène features in the Velké Zboží and Malé Zboží cadasters, central Bohemia

Abstract

During archaeological excavations of three La Tène features in 2001 and 2002 at the periphery of the Velké Zboží and Malé Zboží cadasters (Nymburk district), a total of 33 animal bones were obtained. Only domestic mammals were determined in the material: cattle, sheep/goat (of which only sheep is reliably documented), pig, horse and dog. A valuable find from feat. 8 (LT C2-D1) is a horn core from a domestic cattle (Bos taurus), which shows signs of pathology. The pathology comes in the form of a depression on the anterior surface, which leads to the narrowing of the horn. Such pathology is considered to be the result of long-term use of a forehead yoke. The find represents one of a few documented cases of the use of the yoke in prehistory in the territory of today’s Czech Republic. A hornless sheep is documented at another feature.