Reference and Teaching Collections

There are two collections of bones in the Bone Laboratory:

• The Reference Collection based on modern specimens identified by someone competent to do so before preparation.
• The Teaching Collection which is based on archaeological specimens identified by direct or indirect comparison with reference material.

The Reference Collection was started in 1982 by Tony Gouldwell as a research and teaching tool for the study of animal bones from archaeological sites. A few specimens had previously been collected by Dr Jan Bay-Peterson. The number of specimens is currently in excess of 500. Systematic groups represented include fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals, mostly from Britain and Europe, with a small number of exotics. The Teaching Collection includes both modern and archaeological material organised by anatomical element.

Organisation

Each specimen is given an accession number, marked on the bone where possible, and on the labels of the containers. Prefixing each number is a letter thus:

• R - Prime quality reference material identified before defleshing by someone competent to do so.
• S - Secondary quality for material whose history is less certain and whose identification has been determined from the bones alone.
• F - Facsimiles, replicas, casts of actual bones.
• A - Archaeological material of interest either intrinsically or because suitable modern material has proved difficult to acquire, or because the species is extinct.
• L - Loan specimens of prime quality (R) but which may be claimed eventually by another organisation.

In addition to the accession number with prefix, many of the bones are marked with a colour-coded spot of paint. There is a chart in the laboratory relating the colours to the species or taxa. (Taxa (singular: taxon) are an identificatory units which usually equate with species, but sometimes are more ambiguous, e.g. 'goat/sheep'.)

An identificatory label gives first the Latin-based, scientific binomial in italics followed by an abbreviated form of the name of the authority who established it in the scientific literature, second the English name, then the accession number, and last the anatomical parts in the box are listed. Where appropriate, this label includes a note on pathology, butchery or other point of interest.

An additional label shows how the species are arranged into families which in turn are grouped into orders, then into classes (e.g. mammals, birds etc.). This governs storage so that related and therefore anatomically similar species are located together. A knowledge of systematics is not essential as the orders and families are given numbers, with names and numbers of orders in bold type, families in normal type. The numbering sequence for orders and families are each unique to their class which is indicated by colour-coding of the labels.

• For more information on the classification of vertebrates and their arrangement in the osteological collection please refer to the document prepared by Tony Gouldwell.

Specimens in the Teaching Collection, which is arranged anatomically, are marked individually and where appropriate with archaeological contexts, colour-coded spots, and names. Specimens co-opted from the reference collection are indicated by accession numbers.

There exists a computerised database of specimens in the Reference Collection, from which listings are printed off. A summary of our current list of acquisitions is regularly updated on this site. In addition to information repeated in the specimen labels notes on acquisition, preparation and distinctive observations relating to age, sex, size etc. of the original animal are made where appropriate. If you are interested in exchanging specimens with our laboratory please see our list of required specimens and the list of duplicates that we have available for exchange.

For practical guidance on using the animal bone collections please refer to our Rules of Good Practice.

The Human Bone Collection

In addition to catering for zooarchaeological studies, the laboratory also has facilities to teach human osteology. We are currently in possession of a large collection of human skeletons recovered through the archaeological excvation of St Mary's Cathedral, Coventry.

This collection is currently undergoing cataloguing and the details will be posted here when they are collated; however, we do know that it includes rather extreme forms of pathology such as a fused tibia and femur, as well as examples of osteoarthritis and rickets.

As part of our teaching collection we also possess an articulated human skelton and a number of casts which demonstrate the techniques required to age and sex individuals.

Offprint Collection

In addition to the ostological collections, the laboratory has an extensive library of offprints. These have largely been donated by various individuals, including Dr Annie Grant, Professor Graeme Barker, Dr Jenny Wakely and Ms Jenny Coy, and cover both human and animal bone studies. All our offprints are currently in the process of being catalogued using the bibilographic software EndNote. To date we have recorded over 800 references.