Abstract
Objective
To evaluate the likelihood that pathological features noted on cattle bones indicate that the animal suffered hypertrophic osteopathy.
Materials
Cattle bones, mostly from the lower extremities, representing a single individual, recovered from a Romano-British villa (4th century CE).
Methods
The remains were subject to macroscopic, low-power microscopic, radiographic and μCT study, as well as biomolecular analysis for M. tuberculosis complex and Brucella species DNA.
Results
The remains represent a single individual and show bilaterally symmetrical subperiosteal new bone formation with no micro-anatomical alteration of the underlying bone structure. aDNA analysis was negative for M. tuberculosis and Brucella, but positive for bovine mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA).
Conclusions
Hypertrophic osteopathy is the most likely differential diagnoses.
Significance
Hypertrophic osteopathy is uncommon in bovids, and this is the first suspected case in livestock remains from an archaeological site. It demonstrates the importance of differential diagnosis in disarticulated remains through recognition of skeletal patterning.
Limitations
The diagnosis is hampered by the incomplete nature of the remains.
Suggestions for further research
Given the primacy of chronic infection as a cause of hypertrophic osteopathy in the past, scanning these remains for evidence of pathogens using Next Generation Sequencing when feasible, and other biomolecular techniques may be useful.