In most cases, when single limb bones or carcasses of
Equus or Bos were fed to captive wolves, one or both
epiphyseal ends of long bones were gnaweda way, producing
open-ended diaphyseal cylinders. Nearly 75% of hundreds
of recovered bones and fragments were markedb y
teeth scratches, furrows, or crushed tissue. Many long
bones of Equus or Bos had been broken into spiral and
other types of fractures. In tibiae, fracturing begins atth e
proximal end, following destructioonf the epiphysis (Haynes,
in press b). Femora are fractured from either end, following
removal of epiphyses; humeri are fractured first from
the proximal end. Fracture margins are mixtures of rounded
and sharp edges. Edges of levered-off fragments are initially
sharp until abraded by rubbing against the ground,
teeth, paws, and tongue.
I term this kind of damage a kennel pattern (Haynes,
1981), mostly diagnostic of sustained gnawing by sedentary
animals that need not hunt often or for most of their
diet. Bison or moose bones found at rendezvous sites in
the wild are occasionally damagedin a kennel pattern (Fig.
2; Haynes, in press b), but evidently such sites are less
common than those with less-scarred bones. Thus, a kennel
pattern is typically inflicted by captive animals, but
much less commonly by wild animals.
