New paper: First evidence for cattle traction in Neolithic Ireland
Congratulations to (opens in a new window)Associate Professor Jessica Smyth and (opens in a new window)Dr Fabienne Pigière on their new open access paper in PLOS ONE detailing the earliest recorded evidence for cattle traction in Ireland. The research was undertaken on the middle Neolithic (c. 3600 BC) cattle assemblage from Kilshane, Co. Dublin as part of the IRC Laureate project ‘(opens in a new window)Passage Tomb People’. Bone pathology data combined with osteometric analysis reveal specialised husbandry practices that produced large males, possibly oxen, for the purpose of traction. This new technology has important implications for early agriculture and land management practices as well as for megalithic construction.