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Disappearance Beyond Recall

A Social Context for Bronze Age Aurochs Extinction in Britain

Bibliographic Data

ID11003074
AuthorsC Evans (0000-0001-9203-1354), Chris Evans (0000-0002-4197-4202, University of Cambridge, corresponding author), Christopher Evans (0009-0000-5778-6858)
Year2015
Volume81
Pages107-123
Publication date2015-12-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueProceedings of the Prehistoric Society (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0079-497X • E-ISSN: 2050-2729
PublisherCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/ppr.2015.6
OpenAlexW2588591581
LanguageEN
Citations received2
References cited35

The interest which attaches to the history of extinct British animals can only be equalled by the regret which must be felt, by all true naturalists, at their disappearance beyond recall from our fauna (Harting 1880, 3; emphasis added). The implications of pit-deposits containing aurochs/ Bos primigenius skulls dating to the Bronze Age, found in two recent excavations in Bedfordshire are outlined. Involving a review of related findings in south-eastern England, these serve as a platform to consider the dynamics of aurochs extinction, which is held to have occurred in Britain by the middle–later centuries of the 2nd millennium bc . It should be stressed that, although consulting many ‘expert’ colleagues, this paper is not written from a faunal remains-specialist perspective. It is essentially discursive and primarily intended to highlight a significant site-recovery trend. It reflects, moreover, on issues of broad social relevance. Holocene human-induced extinctions have both an inherent curiosity and poignancy. Indeed now, faced with currently threatened mass-species loss, they can even involve – beyond regret – a sense of cumulative guilt

Archaeology · Art · Biology · Bronze Age · Context (archaeology · Extinction (optical mineralogy · Geography · Habitat · Perspective (graphical · Regret · Threatened species · Archaeology and ancient environmental studies · Ecology · Forensic Anthropology and Bioarchaeology Studies · Geology · History · Paleontology · Pleistocene-Era Hominins and Archaeology

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Unique citing works2
Citations per year0,29
Citation span2019 - 2026 (8)
Citation velocitycurrent
Highly citedNo
Citation typesNeutral: 2
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