University of Bradford eThesis This thesis is hosted in Bradford Scholars – The University of Bradford Open Access repository. Visit the repository for full metadata or to contact the repository team © University of Bradford. This work is licenced for reuse under a Creative Commons Licence. THE IDENTIFICATION OF BOVINE TUBERCULOSIS IN ZOOARCHAEOLOGICAL ASSEMBLAGES VOLUME 1 (1 OF 2) J. E. WOODING PhD UNIVERSITY OF BRADFORD 2010 THE IDENTIFICATION OF BOVINE TUBERCULOSIS IN ZOOARCHAEOLOGICAL ASSEMBLAGES Working towards differential diagnostic criteria Volume 1 (1 of 2) Jeanette Eve WOODING Submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy School of Life Sciences Division of Archaeological, Geographical and Environmental Sciences University of Bradford 2010 Jeanette Eve WOODING The identification of bovine tuberculosis in zooarchaeological assemblages. Working towards differential diagnostic criteria. Keywords: Palaeopathology, zooarchaeology, human osteoarchaeology, zoonosis, Iron Age, Viking Age, Iceland, Orkney, England ABSTRACT The study of human palaeopathology has developed considerably in the last three decades resulting in a structured and standardised framework of practice, based upon skeletal lesion patterning and differential diagnosis. By comparison, disarticulated zooarchaeological assemblages have precluded the observation of lesion distributions, resulting in a dearth of information regarding differential diagnosis and a lack of standard palaeopathological recording methods. Therefore, zoopalaeopathology has been restricted to the analysis of localised pathologies and ‘interesting specimens’. Under present circumstances, researchers can draw little confidence that the routine recording of palaeopathological lesions, their description or differential diagnosis will ever form a standard part of zooarchaeological analysis. This has impeded the understanding of animal disease in past society and, in particular, has restricted the study of systemic disease. This research tackles this by combining the disciplines of human palaeopathology and i zoopalaeopathology and focusing on zoonotic disease. The primary aim of this research was to investigate the skeletal manifestation of bTB in cattle, sheep/goat and pig to establish differential diagnostic criteria for its identification in zooarchaeological assemblages. Methods commonplace in human palaeopathology were adapted and applied to zoopalaeopathology, in addition to radiography and aDNA analysis. The results emphasise the difficulties but also the potential associated with the identification of systemic diseases in zooarchaeological assemblages. An approach to the classification of potentially infectious lesions is presented that enables the calculation of crude prevalence in disarticulated assemblages. In addition, the potential for aDNA analysis to shed further light on animal disease in the past is emphasised. Supervisors: Dr. J.M. Bond (Principal Supervisor) Dr. J. Buckberry (Associate Supervisor) Prof. C.J. Knüsel (External Supervisor, University of Exeter) ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The completion of this thesis would not have been possible without the help of a great many people and organisations. I would like to thank the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) for funding this project and the University of Bradford for supporting the application. A debt of gratitude is owed to my fantastic team of supervisors: Prof. Christopher Knüsel for support, advice, proof reading and guidance. His enthusiasm for the subject is infectious (no pun intended!) and I am undoubtedly a better student because of his tutorage; Dr. Julie Bond for providing the idea for this research project and for valuable help, proof-reading and advice over the years and Dr. Jo Buckberry for support, encouragement, proof-reading and x-rays. I am indebted to Dr. Mike Taylor for taking an interest in this research and for using a lot of his own time and funding to process numerous aDNA samples for me. I really appreciate the opportunity to visit the laboratory at UCL and his patience and time taken to explain the basics of aDNA to a novice! Thank you also to Dr. Graham Stewart and Dr. Rachel Shrimpton of the University of Surrey for conducting the aDNA replication and to Prof. Minnikin for agreeing to run mycolic acid analyses for the purposes of further work. Without the cooperation and generosity of a number of people and museums, this research would not have been possible. Dr. John Dent for providing Wetwang Slack phasing information and for the permission to use his unpublished data. Paula Gentil at Hull and East Ridings Museum for access to the Wetwang Slack faunal assemblage, for lots of help and for the lovely cups of tea! Dave Evans of Humber Archaeology Partnership for access to the Wetwang Slack archive. The Institute of Archaeology in Iceland for permission to study the Icelandic assemblages. Prof. Tom McGovern (CUNY) for access to the Icelandic assemblages and for the opportunity to spend a month recording them in New York. Dr. Ragnar Edvardsson for providing information and advice concerning Hrisheimer. Dr. Ruth Maher, Ramona Harrison and Howell Roberts for help and advice concerning Icelandic excavations and for providing excavation reports. Hildur Gestsdóttir for information related to the human remains at Hofstaðir and for her advice and data. Prof. Anne-Karin Hufthammer, Dr. Sigrid Kaland and Dr. Olaug Flatnes Bratbak for allowing access to the Westness assemblage and for the opportunity to visit Norway to record them. James Webb and Emma Ayling at the Priest’s House museum, Wimborne Minster for access to the Barton Field, Tarrant Hinton assemblage and for a very enjoyable two-week study visit. Kay Ainsworth, Dave Allen and Alan Jacobs for access to the Danebury faunal assemblage. Dr. Roy Bengis, Chief State Veterinarian, Kruger National Park, South Africa for providing information about bTB in lions and permission to use his photographs in this thesis. Prof. Terry O’Connor for allowing access to the Baker iii Collection and valuable advice. Dr. Julie Hamilton, Dr. Jessica Rippengall, Jessica Grimm and Ian Smith for access to the modern animal case-studies. Anne Brundle for advice and information concerning assemblages and their locations in the Northern Isles. Richard Thomas and Stephanie Vann for help and advice. Dr. Sonia O’ Connor for valuable guidance and advice about radiography. Konica Minolta for the loan of the Regius 190 computed radiography (CR) system to the Division of AGES. Thanks to Dr. Mandy Jay for providing unpublished data and information about the Wetwang Slack faunal assemblage. Also thanks to Dr. Melanie Giles, Sue Jones and Dr. Rebecca Storm for valuable advice. Jen Browning (ULAS) for fantastic animal bone recording experience, for constant advice and lots of fun. Thanks to Naomi Sewpaul for introducing me to Hull Museum and allowing me to tag along on a number of occasions! I would like to thank the Division of AGES and specifically the Department of Archaeological Sciences for making the last few years and, in particular, my research a very enjoyable and productive experience. In particular, the North Atlantic Research Unit (NARU) and the Biological Anthropology Research Centre (BARC). Also a special thank you to all the administrative staff and technicians. There are too many friends to mention all individually, I am very lucky indeed – thank you for making me smile. Special mention must go to Sarah King and Hannah Russ - my writing-up buddies – I really appreciate your friendship and encouragement! We did it! A very big thank you to Matt Parker for admirably coping with the ups and downs of PhD student life, for his understanding, patience, love and support. I think you can cope with anything now – you certainly passed the test! Finally the biggest thank you and acknowledgment must go to my family, a terrific ensemble! In particular, I would like to thank my sister Caroline for inspiring me over the years and for reading my work. I would also like to acknowledge my parents, Sylvia and Ernie, who worked extremely hard and sacrificed much over the years to ensure that my sister and I had a good education and the opportunity to excel. We both have, but this certainly would not have been possible without their unconditional love, support, sacrifice and encouragement. This is as much their achievement as it is mine and is, therefore, dedicated to them. iv For my parents v TABLE OF CONTENTS VOLUME 1 Abstract..................................................................................................................i Acknowledgments................................................................................................iii Table of Contents..................................................................................................vi List of Tables.......................................................................................................xiii List of Figures.....................................................................................................xvii 1. Introduction: Identifying the problem ............................................. 1 1.1 Introduction ................................................................................................... 1 1.2 Identifying the problem ................................................................................. 1 1.3 Tuberculosis: A disease of considerable antiquity ........................................ 2 1.4 Research context: The need for differential diagnostic criteria