Spavin in modern and archaeological cattle: Reassessing its association with traction use

Objective

To investigate the correlations of biological factors, including age, body size, and sex, with the occurrence of spavin, demonstrating that using spavin to indicate cattle use for draught work from archaeological sites is questionable.

Materials

Metatarsals from 126 modern non-draught cattle kept under similar conditions, along with published data of 18 draught oxen.

Results

This study demonstrates that spavin strongly correlates with age, body weight, and to some extent, restricted movement, with no observed correlation with sex in non-draught cattle. No significant difference in spavin prevalence was found between the draught and non-draught groups.

Conclusions

Age, body weight, and potentially restricted movement, may partly explain the higher frequency of spavin observed in historic times compared to prehistory, reflecting changes in livestock management. The potential influence of traction on spavin should not be ignored, but this paper argues that the connection between spavin and draught use is primarily mediated by age and other factors.

Significance

This study presents the first systematic analysis of one of the most frequently described palaeopathology in cattle, suggesting that spavin should not be uncritically used to identify draught cattle.

Limitation

We have not found a significant relationship between sex and spavin occurrence, but this is worth further exploration.

Suggestions for further research

Sexing pathological metatarsals from archaeological sites in future works could contribute to clarifying the causes of spavin.