ABSTRACT
SIZE AND VARIATION Size and robustness are two of the main initial criteria for identification, particularly amongst the bovids and cervids, but they show considerable variation even within the same species. This may partly be due to the effects of domestication and subsequent breeding but, even in wild forms, there is variation between males and females, and between different populations of the same species. The red deer living today in Britain are consider ably smaller than, for example, German red deer and also smaller than prehistoric British red deer would have been. The extinct giant bison of Eurasia was also considerably larger than the living European bison. It is usually given its own separate species name Bison priscus but, in all respects other than size, its bones are indistin guishable from those of the living forms. The aurochs or urns, extinct ancestor to domestic cattle, was of a similar build to the giant bison, very much larger and more robust than the earliest domestic cattle. Since that time, selective breeding has produced larger domestic cattle, the biggest bulls of which overlap in size and robustness with the smaller ancient wild cattle. The largest specimens of wild cattle represent enormous creatures, estimated to have been around 2.5m at the shoulder. Reference specimens prepared from modem cattle carcases are too small and lightly built to represent these, but they are also much too large to represent the majority of prehistoric domestic cattle, unless particularly small, rare breeds are chosen. There is not space in this booklet to represent the enormous range of variation in cattle size, and identification has instead to be carried out on the basis of propor tions of bones and detailed features of their anatomy which are independent of size.
