Prashad, B., 1936. Animal remains from Harappa. Memoirs of the Archaeological Survey of India 51: 1-76
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| Location: |
Asia - South Asia - Pakistan |
| Subject: |
Taxonomy - Evolution |
| Species: |
Indian Rhino |
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Rhinoceros unicornis, Fragments of right scapula, found in Mound F, Trench VI, Square P 10/8, depth 8'7' to 11'10inch, about 5000 years old.
The find of an almost complete right shoulder girdle indicated that the distribution of the species in eatlier times was much more extensive in the Punjab and that probably there were marshy forest areas near Harappa where the rhino was found. No difference found with recent scapula.
Scapula is described: The prescapular fossa, as seen from above, forms a broad channel delimited by the spine on the one side and a ridge which runs upwards and backwards from the coracoid knob; this fossa is narrower than the postscapular fossa, along the outer margin of which the blade of the scapula curves upwards to the suprascapular border. The glenoid cavity is large, convex, and evenly rounded. The coracoid is a broad, rounded, knob-like strcuture, situated slightly above and anterior to the glenoid cavity; it is continued backwards as a broad, somewhat thickened plate-like structure till the origin of the prescapular fossa. The spine arises as alow ridge about 4 inches from the glenoid cavity and the runs as a broad ridge; in its posterior half the upper part of the spine is reflected over the postscapular fossa as a triangular plate, the tip of which is thickened into a knob-like structure.
Measurements (mm) Harappa specimen Recent (Indian Mus)
Scapula length ca. 470 460
Maximum width along the suprascapular border ca. 250 240
Width along the coracoid 185 160
Length of spine 310 310
Height of spine 130 130
End
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Animal remains from Harappa
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