An Encyclopaedia of Indian Archaeology v1.c20.s1.t3.54

v1.c20.s1.t3.54

Bovine teeth and bones comprise the largest proportion of the animal remains from Langhnaj. However they are in a very fragmentary condition and there are no horn-cores or skull bones in the collection. Among the extinct bovine species at Langhnaj are the Pleistocene species of the Indian buffalo, *Bison sivalensis* Falconer and *Bos namadicus* Falconer *Bos namadicus* has also been discovered at Mohenjo-daro (Marshall, 1931). The wear of the bovine teeth indicates that the animals represented at Langhnaj were between two and three years of age. In the teeth the enamel pattern is simple and the accessory pillar is developed as a simple fold between the two lobes of the teeth. They may be provisionally assigned to *Bos indicus* and/or *Bubalus bubalis*. An angle of a mandible from the collection may have been deliberately chopped off from the rest of the jaw. This makes the identification of *Bos*/*Bubalus* teeth all the more difficult. A scapho-cuboid of a bovid present in the collection is charred. There is considerable variation in the size of the tarsal bones. Several of the tali articulate with the tibiae. The metacarpal and metarsal bones of *Bubalus* from Langhnaj are flat and wider in relation to their anterio-posterior depth than are the metapodial bones in *Bos*.