Archaeozoological evidence for the modification of sheep horns during Egypt's Predynastic period was uncovered at Hierakonpolis, Upper Egypt. At HK6, the site's so-called elite cemetery, a grave, which was part of a larger mortuary complex dated to around 3700 BC, contained at least 6 large, castrated male sheep. One individual was polled, while four others were of the corkscrew-horn type, but their horns were not oriented in the natural, lateral direction. Instead, the horns had been intentionally manipulated to grow upwards and in three cases this resulted in upright, parallel horns. While comparable practices are well documented in Africa in cattle through both modern ethnographic observations and archaeozoological studies of material from third millennium BC Nubia (in Kerma, Sudan), the Hierakonpolis sheep provide the oldest evidence for horn modification of livestock, and the first demonstration of the practice applied to sheep. When describing the skulls particular attention is paid to the pathological traces and deformities, i.e. constrictions on the horn cores, holes at the horn core bases, and deformations of the frontals. In order to assess the possible methods used in Predynastic Hierakonpolis to redirect the horns, these observations are compared with ethnographic and archaeozoological data from the literature. Finally, the possible reasons why these sheep were modified are also discussed. This study indicates that Predynastic Egyptians were already familiar with horn modelling techniques and confirms that this practice has a long history in the Nile Valley.

中文翻译：

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牲畜角变形的最早证据：埃及希拉孔波利斯的前王朝绵羊案例


在埃及前王朝时期对羊角进行改造的考古动物学证据在上埃及的 Hierakonpolis 被发现。在 HK6，该遗址所谓的精英墓地，一座坟墓，是可追溯到公元前 3700 年左右的大型太平间建筑群的一部分，里面至少有 6 只被阉割的大型公羊。对 1 个个体进行了调查，而其他 4 个是螺旋形角型的，但它们的角没有朝向自然的横向方向。相反，角被故意操纵向上生长，在三种情况下，这导致了直立、平行的角。虽然通过现代人种学观察和对公元前三千年努比亚（位于苏丹科尔马）材料的考古动物学研究，在非洲的牛身上有很好的记录，但 Hierakonpolis 绵羊为牲畜的角改造提供了最古老的证据，并首次证明了这种做法适用于绵羊。在描述头骨时，特别注意病理痕迹和畸形，即角芯的收缩、角芯基部的孔洞和额骨的变形。为了评估前王朝 Hierakonpolis 中用于重定向角的可能方法，将这些观察结果与文献中的民族学和考古动物学数据进行了比较。最后，还讨论了这些绵羊被改造的可能原因。这项研究表明，前王朝埃及人已经熟悉角建模技术，并证实这种做法在尼罗河谷有着悠久的历史。