Equus Limb Bones

Equus are a genus of mammals which are still very much with us today, they include the likes of horses, zebras, donkeys and other similar hoofed animals. The name is derived from the Latin word for horse, it’s self, a word derived from the ancient Greek word hippos. These particular fossil specimens were found in the North Sea, UK and are dated back to the Pleistocene period, making the bones anywhere between 2.5 million to 11,700 years old, as the exact species cannot be determined. During this period, the North Sea was not as it is today, but a vast tundra environment known as Doggerland which could be walked upon by many of the ice age fauna which were present at the time, among then was the ancestor of the horse. The fossils are of the limb bones, the exact piece, unable to be determined. The pieces are approximately 40 to 55 cm in length, they have no preservation material or coating and will make for excellent additions to educational collections.