lesions consistent with the skeletal disorder chondrodystrophy. While this form of dwarfism has many
potential causes, it is also consistent with the presentation of the ‘creeper’ mutation. In this paper we
describe and undertake a differential diagnosis of the two articulating chicken bones, and consider the
wider significance of this find in 16th-century Britain. The appearance of these lesions, along with the
widespread size increase in chickens, the rise of early modern publications concerning chicken husbandry,
and contemporary observations that dwarf fowl were luxury foods, provide indirect support for this
diagnosis and adds to the growing body of knowledge regarding the unintended health impact of selective
breeding