[Bonetools] Magdalenian pointed tools, unknown function

[Jean-Marc Pétillon]

Here is another guess.

These tools were found at the Saint-Germain-la-Rivière rockshelter  
(Gironde, France), in Lower Magdalenian layers dated ca. 18-20 kyr  
cal. BP. The excavation is not under the shelter but on the steep  
slope before it, so preservation conditions are not optimal and  
post-depositional fragmentation is intense. No tool is complete; there  
are about 30 fragments.

These pointed tools are made on complete sections of reindeer antlers  
- either the main beam of middle-sized antlers or the tine of larger  
ones. They are worked by scraping, strictly calibrated in diameter  
(20-23 mm, circular section) and the biggest fragments are about  
180-200 mm long. Close to the active part, the shaping is pronounced  
enough to completely scrape off the compact tissue and expose the  
inner spongiosa on one side.

What seems to be the active part of the tool is a blunt point that  
often shows a very strange alteration on the tip (see pictures). The  
points are sometimes found isolated, apparently broken during use (cf.  
bending fracture or « tongued fracture ») which seems to show that the  
tool worked in percussion or in flexion with some force.

These tools are not recorded in the Paleolithic literature and I have  
never seen such alteration on antler before. Our haphazard functional  
interpretations run from digging stick to ice pick, poker and tent  
peg. Anyone who has ever seen something like this wins the SAA award  
(Strange Antler Artifact - what did you think ?)...

J.Marc



-- 
Jean-Marc Pétillon
CNRS
Laboratoire TRACES (UMR 5608)
Université Toulouse le Mirail
Maison de la recherche
5 allées A. Machado
F-31058 Toulouse

+ 33 (0) 5 61 50 24 53
+ 33 (0) 6 31 07 47 62



----------------------------------------------------------------
This message was sent using IMP, the Internet Messaging Program.

-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: SGLR_Tool01.jpg
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 134302 bytes
Desc: not available
Url : https://listserv.niif.hu/pipermail/bonetools/attachments/20081123/6c121f2e/attachment-0006.jpg 
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: SGLR_Tool02.jpg
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 156242 bytes
Desc: not available
Url : https://listserv.niif.hu/pipermail/bonetools/attachments/20081123/6c121f2e/attachment-0007.jpg 
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: SGLR_Tool03.jpg
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 177156 bytes
Desc: not available
Url : https://listserv.niif.hu/pipermail/bonetools/attachments/20081123/6c121f2e/attachment-0008.jpg 
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: SGLR_Tool03detail.jpg
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 197061 bytes
Desc: not available
Url : https://listserv.niif.hu/pipermail/bonetools/attachments/20081123/6c121f2e/attachment-0009.jpg 
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: SGLR_Tool04.jpg
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 364971 bytes
Desc: not available
Url : https://listserv.niif.hu/pipermail/bonetools/attachments/20081123/6c121f2e/attachment-0010.jpg 
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: SGLR_Tool04detail.jpg
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 137786 bytes
Desc: not available
Url : https://listserv.niif.hu/pipermail/bonetools/attachments/20081123/6c121f2e/attachment-0011.jpg