[Bonetools] antler artifact request1

Thu Nov 26 20:41:37 CET 2009

dear all,
thank you so far for the hints and comments.
it´s a good point, that this specimen could be an unfinished preform since
there are nearly no wear traces to see (polishing,striations,..).

i think the second "notch" more in the center of the ventral side of the
tine was not intentionally made but is (partely) more the result of a
crack you can see schematically at pic4 (sorry-this part is out of focus).
In this part of the artefact the compact tissue was nearly completely
removed so the spongy interior is now forming the surface. So, this area
should be much more susceptible to any kind of pre-or postdepositional
damage than the relatively hard areas around.

After another day of looking at and thinking about this object i´m now
thinking more in the direction of a kind of hammer.
these antler hammers are quite widespread i think- normally made of a
section of an antler beam with a hole worked in for the handle and often
have a tenon (bone,antler or other hard material) inserted into the spongy
tissue that mostly forms the hammer face.
well, as i said in the first mail this object was not carefully hollowed
as you would expect but in some cases the peole obviously just pounded
splinters of antler or compact bones into the spongy tissue of the
antlerhammer . i found such a piece from the late bza-early iron age
settlement of stillfried/march (lower austria)-i can send a photo if
someone is interested. if these splinters are missing there will be just
irregular and maybe rather shallow hollows left as we can see at this
object (pic 3)-there you also can see that the "hammer-face" shows a
slightly broken edge-maybe a hint?

so maybe this is a typ of hammer somehow similar fixed at the handle as
some of the neolithic antler sleeves for stone axes e.g. from the swiss
lake shore dwellings. so the notch would make sense because it would
prevent the antler sleeve from getting pounded out if the sleeve is just
put through the wooden handle. after combining all the traces visible this
idea seems plausible to me-and also the damage ("notch") on the central
ventral side could fit into this explanation. (but maybe i´m completely
wrong).

could this be just another type of antler-hammer and does anyone know such
artifacts?

best wishes
herbert

On Do, 26.11.2009, 12:47, Alice Choyke wrote:
> Dear Petar,
>     I cannot resist debating this idea with you. Our bridle ceek pieces
> (from Middle Bronze Age through the early Iron Age) are all multi-holed
> and
> more obviously worked and used around the ovoid holes. On the other hand
> we
> have numerous examples from the Middle bronze Age of brow or trez tines
> being cut off hollowed out about half-way down the length of the tine with
> a
> notched end. It is another question that no one knows what they are used
> for. I have sometimes wondered whether these objects could be used to
> guard
> the fingers when gathering together a bunch of wheat stalks to cut during
> harvest BUT this is pure speculation on my part stimulated by a harvesting
> tool for this purpose made of wood from Bulgaria (am I being impertinant?)
> .
> However the wooden pieces I saw made in Veliki turnovo had three finger
> holes - and then why the notched hole?
>
> Alice
>
> On Thu, Nov 26, 2009 at 10:22 AM, Petar Zidarov
> <petar.zidarov at yahoo.com>wrote:
>
>> Dear Herbert,
>> In my opinion, you probably have an unfinished preform (Halbfabrikat) of
>> a
>> horse bit (die s.g. Stangenknebel). An argument in favour of this
>> assumption
>> could be the notch and probably the one further to the center of the
>> object
>> visible on your pic2. Both may have served as guiding marks for the
>> places
>> chosen for perforation. In this line of reasoning it is not unlikely
>> that
>> your piece broke during the first attempt for making a hole at the base,
>> causing its abandonment. Herewith, I attach an article where you could
>> find
>> the production sequence I envisaged for such objects, as well as further
>> references.
>>
>> If you are interested to collect more information on similar finds from
>> Early Iron Age in Central Europe, I recommend you start with Boroffka
>> (1998)
>> where you will find a nice typology and distribution maps based on the
>> state
>> of research by then. Further you will certainly find useful and updated
>> information among the contributions in the excellent volume "Rad und
>> Wagen"
>> by Fansa & Burmeister (2004).
>>
>> Best wishes,
>> Petar
>>
>> --
>> Petar Zidarov
>> Lab of Archaeometry & Experimental Archaeology
>> Department of Archaeology, New Bulgarian University
>> 21 Montevideo Str., Building 1 - 19/20
>> BG-1618 Sofia, BULGARIA
>>
>> cell phone: +359 898 347 252
>>
>> --- On *Wed, 11/25/09, Herbert Boehm <a9504315 at unet.univie.ac.at>*
>> wrote:
>>
>>
>> From: Herbert Boehm <a9504315 at unet.univie.ac.at>
>> Subject: [Bonetools] antler artifact request1
>> To: bonetools at listserv.niif.hu
>> Date: Wednesday, November 25, 2009, 8:55 AM
>>
>> dear all,
>> does anyone know such antler-artifacts? -it was excavated from an early
>> iron age settlement in lower austria. For me, it looks like a part of a
>> more complex composite tool.
>> it´s probably made of a brow tine or bay tine and the surface was
>>
>> carefully carved so the original pearled surface was completely removed.
>> the tip seems to be slightly polished and rounded but doesn´t show signs
>>
>> of heavy use so i believe the main thing to reconstruct the function is
>> the transverse notch carved out at the opposite end of the tool.
>> Unfortunately, there is for sure a part missing in this area because the
>> "gap" you see (e.g. picture 3)seems to be the result of at least one
>> modern and probably another "antique" crack. as you can see on picture 2
>> and 4 there was obviously no "functional" hole worked in the spongy
>> part-maybe just a slight groove was carved in.
>> i´m grateful about any comments...
>> all the best
>> herbert
>>
>> -----Inline Attachment Follows-----
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> Bonetools mailing list
>> Bonetools at listserv.niif.hu
>> https://listserv.niif.hu/mailman/listinfo/bonetools
>>
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> Bonetools mailing list
>> Bonetools at listserv.niif.hu
>> https://listserv.niif.hu/mailman/listinfo/bonetools
>>
>>
> _______________________________________________
> Bonetools mailing list
> Bonetools at listserv.niif.hu
> https://listserv.niif.hu/mailman/listinfo/bonetools
>