[Bonetools] Fwd: worked bone handle

[Dávid Bartus]

Dear Alice,

As you asked, I am forwarding my mail to the bonetools list: 

--------------------------------------------------


Dear Sarah!



Sorry for the late reply, I didn't check my mail during the holidays.

First of all, I am not sure about the function of the object, but it's

definitely not part of a comb (if it's Roman). It could belong to a

knife, razor or toilet knife, but the majority of roman figural

decorated knifes are pocket-knifes (so called "Klappmessergriff") and

look a little different.

Anyway, there are Roman bone knife handles with human leg from Ephesos

(Mercklin 1940, Anm. 31, Taf. XXXVI, 6.), Rome (Mercklin 1940, Anm. 31

and 32.), Cologne (Banerjee - Schneider 1996, 338, Kat. 2, Abb. 14

a-b.) and Berlin (Mercklin 1940, Anm. 32, Taf. XXXVII,1.), an ivory

handle in collection of the Vatican Museum (Mercklin 1940, Anm. 31.),

and bronze pieces from Trier ('Arbeitsgebiet des Landesmuseums Trier'

Germania 21(1937) 196, Abb. 2.) and Köln (Franken 1996, 126, No. 163,

Abb. 245-246.).



There are some more handles with other figural decoration published by

Mercklin in 1940, his work is slightly outdated but still useful.

I collected all the Roman knife handles with figural decoration (as

far as I could) in my dissertation, including animal and human

motives, so I can send you the referring chapters if you need it. It

is in Hungarian, but maybe you can use it :)



References:

Mercklin, E., 'Römische Klappmessergriffe' in: Hoffilerov Zbornik,

Zagreb 1940, 339-352.

Banerjee, A. - Schneider, B., 'Römisches Elfenbein - Zerstörungsfreie

Materialprüfung mit optischen und spektralphotometrischen Methoden'

Kölner Jahrbuch 29 (1996) 331-342.

Franken, N., 'Die antiken Bronzen im Römisch-Germanischen Museum Köln'

Kölner Jahrbuch für Vor- und Frühgeschichte 29 (1996) 7-205.





Mail me if you need any more help,



David Bartus

Department of Classical Archaeology

Eötvös Loránd University of Budapest

bartusdavid at gmail.com

Date: Wed, 23 Dec 2009 09:15:41 +0100
From: choyke at ceu.hu
To: bonetools at listserv.niif.hu
Subject: [Bonetools] Fwd: worked bone handle

Dear Colleagues,
    This is a posting form an ICAZ member outside our list. So, if you write to Sarah directly please CC your ideas to the list as well as this is interesting for many of us.

Best,
Alice


---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Sarah Whitcher Kansa <skansa at alexandriaarchive.org>

Date: Wed, Dec 23, 2009 at 7:52 AM
Subject: worked bone handle
To: Alice Choyke <choyke at ceu.hu>


Dear Alice,



I have a piece of worked bone I was hoping somebody might help me with. I recently worked on the faunal assemblage from Petra (mainly Roman and Byzantine contexts). In one of the bags was a lovely piece of worked bone, which appears to have been a knife or comb handle, formed into the shape of a human leg. It has incisions that form a pattern on the "leggings" and it has a carved hole where the knife or comb would have inserted into the "thigh" part of the leg. The heel has a pin running through it, presumably to hold on the toe part of the foot (which is now broken off). Please see the attached image.




I'm wondering if you can point me to some any volumes or papers that might provide good examples of discussion of comparative material-- Roman/Byzantine worked bone, specifically handles. I'd mainly like to discuss how common this type of work is, in what contexts it occurs (knives, combs, etc), and what form it takes (animal, human, naturalistic).




Many thanks for any advice!



Sarah Kansa

skansa at alexandriaarchive.org



-- 

Sarah Whitcher Kansa

Executive Director

The Alexandria Archive Institute

www.alexandriaarchive.org

www.opencontext.org

Tel: 1-415-425-7381

Fax: 1-866-505-8626




 		 	   		  
_________________________________________________________________
Új Windows 7: Keresse meg a megfelelő számítógépet. További információ.
http://windows.microsoft.com/shop
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <https://listserv.niif.hu/pipermail/bonetools/attachments/20100105/41343a54/attachment.htm>