[Bonetools] Bone objects publication, and more

[Alice Choyke]

Dear Ariel,
    I hope you are in close contact with Etan Ayalon whose work on Caesarea
was about as complete as anything I could imagine.  Of course the bone tools
should be separated by period but please don't forget graphs and spread
sheets which represents quick and dirty ways of comparing data. Personally,
I think it is only necessary to define a type once. Typologies are trick -
it depends on the variables you use. It is very important to include the
species/skeletal elelment as object descriptors. It would be useful  and
fascinating to know if a type is maintained but the raw material choices
changed.
      Your site seems really very rich but PLEASE don't forget that the
objects in rooms might not belong there due to the nasty roman habit of
levelling and mushing their settlements this way and that. There are several
excellent publication on Roman material from outside your region, from the
western empire.

Best,
Alice

On Thu, Jan 7, 2010 at 9:19 AM, Ariel Shatil
<ariel.shatil at mail.huji.ac.il>wrote:

> Dear colleagues,
> I'm working on the publication of the assemblage of bone objects from our
> 2008-2009 excavations in Jerusalem. The assemblage ranges from the Early
> Roman to the Early Arab periods (1st cent to 11-12th cent CE), and consists
> a few hundreds of items, of which about 75% are of Late Roman context.
> As I am new to the discipline of bone objects research, I have a few
> dilemmas I would like to hear your opinion about. In general, the big
> question is what do you, as bone objects researchers, would expect from a
> "complete" publication of bone objects and tools? I will try to break the
> question down to smaller ones...
> 1. Assuming the assemblage consists items of a few periods -  would you
> have a different section for each period describing in each one the finds
> according to morphology and typology, which on the one hand may result in
> describing some object types over and over, but on the other hand will
> enhance the differences between the periods in terms of quantities and
> morphologies. Or, would you have sections according to typology in which you
> will also mention each period, which may produce the result of 'bluring' the
> differences between the periods, or even the disappearance of periods which
> produced only a few common items from the publication.
> 2. As researchers, would you prefer to see a publication of typical
> examples, or of the complete assemblage? For example, if I had 25 pins of
> the same type, would you prefer the publication (in text and picture) of one
> or two of the items, or of all 25 of them.
>
> I would also like to hear your thoughts about our assemblage in general -
> In the reports and publications that I have studied from Israel, the
> assemblages seems to be quite small. It is hard to say whether this is a
> result of neglect of this certain field in the local archaeology, or whether
> its just a fact that bone objects are not as common as other objects.
> Ayalon's publication of the assemblage from Caesarea is a fine example of
> how much one can learn and how complex and varied this field becomes once
> things are done right, and it also hints to the first option - that of
> neglect. To me, our assemblage seems to be unique in many terms - for
> example, some Late Roman loci (rooms) produced as many as 30-60 bone and
> Ivory objects, including pins, gaming peaces, inlays and more. Is that,
> according to your knowledge, unique - or is it a common size of assemblage
> in this period throughout the Levant or Roman World?
>
> I would be happy to hear any thought, comments and ideas you have about the
> subjects I raised, and in the future I hope to be able to share with you
> some pictures of objects I'm having trouble recognizing.
>
> Thank you!
>
> Ariel Shatil
> Institute of Archaeology
> The Hebrew University, Jerusalem
>
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