[Bonetools] seeking refs on seasonal bone & antler tool construction

[Katherine M. Moore]

Dear Amy,

There is a strong pattern of preferring antler over deer bone along  
the spine of the Andes, where wood is very scarce and antler has  
valuable working properties. This is true in the preceramic (Archaic)  
and in the later, Formative village periods. Deer aren't that common  
(3-25% of NISP), compared to camelids, so the preference for antler  
really stands out. The condition of antler hammers suggests that the  
antler were collected after they had been shed in most cases, and I  
could believe that the loose antler was exchanged over space as well.

You will probably hear from colleagues who have data from other sites,  
but the following is an extract from my paper on sites around Lake  
Titicaca in review for the volume from the ICAZ session on the "Bone  
Raw Material selectivity" held last year in Paris.

"Deer antler, though, was rare (17 fragments of any deer bone or  
antler at the three sites combined during the Late Formative) and very  
commonly worked into hammers, picks, and other heavy tools. The  
special working qualities of antler seem to have been so prized that  
every antler dropped must have been gathered for tool use. At Kala  
Uyuni, 4 antler tools were made compared to scant evidence for one  
deer carcass; Kumi Kipa has a single scrap of unworked antler; at  
Sonaji there was one antler tool compared to an MNI of one carcass.  
Worked fragments made up 29% of all finds of deer."

No other part of deer was worked, but there were thousands of tools  
made of camelid bone. I don't know if this stems from technological  
issues (the camelids are bigger and have bigger bones to work with) or  
some consideration of wild (deer) vs. domestic (llamas and alpacas).

Seasonality is limited in this low latitude region, but these patterns  
may help you sort out the some of the influences on raw material  
choice in your region.

best wishes,

Kate Moore




Quoting "Margaris, Amy V." <amy.margaris at oberlin.edu>:

> Dear colleagues,
> I am seeking references from anywhere in the world on the preferred use of
> cervid antler over cervid bone -- or vice versa -- for tool construction. I
> am particularly interested in how the seasonal availability of these
> resources may affect raw material choices.
> Many thanks in advance, and my apologies if you received this message in
> duplicate.
> Amy
>
> --
> Amy V. Margaris
> Assistant Professor of Anthropology
> Oberlin College
>
> * On Research Leave Academic Year 2011-2012 *
> http://new.oberlin.edu/arts-and-sciences/departments/anthropology/
>
> http://sites.google.com/a/oberlin.edu/margaris-amy/
>



Zooarchaeology Laboratory
University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology
3260 South Street
Philadelphia, PA 19104 USA