[Bonetools] Re : Re : Re : protohistoric object

Fri Jul 22 21:37:40 CEST 2011

Hello,

Alice Choyke forwarded me this thread. At the last ICAZ meeting, I presented
a poster on an experiment that investigated some astragali artifacts that I
studied for my Master's thesis, thanks to Alice. I tried using astragali to
work wet and dry clay and hide and compared the resulting macro and
microwear to wear on flattened astragali artifacts from the Middle Bronze
Age sites of Zagyvapálfalva-Homokbanya and Kisterenye-Hársas in Hungary. If
my results would be of interest to anyone, please email me and I will send
you a copy of the poster and my submitted article for the ICAZ volume.

In my study, the lack of contextual information was very limiting, but I
made several interesting conclusions about the potential of using unmodified
astragali as tools. First, it is very easy to use goat astragali to
hand-burnish pottery and they are very effective burnishers. Second, the
outermost ridges of the medial and lateral bone sides were ground down to a
flat surface after 120 minutes of use. Lastly, microwear developed that was
very similar to that which was present on the bone artifacts: oblique
striations and some micropitting developed. I held the astragali as was
indicated by the handling polish on the artifacts and made clay that was
comparable to the formula and particle size as clay from the site, thus I am
confident in concluding that these flattened astragali were
*potentially*used for burnishing leather-hard ceramic. Again, context
limits this
conclusion, but the wear was assessed with backscatter imaging and looks
very similar.

Several key points may be relevant to this thread. One is that astragali do
not have to be pre-flattened to burnish ceramic. Any sharp or raised areas
are quickly removed by the gritty clay. Second, I used astragali to smooth
the inside and outside of round pots and the astragali were flattened
straight. This was not intentionally done, in fact I did not notice it until
compared the profiles of these astragali with those used to experimentally
work hide.

Again, I will send this article and poster to anyone who requests a copy. I
look forward to reading about similar experiments with astragali and
phalanges.

All the best,
Jackie Meier
jacqueline.meier at uconn.edu

On Fri, Jul 22, 2011 at 9:40 PM, Alice Choyke <h13017cho at iif.hu> wrote:

> If you wish I can also send you plentiful photos of phalanges from
> Szazhalombatta as well. there are many of these objects from the MBA. You
> should also contact Jacquie Meier (jacqueline.s.meier at gmail.com) who did
> some experiments with these objects.
>
> Best,
> Alice
>
> On Fri, Jul 22, 2011 at 10:35 AM, MARQUEBIELLE Benjamin <
> benjamin.marquebielle at yahoo.fr> wrote:
>
>> Hello Selena, hello Alice
>>
>> Marianne Christensen send to me your article, Alice, about
>> Jászdózsa–Kápolnahalom and there is photo with worked phalanges. We'll begin
>> experiments in August, with potter and smith, maybe they'll bring some
>> indications... One of the problem of my object is the context is unclear,
>> most of them was found in wells full of rubbish.
>> Thanks for the abstract reference, Selena, I'll contact the author !
>>
>> Best
>>
>>
>> Marquebielle Benjamin
>> PhD student TRACES laboratory - UMR 5608
>> 5, rue du pont Guilheméry
>> 31000 Toulouse
>> tel : 06 71 33 61 52
>> e-mail : benjamin.marquebielle at yahoo.fr
>>
>>
>> ------------------------------
>> *De :* Alice Choyke <h13017cho at iif.hu>
>> *À :* "Mailing list for archaeologists of the research group for the
>> study of object and waste of bone, antler. ivory and horn." <
>> bonetools at listserv.niif.hu>
>> *Envoyé le :* Ven 22 juillet 2011, 10h 17min 18s
>> *Objet :* Re: [Bonetools] Re : Re : protohistoric object
>>
>> Unless the clay surfaces being smoothed are straight such as the wall of
>> an oven: I have been struggling with the exact same problem for astragalii
>> and phalanges of all kinds, especially from the Middle Bronze Age of Hungary
>> and am not much smarter than I began... Multiple hypotheses need to be tried
>> out again and and again because sadly there will not be one right answer to
>> this problem. It is definitely context driven.
>>
>> Alice
>>
>> *De :* Selena Vitezovic <selenavitezovic at gmail.com>
>> *À :* "Mailing list for archaeologists of the research group for the
>> study of object and waste of bone, antler. ivory and horn." <
>> bonetools at listserv.niif.hu>
>> *Envoyé le :* Sam 2 juillet 2011, 19h 10min 35s
>>
>> *Objet :* Re: [Bonetools] Re : protohistoric object
>>
>> Hello everyone,
>> Hello, Benjamin,
>>
>> Perhaps a little bit out of time and place - but last year at ICAZ
>> conference I saw a poster on astragals from Bronze age Hungary with similar
>> usewear pattern, used probably for clay working.
>> This is the link for the abstract, perhaps photos may be found or asked
>> from author.
>> http://alexandriaarchive.org/bonecommons/items/show/1383
>>
>> And I agree with Marloes, they must have been flattened before use. Some
>> other used astragals, from Balkan Neolithic and Chalcolithic, seemed to have
>> been flattened before use (probably with sandstone) - although they were
>> most likely used on soft, organic materials, since they have intense polish.
>>
>>
>> best, selena
>>
>> On Fri, Jul 22, 2011 at 9:51 AM, MARQUEBIELLE Benjamin <ivrel001 at yahoo.fr
>> > wrote:
>>
>>> Hello Marloes, sorry for the delay, I traveled.
>>> Good remark... Phalanges internal side are flat but not so flat. I agree
>>> with you : the (possible) worked surface must be straight and a pottery
>>> generaly isn't.
>>>
>>> Best
>>> Benjamin
>>>
>>>
>>> Marquebielle Benjamin
>>> PhD student TRACES laboratory - UMR 5608
>>> 5, rue du pont Guilheméry
>>> 31000 Toulouse
>>> tel : 06 71 33 61 52
>>> e-mail : benjamin.marquebielle at yahoo.fr
>>>
>>>
>>> ------------------------------
>>> *De :* Marloes Rijkelijkhuizen <marloesrijkelijkhuizen at hotmail.com>
>>>
>>> *À :* bonetools at listserv.niif.hu
>>> *Envoyé le :* Ven 1 juillet 2011, 21h 02min 49s
>>>
>>> *Objet :* Re: [Bonetools] Re : protohistoric object
>>>
>>>  Hi Benjamin
>>>
>>> I couldn't see if it was flattened (before use).
>>>
>>> If used, it should be used for/on something with a flat surface, the
>>> surface is completely flat. (compare the medieval skates, these were used on
>>> ice and have a flat surface, but were sometimes flattened before use). If
>>> used for pottery the surface wouldn't be straight.
>>>
>>> Best, Marloes
>>>
>>>
>>>  ------------------------------
>>> Date: Fri, 1 Jul 2011 12:35:47 +0100
>>> From: benjamin.marquebielle at yahoo.fr
>>> To: bonetools at listserv.niif.hu
>>> Subject: [Bonetools] Re : protohistoric object
>>>
>>> No, it isn't.
>>> I send photo of another object where you can see more precisely the
>>> traces. Use wear area is the result of the use/exploitation of the flatest
>>> face of the phalanx, maybe with a kind of abrasion technique... The
>>> mophologic modification of the bone could be various but never very
>>> important.
>>>
>>> Non, il ne s'agit pas de sciage.
>>> Je joins une photo d'un autre objet sur laquelle on voit plus précisément
>>> les stigmates. La zone d'usure est le résultat de l'utilisation ou de
>>> l'exploitation de la face la plus plate de la phalange, peut être en
>>> utilisant une technique d'abrasion... Ce degré d'usure peut varier mais il
>>> n'est jamais très important.
>>>
>>> Marquebielle Benjamin
>>> PhD student TRACES laboratory - UMR 5608
>>> 5, rue du pont Guilheméry
>>> 31000 Toulouse
>>> tel : 06 71 33 61 52
>>> e-mail : benjamin.marquebielle at yahoo.fr
>>>
>>>
>>>  ------------------------------
>>> *De :* François Poplin <poplin at mnhn.fr>
>>> *À :* bonetools at listserv.niif.hu
>>> *Envoyé le :* Ven 1 juillet 2011, 12h 20min 16s
>>> *Objet :* Re: [Bonetools] protohistoric object
>>>
>>> Est-il sûr qu'il ne s'agit pas d'un sciage ?
>>>
>>> Would not be sawing traces ?
>>>
>>> Le 01/07/2011 11:00, MARQUEBIELLE Benjamin a écrit :
>>>
>>> Hello !
>>> Does anybody have an idea about the type or function of this object ?
>>> It's an young pig phalanx, with use wear traces on the internal face,
>>> covered by oblique striations. It comes from large protohistoric site(possible marketplace) of Toulouse, in the south of France (II-I° century
>>> BC). About 20 objects was found, a majority made of pig phalanxes (young or
>>> not) and only two made of bovid pahlanxes. Use wear is always located on the
>>> same face, with different use degree and some objetcs are perforated on
>>> the proximal face. We thought about a kind of smoother (in relation with
>>> potery ? metal ?) but objects are realy small and found in various contexts
>>> (more often in wells full of rubbish).
>>> Thanks a lot and best regards
>>>
>>> Marquebielle Benjamin
>>> PhD student TRACES laboratory - UMR 5608
>>> 5, rue du pont Guilheméry
>>> 31000 Toulouse
>>> tel : 06 71 33 61 52
>>> e-mail : benjamin.marquebielle at yahoo.fr
>>>
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> Bonetools mailing listBonetools at listserv.niif.huhttps://listserv.niif.hu/mailman/listinfo/bonetools
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> --
>>> François POPLIN
>>>
>>> Directeur honoraire de l’UMR 7209 Archéozoologie, Archébotanique : sociétés, pratiques et environnements
>>>
>>> Responsable du Séminaire d'Anthropozoologie
>>>
>>> Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle
>>> CP 56
>>> Ancien Laboratoire d’Anatomie comparée
>>> 55, rue de Buffon
>>> 75005 Paris
>>> 01 40 79 33 11
>>> fax ------ 33 14
>>> francoispoplin.blogspot.com
>>>
>>>
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>>
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>

-- 
Jacqueline S. Meier, MSc
Department of Anthropology
Unit 2176, 354 Mansfield Road
University of Connecticut
Storrs, CT   06269
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