[Bonetools] Perforated bird bone

[Julie Byrd]

Dear all,

I have a mystery object for you.  I hope some of you can share some ideas or
sources with me about possible functions.

This modified bird bone is from a Middle Archaic (circa 5,000 BP) site in
Florida.  During this time groups were fishing, hunting, gathering, and
collecting shellfish.  They were somewhat sedentary but had seasonal camps.


The object is intentionally cut on both ends, but one end is broken. It is
only 28 mm long and 8 mm wide.  There is a perforated hole close to the
unbroken end.  A partial hole (a semi-circle) is bisected by the cut end.
At almost 4 mm, the partial hole is slightly larger than the full hole (just
under 3 mm).  Most of the surface has evidence of lithic shaving.

Similar sites have produced hollow bone beads.  Most of the beads are either
incised or undecorated.  I don't know of any with asymmetrical perforations
like this one.  I have not come across any other archaeologists noting
whistles or duck calls from coeval sites, but my leading hypothesis is some
type of whistle.  I plan to replicate this object to recreate it without the
broken end and then use my guitar tuner to see what pitch it makes as a
whistle.  If anyone can lead me to literature on hunting calls or whistles
or other simple wind instruments I would appreciate it.

I've attached some pictures.

I hope someone has some ideas!  Thanks.

Julie Byrd
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