[Bonetools] Perforated bird bone

[Alice Choyke]

Dear Julie,
      What do you think the chances are that this was a multi-holed flute
that broke and was remodified into some kind of a whistle? And do you know
what species of bird the object was made from?

Alice

On Thu, Jun 23, 2011 at 8:31 PM, Julie Byrd <byrdjulie at gmail.com> wrote:

> 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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