[Bonetools] Perforated bird bone

[Jean-Marc Petillon]

> I'm also not sure about the species of bird.  Over the weekend a faunal
> expert looked at the bone and couldn't determine the species either.

That's a question for the Bird working group folks :
http://www.alexandriaarchive.org/icaz/workbird.htm

> Thanks for the help.  If anyone has any sources that might help me learn
> about wind instruments, please let me know.

See attached file:
Clodoré-Tissot T. et al. 2009 – fiches typologiques de l'industrie 
osseuse préhistorique. Cahier 12 : Instruments sonores, 2009 + 1 CD 
audio (Français)


> Best,
> Julie Byrd
> On Thu, Jun 23, 2011 at 5:27 PM, Alice Choyke <h13017cho at iif.hu
> <mailto:h13017cho at iif.hu>> wrote:
>
>     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
>     <mailto: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



-- 
Jean-Marc Pétillon
CNRS
Laboratoire TRACES - travaux et recherches archéologiques
sur les cultures, les espaces et les sociétés

Université Toulouse le Mirail
Maison de la recherche
5 allées A. Machado
F-31058 Toulouse

+ 33 (0) 5 61 50 23 63
+ 33 (0) 6 31 07 47 62

Page personnelle : 
http://traces.univ-tlse2.fr/1255444693711/0/fiche___annuaireksup/&RH=annuaire_traces

-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: instruments_sonores.pdf
Type: application/pdf
Size: 253945 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <https://listserv.niif.hu/pipermail/bonetools/attachments/20110629/943fd8a9/attachment-0001.pdf>