[Bonetools] chalcolithic tools made from mandibles

[Katherine M. Moore]

Dear Selena:

I am working on early village sites from Bolivia! so there is no  
direct connection with your pieces. But I have many similar items to  
the cattle mandible you show here: they form a broad scraper when the  
ascending ramus is cut off. On the pieces from these Formative sites,  
the wear traces are coarse and deep, suggesting a hard material; I  
think they may be for forming and finishing pottery. On the Bolivian  
tools, the pieces were used with the teeth (in this case, llama teeth)  
still in the aveolus.

I hope this may give you some ideas about how people approached this bone.

best,

Kate Moore




Quoting Selena Vitezovic <selenavitezovic at gmail.com>:

> Dear colleagues,
>
> I have two strange artefactst from the site Bubanj in southeastern Serbia,
> Chalcolithic period, one made from cattle manible, the other from sheep
> manidble. Both pieces show intensive traces of use - cattle mandible looks
> like it was used for polishing, sheep manidble has two gouges as if
> something was attached and hanging. Unfortunately, both objects are
> fragmented. I suppose these are some ad hoc, expedient tools, since I do not
> have any other objects made from mandibles, and no traces of shaping
> (cutting, grinding) could have been observed. But, perhaps someone has some
> ideas about their use and possible analogies?
>
> Thank you!!!
>
> best, selena
>



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

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