[Bonetools] A Mystery Bone Artefact from Tursiannotko, SW Finland

Fri Aug 23 13:19:58 CEST 2013

Thank you all for your commentary - Brian, Francois, Alice & Heidi!

The bird-pendant hypothesis is an intriguing one, and also proposed by our digging team. A swimming, tufted diver duck can be seen there. However, I wonder why the maker would have positioned the 'beak' in such an unrealistic angle if a bird image was called for? The 'beak' would be plowing water, in this case, and neither the non-existent 'neck' nor the straight, flat 'body' seem avian all that much if at all.  Compared to the Rõuge bird pendants, for instance, this artefact is very angular and straight-lined, the 'head' is huge compared to the 'body', the 'eyes' even more so. Much skill and effort was put into the artefact, but to make it less bird-like and more tool-like, to my eyes: it is almost trigger- or clasp-like. At any rate, in the absence of analoguous functional finds, the bird pendant hypothesis remains, for now.

Tuukka

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Lähettäjä: bonetools-bounces at listserv.niif.hu [bonetools-bounces at listserv.niif.hu] käyttäjän Heidi Luik [heidi.luik at mail.ee] puolesta
Lähetetty: 21. elokuuta 2013 10:33
Vastaanottaja: Mailing list for archaeologists of the research group for the study of object and waste of bone, antler. ivory and horn.
Aihe: Re: [Bonetools] A Mystery Bone Artefact from Tursiannotko, SW Finland

Dear Tuukka,

Francois Poplin's assumption about duck came to my mind also. Your bone object remind me some bird shaped pendants from the Viking Age site Rõuge and from some other sites in Southeast Estonia (last quarter of 1st millennium AD). But pendants from Rõuge have more rounded cross-sections. I add a page from my manuscript with drawing of these pendants, I do not have photos of these objects.

Best wishes,
Heidi

Heidi Luik
Institute of History, Tallinn University

At 16:31 20.08.2013, you wrote:
It let me thing of a tufd duck, maybe Aythya fuligula - swimming.

Le 19/08/2013 17:00, Tuukka Kumpulainen a écrit :
Dear Alice,

An osteologist has not yet examined the artefact, so I can't tell, for now, if antler or bone is in question. Let's call it 'osseous' for now, which it is. The vast majority of previous osseous finds from the site are made from cattle, horse or moose bone, but moose and reindeer antler is also present.

This is an absolutely complete object - both ends are intentionally shaped and intact, and the dirt-laden hole in the 'head' is a precise 5 mm bore hole right through the object, reminding a perforation for an axle of some sort. The end closest to the perforation is precisely cut into a rectangular shape. There is no macroscopic wear on the most intriguing areas of the artefact, that is, the rectangular end mentioned and the 'lip' or 'hook' at the other side of the 'axle hole'.

Tuukka
Lähettäjä: bonetools-bounces at listserv.niif.hu<mailto:bonetools-bounces at listserv.niif.hu> [ bonetools-bounces at listserv.niif.hu<mailto:bonetools-bounces at listserv.niif.hu>] käyttäjän Alice Choyke [choyke at ceu.hu<mailto:choyke at ceu.hu>] puolesta
Lähetetty: 19. elokuuta 2013 15:26
Vastaanottaja: Mailing list for archaeologists of the research group for the study of object and waste of bone, antler. ivory and horn.
Aihe: Re: [Bonetools] A Mystery Bone Artefact from Tursiannotko, SW Finland

Dear Tuukka,
    Two question - is it really made of bone or is this antler? Second, is this an absolutely complete object or are the ends broken. Third where are the designs worn? - this may help you decide whether it was held in the hand or attached to something else. Finally - is that a hole in the 'head' of the object or just dirt?

Best,
Alice

On Mon, Aug 19, 2013 at 10:11 AM, Tuukka Kumpulainen <thkump at utu.fi<mailto:thkump at utu.fi>> wrote:

Hello all,

Recently, a mysterious bone artefact was found from Tursiannotko, Southwestern Finland, during rescue excavations on a multi-period site. Preliminary contextual evidence concerning this find points to a Late Iron Age (c. AD 800 - 1200) dating.

The artefact is of such a complex and detailed design and execution, that I think mere ornamental explanations won't suffice - to me, the find reflects precise functionality, yet I have not encountered anything like this before, and our entire crew is at a loss as to the find's ID. Any parallels of this type of artefact, or suggestions of its function, would be more than welcome. I'm keeping my few own interpretations to myself, for now :)

Thank you,

Tuukka Kumpulainen
University of Turku
Finland

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