[Bonetools] spacers and beads

Wed Mar 27 10:56:11 CET 2013

Dear Dr Poplin and other members of the list,

I am writing to you in relation to the comment enclosed below about "an 
example of spacer made of vulture ulna" mentioned in pg 84 of a paper I 
signed with Simon Davis. In any part of that paper we refer to the 
possibility of that piece of bone been a spacer. I have several 
publications on similar objects, all from the Iberian Peninsula and 
dated to the Islamic period (10th-12th AD), you may be aware of (you can 
download them from my academia.edu page) and in none of them that 
possibility has ever been considered. Initially most of these objects 
were catalogued by the archaeologists as flutes or wind instruments. The 
morphology of the holes and their variation in the different examples we 
have examined call for other function. In fact we are more inclined to 
them being part of a cordophone (string instrument). Also I would like 
to point out that the illustration shown in the paper enclosed by Poplin 
belongs to a fragment of the original object.
Finally, I would like to add that so far we have not identified any of 
these objects nor any of the Iberian aerophones manufactured on avian 
ulnae as made from /Gypaetus barbatus. /The morphological and metrical 
data that support our identifications are published in:

Moreno-García, M.; Pimenta, C.; Gros Herrero, M.*(2005)*. Musical 
vultures in the Iberian Peninsula: sounds through their wings. In 
(Grupe, G. & Peters, J., eds.)/Feathers, Grit and Symbolism. Birds and 
Humans in the Ancient Old and New Worlds. /Proceedings of the 5^th 
Meeting of the ICAZ Bird Working Group//inMunich (26.7 -- 28.7.2004). 
(Documenta Archaeobiologiae//3), pp. 329-347.//Rahden/Westf., Leidorf.

Kind regards,
Marta

El 27/03/2013 8:15, François Poplin escribió:
>
> The next question is the size of beads, mainly their diameter.
>
> I have some trouble to work and search as I would like these days ; 
> among these difficulties, both librairies of the Sorbonne and the 
> Collège de France are removing... 3 hours lost/wasted. I went to the 
> Institut du Monde arabe in order to find some spacers for you. Maybe 
> you can reach /Traditional Jewelry of India/, Thames and Hudson ed., 
> several editions. Two very fine examples from Nagaland p. 66-67, one 
> with 8 holes, another with 8 and 11.
>
> What I want to stress is that the width of spacers is very commonly 
> the same as the diameter of beads ; easy to understand : it would be 
> unsuitable to have them on the skin protruding as rails of railway : 
> it must be as in a level crossing (U. S. grade crossing).
>
> Then, what is the usual size/diameter of beads in the 
> concerned/involved cultures, is the question.
>
> On p. 84 of the joint pdf, kindly sent by Simon Davis, you have a an 
> example of spacer made of vulture ulna (why not bearded /Gypaetus 
> barbatus/, as very usual for pastoral flutes in recent Greece ?). You 
> could imagine that the beads themselves were made out of the same kind 
> on bone - the same diameter, I mean - but there is not enough bones 
> for that in the skeleton.
>
> The largest side of bone wear the carving, the opposite was hidden, 
> laying on the skin/body or things like that ; there is a rather strong 
> tendancy in islamic/arabic tradition to/for 
> "osteoglyphy"/"osteography" (writing, carving of bones, I don't enter 
> the details).
>
> The piece is broken both on a hole and one of the semi-annular groves 
> (not very young people may remember the medicinal ampoules of glass 
> and the little saw to open them...). You may imagine with few risks 
> that it went further at least for another hole (half + one). There is 
> an idea of symmetry, reasonnably moderated by the lesser 
> development/witdth at this end.
>
> That's all what a can do for today.
>
>
>
> -------- Message original --------
> Sujet: 	Re: tiré à part
> Date : 	Fri, 8 Mar 2013 08:07:34 +0000
> De : 	Simon Davis <simonjmdavis at gmail.com>
> Pour : 	François Poplin <poplin at mnhn.fr>
>
>
>
> peut-etre c'est ça?
> davis
>
> -- 
>
>     François POPLIN
>
>     Directeur honoraire de l'UMR 7209 Archéozoologie, Archébotanique :
>     sociétés, pratiques et environnements
>
>     Responsable du Séminaire d'Anthropozoologie
>
>     Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle
>     CP 56
>     Ancien Laboratoire d'Anatomie comparée
>     55, rue de Buffon
>     75005 Paris
>     01 40 79 33 11
>     fax ------ 33 14
>
>     francoispoplin.blogspot.com <http://francoispoplin.blogspot.com>
>
>
>
>
> -- 
> Simon JM Davis,
> Zooarqueologia, Laboratório de Arqueociências,
> IGESPAR,
> Rua da Bica do Marquês, 2
> 1300-087 Lisbon (Portugal)
>
> There was nothing, then dinosaurs, then
> There were mammals, and finally men,
>      Who ruled for a while
>      In belligerent style,
> And then there was nothing again
>                           (Gerard Benson)
>
>
>
>
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-- 
Dra. Marta Moreno-García
G.I. Arqueobiología.
Instituto de Historia
Centro de Ciencias Humanas y Sociales (CCHS). CSIC
Albasanz 26-28. 28037 Madrid. Spain
Tel: +34 91 6022384
e-mail: marta.moreno at cchs.csic.es

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