[Bonetools] whale bone waste on Romano-British sites

[Stephen Greep]

Hi Louisa (and everyone else),

 

The only object I came across when doing research on Romano-British bone, antler and ivory material was this from Caerwent – it comes from nineteenth century excavations and whether it’s even Roman or not I don’t know, only that it was found at Caerwent. There is, of course, later material form the site, and it doesn’t really fit in with other know Roman gaming boards (if that’s what it is), so I suspect its post roman – someone else might have a better idea. The drawing is not to scale  - but its 237mm long, broken at both ends.

 



 

Alex Croom from South Shields who is not a member of the group has come across  one or two other examples  of worked whale bone from Roman contexts and I have asked her to email them to you separately.

 

Stephen Greep

 

From: Bonetools [mailto:bonetools-bounces at listserv.niif.hu] On Behalf Of Alice Choyke
Sent: 03 April 2015 00:22
To: Mailing list for archaeologists of the research group for the study of object and waste of bone, antler. ivory and horn.
Subject: [Bonetools] whale bone waste on Romano-British sites

 

Dear all,

      I received the following letter from Louisa Gidney concerning worked or refuse whale bone from Romano-British sites. Please respond both to the list and to l.j.gidney at durham.ac.uk <mailto:l.j.gidney at durham.ac.uk> .

Can anyone point me in the direction of references for either whale bone artefacts or sawn waste whale bone fragments from Romano-British sites? I've previously seen one piece of sawn waste from Leicester and now have one from South Shields. I'm wondering how widespread such finds are and what was being made of the whale bone. These are not vertebra fragments, so not bowl type functions. The current bit looks like an element from the flipper, has a dense, hard cortex, perhaps useful for pins or handles?

 

Alice

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