[Bonetools] Painted bone

[Sonia O'Connor]

[cid:2c666577-064f-426b-b79b-9d0c0dbdfdaa]


Dear All,


I have attached a photo I took in Hull Maritime Museum - a cetacean auditory bulla painted to form a face.  I was reminded of this when I received this Tweet this morning

https://twitter.com/PatHadley/status/622016063690121218

[https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CKHX5l6VEAAQaOv.jpg:large]<https://twitter.com/PatHadley/status/622016063690121218>

Pat Hadley on Twitter: "New favourite artefact! @YorkCastle has a whole set of these horse vertebrae figures! http://t.co/Vbbae7lU6l http://t.co/H3Ch5yle21"
"New favourite artefact! @YorkCastle has a whole set of these horse vertebrae figures! http://t.co/Vbbae7lU6l"
Read more...<https://twitter.com/PatHadley/status/622016063690121218>

I think these objects qualify as 'worked'.

Both these objects are relatively recent survivals (the preacher is possibly 18th C and the face 19th or even 20th C). Can anyone post other/earlier examples? What other species/skeletal elements were used and what were the subjects that these natural shapes inspired? I wonder how far back this traditions goes?  There are now many records of painted pebbles from sites, such as those from Shetland http://www.archaeologyreportsonline.com/PDF/ARO12_Painted_Pebbles.pdf for instance. Even if the paint is lost sometimes the bone many have been modified a little to enhance the shape or add detail.


Unlike gaming pieces, these objects are not necessarily functional  but might still have been significant to their owners in other ways. Perhaps just the pleasing shape of some  bones led to them being retained and handled (in the way that some fossils clearly were and still are by the finder). Humour is something that is difficult to detect through the study of bone finds but these two examples appear to me to be comical. Possibly some bones were kept as lucky charms?


The evidence might be quite slight but I think this would be a fascinating area to investigate. Is anyone doing this?


Sonia





Dr Sonia O'Connor PhD FSA FIIC ACR Honorary Visiting Fellow, University of York
Post-doctoral Researcher
Archaeological Sciences
Division of AGES
University of Bradford
Bradford, West Yorkshire, BD7 1DP

Tel 01274 236498
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