[Bonetools] Painted bone

[Alice Choyke]

Dear Sonia,
     I cannot think of anyone who has carried out such research - it looks
like a strong MA thesis to me! Actually - I wonder if we are missing
comparable archaeological examples because these are singular items where
the coloration is likely not going to be preserved.

Alice

On Wed, Jul 22, 2015 at 1:26 PM, Sonia O'Connor <S.Oconnor at bradford.ac.uk>
wrote:

>
>  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://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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>
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