[Bonetools] strange chalcolithic objects

[Petar Zidarov]

Dear Selena, dear colleagues,There were proposed some very serious suggestions about the possible use of these bone sticks and I learned a lot from them. 
However, I also remembered the opening paragraph of J. Huizinga's "Homo Ludens", where he writes     "A happier age than ours once made bold to call our species by thename of Homo Sapiens. In the course of time we have come torealize that we are not so reasonable after     all as the EighteenthCentury, with its worship of reason and its naive optimism, thoughtus; hence modern fashion inclines to designate our species asHomo Faber: Man the     Maker. But though faber may not be quiteso dubious as sapiens it is, as a name specific of the human being,even less appropriate, seeing that many animals too are makers.    There is a third function, however, applicable to both human andanimal life, and just as important as reasoning and making - namely,playing. It seems to me that next to     Homo Faber, andperhaps on the same level as Homo Sapiens, Homo Ludens, Manthe Player, deserves a place in our nomenclature."    (For those who would be interested to follow his arguments there is a pdf of the whole book online at the Yale University website            - http://art.yale.edu/file_columns/0000/1474/homo_ludens_johan_huizinga_routledge_1949_.pdf)
In that spirit, I suggest an alternative use of Selena's objects could be - game / divination sticks. I am sure that you could all think of suitable examples and I will be happy to see some.Here is a link to a video of one traditional Chinese I-Ching application of such bundles of sticks - https://youtu.be/ydNiskT67yA - showing that it could be rather impossible to reconstruct the rules and their importance if we find some of the sticks alone without the cultural context and its cognitive framework. Therefore, I am a little sceptical whether we will ever find out whether some occasional finds of rod shaped objects were used as tallies or for divination, but I hope that our experienced experimenters could at least decide on the flint working option, given it should leave noticeable marks.
With best wishes,yours Petar
-- Petar Zidarov Lab of Archaeometry & Experimental ArchaeologyDepartment of Archaeology, New Bulgarian University21 Montevideo Str., Building 2, office 2191618 Sofia, BULGARIAcell phones: +359 898 347 252, +359 886 749 458                     
https://newbulgarian.academia.edu/PetarZidarovhttps://www.researchgate.net/profile/Petar_Zidarov2
Eberhard-Karls Universität TübingenInstitut für Ur- und Frühgeschichte und Archäologie des Mittelalters, Jüngere Abt.Schloss Höhentübingen72070 Tübingen, GERMANYPhone: 01520 7272 594 

    On Thursday, April 5, 2018, 5:15:31 PM GMT+2, Selena Vitezović <selenavitezovic at gmail.com> wrote:  
 
 Hello, everyone, 
Here are few more photos, now of all 6 pieces I found so far. As far as I can see, they do not seem to have been pointed, but rather the ends were originally flat like this. 
best regards, Selena 
On 5 April 2018 at 16:49, <Grzegorz.Osipowicz at umk.pl> wrote:

Hi again

I’ve noticed clear rounding of the tips of the artefacts. Would it be
possible that it is the result of use? I’ve analyzed a similar
artefact (only longer, what is perhaps important here) from Corded
Ware Grave from Biržai (Lithuania – photo attached), that was used as
a kind of grinder/pounder. Similar artefacts are known also from other
graves of this culture (for example Krasnasieĺski, Bielarus – photo
attached). They ware also primary considered to be needles.

All the best

Grzegorz


Cytowanie Selena Vitezović <selenavitezovic at gmail.com>:


Dear colleagues,

I hope you're all doing fine.

I have several strange objects from a Vučedol culture (final Chalcolithic /
early Bronze Age) site in Pannonia - 2 on photos in attachment. They are
all in shape of thin, short rods, they are complete, so they are not broken
pins or needles. Some are made from bone, some from antler, some have
incisions, some are just polsihed.

Any thoughts?

thank you!

best regards,
Selena



--
Selena Vitezović
Arheološki institut
www.ai.ac.rs




-- 
 Dr Grzegorz Osipowicz
 Instytut Archeologii
 Uniwersytet Mikołaja Kopernika
 ul Szosa Bydgoska 44/48
 87-100 Toruń

 Grzegorz Osipowicz, PhD
 Institute of Archaeology
 Nicolaus Copernicus University
 Szosa Bydgoska 44/48 Street
 87-100 Torun
 Poland

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-- 
Selena Vitezović 
Arheološki institut 
www.ai.ac.rs
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