[Bonetools] Potential styli, or other kinds of objects? (Early medieval/medieval Scandinavia)

[Hans Christian Küchelmann]

Dear Lena,

there are some items interpreted as styli that come to my mind, found in medieval York and published by MacGregor (1999, 1974-1976). There is also one item interpreted as „burnisher“ that resembles your knifeblade stylus (MacGregor et al. 1999, 1976, fig. 932-933, cat. no. 7066).

May I ask if you would mind to write a little blog item about one or two of your objects for the bonetool of the month on the WBRG website the other day?

Best

Christian

Reference:
# MacGregor, Arthur G. / Mainman, Ailsa J. / Rogers, Nicola S. H. (1999): Craft, Industry and Everyday Life: Bone, Antler, Ivory and Horn from Anglo-Scandinavian and Medieval York, The Archaeology of York 17/12, York
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Hans Christian Küchelmann 

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> Am 12.01.2020 um 22:36 schrieb Lena <lenastrid at YAHOO.COM>:
> 
> Dear all,
> 
> I'm researching literacy in medieval Scandinavia, and have a few artefacts from the town Sigtuna (near Stockholm) that I'm not sure about. They are classified as styli, but other such finds have been identified by clearly optimistic archaeologists (they claimed it was a stylus, I said it was a broken bone point that could just as well be a needle or garment pin as a stylus), so I'm not certain. They don't follow the standard types of styli that I recognise from England, Germany, or other Scandinavian medieval towns. Potentially they are tools of some kind, but of what? 
> 
> Stylistically, many finds from Sigtuna are similar to east Baltic/Rus artefacts - an area I have very little knowledge of. Finds from other towns nearby such as Uppsala or Stockholm are more similar to those from the Hanseatic area.
> 
> I've put up photos of the most strange ones here: 
> https://bonesandartefacts.travel.blog/2020/01/04/writing-artefacts-from-sigtuna/
> 
> I hope someone here can give me some ideas on what these artefacts are, whether they are styli or something else.
> 
> And if anyone of you have seen so called knifeblade styli (photo on webpage), please let me know.
> 
> Best wishes,
> Lena
> 
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