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

Mon Jan 27 15:59:48 CET 2020

 Dear Heidi,
So sorry for the delay in replying to your detailed emails. 
Thank you for the dropbox files (downloaded!). I have the Haithabu-book, but haven't seen the books/articles on the finds from Old-Ladoga or Novgorod. Makes me really wish I could read Russian. Research would be so much easier if I knew more languages.
And thank you for been sharp-eyed and noticing the square bone pin from Haithabu. It really seems very much like the ones I have from Sigtuna. Now, whether they are for textile work or for something else is still the question, but it's a start. 
Best wishes,Lena 

    On Thursday, 16 January 2020, 23:32:50 CET, Heidi Luik <heidi.luik at mail.ee> wrote:  

  Dear Lena,

These pipe tampers are quite late, from the18th-19th centuries.

Your bone artefacts are very interesting and beautiful. I do not know such artefacts with animal heads in Estonian archaeological material. Maybe one bone pin from Tallinn seems to be a bit similar to your first artefact. It has been called just bone pin in the list of finds, and it is not earlier of 13th century. I add drawing of it to the Dropbox folder, see link below (the length of it is ca 9 cm).

First objects that came to my mind looking at your artefacts are bone pins with animal heads from Haithabu, published in: G. Schwarz-Mackensen 1976. Die Knochennadeln von Haithabu. Berichte über die Ausgrabungen in Haithabu, 9. I add some figures from this volume to Dropbox. There are no cross-sections of these pins shown on most figures, it seems that probably they mostly have round cross section. But there is at least one with quadrangular cross section (see Fig 10). These objects are called bone pins (Knochennadeln), but there is also a chapter in the book, named Nadeln als Schreibgeräte, discussing the possibility that some pointed bone items could have been used for writing. I do not have this volume as pdf, but I hope you can get it from library.
There are also some similar objects from Old Ladoga (Staraya Ladoga), I add some figures from two Russian publications about bone artefacts in Old Ladoga, they call them just pins and points, or weaving tools in these articles. I add also photos with titles of these articles to the Dropbox folder. I think, I have seen some similar bone artefats also in some publication about Novgorod, if I will find it, I will send you reference.

Here is link to the Dropbox folder: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/7ogusoxnkeoqu48/AAALeekcvFM0z2Helh4ztrsna?dl=0

Best wishes,
Heidi  ----- Reply to message -----
Subject: Re: [Bonetools] Potential styli, or other kinds of objects? (Early medieval/medieval Scandinavia)
Date: K, 15 jaan 2020, 22:31
From:  Lena <lenastrid at yahoo.com>
To:  Mailing list for archaeologists of the research group for the study of object and waste of bone, antler. ivory and horn. <bonetools at listserv.niif.hu>
 Dear Heidi,  Many thanks for the links to the Estonian pipe tampers! They look just like the one from Sigtuna.  Do you know what time periods the Estonian pipe tampers are? The Sigtuna find came from a layer dated to 1000-1050, so I guess that dating has to be changed.  You didn't by any chance recognise any of the bone artefacts, or know someone not on the BoneTools list that I can contact? My focus has for so many years been North-western Europe, so when it comes to North-eastern European finds I'm out of my depth. Best wishes,LenaOn Monday, 13 January 2020, 13:10:20 CET, Heidi Luik <heidi.luik at mail.ee> wrote:  Dear Lena,

This last artefact, made of iron, presumably comes from much later time period? It seems to be a tool for cleaning a smoking pipe. We have quite similar artefacts in etnographic collections of museums in Estonia, e.g
https://www.muis.ee/museaalview/552655
https://www.muis.ee/museaalview/554217
https://www.muis.ee/museaalview/643185
https://www.muis.ee/museaalview/649910
  I do not know what is the correct name for this tool in English, maybe: pipe tamper. The sharp end was used for cleaning the pipe's bowl and the other, round end for tamping the tobacco in the bowl.

Best wishes,
Heidi

 ----- Reply to message -----
Subject: [Bonetools] Potential styli, or other kinds of objects? (Early medieval/medieval Scandinavia)
Date: P, 12 jaan 2020, 23:37
From:  Lena <lenastrid at yahoo.com>
To:  Antler. Ivory and Horn. Mailing List for Archaeologists of the Research Group for the Study of Object and Waste of Bone <bonetools at listserv.niif.hu>
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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