[Bonetools] smoothed horse radius

[Alice Choyke]

Dear all,
       I would like to make another suggestion. There is a mysterious bone
object that appears in the late Middle Bronze Age and lasts into the Iron
Age. It has a distribution, as far as I can see, from Hungary to Poland,
all the way to the Black Sea. It is always made on ungulate radius from
caprine, domestic pig, capreolus, cattle, horse, red deer and even aurochs.
It has just such a facet running from the proximal epiphysis  to above the
distal epiphysis on the dorsal surface. It may or may not have a largish
hole running medial-lateral above the distal epiphysis. The macro-wear
(20X) may be essentially identical to the macro wear on clearly
identifiable skates but it also may be glossy, without easily identifiable
striae at low magnification. The edges of the facets may be clearly defined
or rounded. My guess is that these tools are somehow used for softening
leather or even felt-working or the end of wool fabric production like
mangles. They cry out for serious experimental work. They continue to be
published as skates and perhaps they are but there is at least a big
question mark hanging over them.

Best,
Alice

On Sat, Aug 21, 2021 at 8:57 AM <silviaeccher at libero.it> wrote:

> Dear all,
>
> during the study of an Iron Age fauna in Bressanone (Bolzano, Italy) for
> my PhD research I found a proximal of horse radius (which I am attaching in
> two photos with different angles so that I can better appreciate its
> characteristics) with a smooth back face, shiny to the touch and view.
> There are some traces of processing on the sides, while the smoothed back
> has light and rare scratches horizontally.
>
> From the bibliography that I have read and which was also indicated to me
> by Mr. Küchelmann, whom I thank again, would seem to be a skate/sledge
> runner.
>
> if you agree with this opinion, is anyone aware of the findings of
> skates/sledges in the Alps dating back to the Iron Age-Latène period?
> From what I have found there would be a horse metatarsal from
> Prellenkirchen, Leitha-Marsch, Austria, dated to the late Latène but I do
> not think it has been published yet.
>
> Thank you all!
> Silvia Eccher
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