[Bonetools] Roman lion/tiger head knife handle

[Ariel Shatil]

Hi Idoia,

This fragment is only the top part of a bigger item shaped like a bent
hind-leg of a big feline. These are interpreted as shaving knives, folding
knives, nail trimmers or some other toilette-type horizontal knife. The
shape of the bent feline leg is a miniaturization/imitation of the legs of
a 3 legged table. There are more than a few examples of such knife handles
in bone, ivory, bronze and probably other materials too. They are found
across the Roman world between the 1st and 4th centuries CE. I have found
one in excavations in Jerusalem (2-3ed century CE; the only example from
Israel; Photos attached*), and I've collected references for finds in
Egypt, Anatolia, Greece, Italy, Hungary, Switzerland, Germany, France,
Holland, England, and thanks to your message, now Spain as well. All these
examples are of felines on a bent hind leg, but these are a sub-group
within a larger theme of carved horizontal handles which also include dogs,
dolphins, foxes, eagles, gladiators, phaloses, and composite themes such as
fights, hunts and sex.

I'll send you a private e-mail of with a short extract from an unpublished
article I'm working on that discusses these items.
As far as I know David Bartus, who I think is a member of this
mailing-list, had also written about these items, but in a language I
cannot even recognize (Hungarian?). I'm sure he can add to what I've
already written.

Best, Ariel
* these photos are copyrighted, please do not forward or use them for
anything but academic discussion.

On Tue, Nov 2, 2021 at 12:18 PM Idoia Grau <idoia_grau at hotmail.com> wrote:

> Dear all,
>
> I am writing to ask for your help in finding examples similar to the
> object that you can see in the photos (please excuse me if they are not
> very good).
> It was found in a Roman urban settlement in modern-day Basque Country,
> Spain. The context is dated to the second half of the 2nd or early 3rd
> centuries AD.
> What has puzzled the archaeologists that recovered it is that the motiv of
> the decoration (it seems to be the head of a lion or tiger) is unknown for
> this region and chronology.
> The archaeologists believe that it is a knife or clasp-knife handle.
> Any comments are very welcome! Thank you in advance for your help.
>
> Best wishes,
> Idoia
>
> *Dr. Idoia Grau Sologestoa*
>
> Integrative Prähistorische und Naturwissenschaftliche Archäologie (IPNA)
>
> Departement Umweltwissenschaften (DUW)
>
> University of Basel, Switzerland
>
>
> https://unibasel.academia.edu/IdoiaGrauSologestoa
> https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Idoia_Sologestoa
>
> Personal web page: https://sites.google.com/prod/view/zoociedad-zoociety
>
>
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