[Bonetools] Coin Balances

[Ariel Shatil]

Hi friends and colleagues,

So.... recently I've been looking at coin balances, a.k.a. tumbrels, a.k.a.
trebuchets, made in bone. A very nice complete example has come into my
hands. It was found in Jerusalem and according to the excavators dates to
no later than the 11th century. MacGregor and others mention 2 items from
Izmir, now in the Ashmolean Museum, that date to the 6th or 7th century,
but since these are not from excavations I believe this date is
questionable. Few bone examples from excavations in Kadikalesi, Turkey, are
dated to the 13th-14th century.

Looking for similar objects I found records of a rather large number of
them in sites of the Golden Horde and the Rus principalities, with dates in
the 14th to the 16th centuries. From the same area, but usually slightly
later (15th-16th) there are also many examples made of copper alloy.  Metal
examples of nearly similar dates (14th-15th) I've also found in Turkey and
Syria.

There is also a large group of them in England, 13th-14th centuries, mostly
made of copper alloy, but the earliest example is made of bone and is of
late 12th century date. I also found records of a single balance from
Denmark (copper alloy) and a single one from Germany (bone), of similar
date range.

On top of all that, there are the Ottoman coin balances (18th-20th century)
also made of bone, wood and metal.

If you throw all this data on a map, you'll notice big geographical gaps,
and there are of course the somewhat "smaller" chronological gaps. I'm
trying to wrap my head around these objects and maybe bridge some of these
gaps, so any information or data you might know of will be very helpful.
Especially interesting to me will be data, if it exists, from Syria,
Turkey, the Caucasus, the Balkans, the Baltic countries, Poland? maybe
Scandinavia? and, well, basically anywhere.

Thank you,
May the force be with you.
Ariel

I've added some images for reference:
1. Bone balances from Kadikalesi in Turkey
2. 18th-20th century Ottoman balances of wood, metal and bone
3. Bone balance from Seliternoe/Sarai-Batu
4. Copper Alloy balance from Anglesey
5. Bone balance from Kolomna near Moscow
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