<table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0" ><tr><td valign="top" style="font: inherit;">Dear Alice,<br>I am not quite sure if we talk about the same things but your description reminds me of some finds I have encountered in collections from the Middle Ages. These are usually regarded handles for whips for lashing the horses.<br><br>So, I would actually expect them to appear along with the horse driven chariots about the same time as the horse bits do. Still, I am curious to see a picture of your finds.<br><br>Here is a nice ornamented example of the ones I am thinking of from the Mediaeval period stored in the museum of Pernik, Western Bulgaria.<br><br>Petar<br>--<br>Petar Zidarov<br>Lab of Archaeometry & Experimental Archaeology<br>Department of Archaeology, New Bulgarian University<br>21 Montevideo Str., Building 1 - 19/20<br>BG-1618 Sofia, BULGARIA<br><br>cell phone: +359 898 347 252<br><br><br>--- On <b>Thu, 11/26/09, Alice Choyke
<i><h13017cho@iif.hu></i></b> wrote:<br><blockquote style="border-left: 2px solid rgb(16, 16, 255); margin-left: 5px; padding-left: 5px;"><br>From: Alice Choyke <h13017cho@iif.hu><br>Subject: Re: [Bonetools] antler artifact request1<br>To: "Mailing list for archaeologists of the research group for the study of object and waste of bone, antler. ivory and horn." <bonetools@listserv.niif.hu><br>Date: Thursday, November 26, 2009, 11:47 AM<br><br><div id="yiv1424545469">Dear Petar,<br> I cannot resist debating this idea with you. Our bridle ceek pieces (from Middle Bronze Age through the early Iron Age) are all multi-holed and more obviously worked and used around the ovoid holes. On the other hand we have numerous examples from the Middle bronze Age of brow or trez tines being cut off hollowed out about half-way down the length of the tine with a notched end. It is another question that no one knows what they are
used for. I have sometimes wondered whether these objects could be used to guard the fingers when gathering together a bunch of wheat stalks to cut during harvest BUT this is pure speculation on my part stimulated by a harvesting tool for this purpose made of wood from Bulgaria (am I being impertinant?) . However the wooden pieces I saw made in Veliki turnovo had three finger holes - and then why the notched hole?<br>
<br>Alice <br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Thu, Nov 26, 2009 at 10:22 AM, Petar Zidarov <span dir="ltr"><<a rel="nofollow" ymailto="mailto:petar.zidarov@yahoo.com" target="_blank" href="/mc/compose?to=petar.zidarov@yahoo.com">petar.zidarov@yahoo.com</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">
<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tbody><tr><td style="font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-size: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-size-adjust: inherit; font-stretch: inherit;" valign="top">
<div>Dear Herbert,<br>In my opinion, you probably have an unfinished preform (Halbfabrikat) of a horse bit (die s.g. Stangenknebel). An argument in favour of this assumption could be the notch and probably the one further to the center of the object visible on your pic2. Both may have served as guiding marks for the places chosen for perforation. In this line of reasoning it is not unlikely that your piece broke during the first attempt for making a hole at the base, causing its abandonment. Herewith, I attach an article where you could find the production sequence I envisaged for such objects, as well as further references. <br>
<br>If you are interested to collect more information on similar finds from Early Iron Age in Central Europe, I recommend you start with Boroffka (1998) where you will find a nice typology and distribution maps
based on the state of research by then. Further you will certainly find useful and updated information among the contributions in the excellent volume "Rad und Wagen" by Fansa & Burmeister (2004).<br><br>Best wishes, <br>
Petar<br><br>--<br>
Petar Zidarov<br>
Lab of Archaeometry & Experimental Archaeology<br>
Department of Archaeology, New Bulgarian University<br>
21 Montevideo Str., Building 1 - 19/20<br>
BG-1618 Sofia, BULGARIA<br>
<br>
cell phone: +359 898 347 252<br><br>--- On <b>Wed, 11/25/09, Herbert Boehm <i><<a rel="nofollow" ymailto="mailto:a9504315@unet.univie.ac.at" target="_blank" href="/mc/compose?to=a9504315@unet.univie.ac.at">a9504315@unet.univie.ac.at</a>></i></b> wrote:<br><blockquote style="border-left: 2px solid rgb(16, 16, 255); margin-left: 5px; padding-left: 5px;">
<br>From: Herbert Boehm <<a rel="nofollow" ymailto="mailto:a9504315@unet.univie.ac.at" target="_blank" href="/mc/compose?to=a9504315@unet.univie.ac.at">a9504315@unet.univie.ac.at</a>><br>Subject: [Bonetools] antler artifact request1<br>To: <a rel="nofollow" ymailto="mailto:bonetools@listserv.niif.hu" target="_blank" href="/mc/compose?to=bonetools@listserv.niif.hu">bonetools@listserv.niif.hu</a><br>
Date: Wednesday, November 25, 2009, 8:55 AM<br><br><div><div class="im">dear all,<br>does anyone know such antler-artifacts? -it was excavated from an early<br>iron age settlement in lower austria. For me, it looks like a part of a<br>
more complex composite tool.<br></div>itīs probably made of a brow tine or bay tine and the surface was<div class="im"><br>carefully carved so the original pearled surface was completely removed.<br></div>the tip seems to be slightly polished and rounded but doesnīt show signs<div class="im">
<br>of heavy use so i believe the main thing to reconstruct the function is<br>the transverse notch carved
out at the opposite end of the tool.<br>Unfortunately, there is for sure a part missing in this area because the<br>"gap" you see (e.g. picture 3)seems to be the result of at least one<br>modern and probably another "antique" crack. as you can see on picture 2<br>
and 4 there was obviously no "functional" hole worked in the spongy<br>part-maybe just a slight groove was carved in.<br>iīm grateful about any comments...<br>all the best<br>herbert<br></div></div><br>-----Inline Attachment Follows-----<div class="im">
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